When you’re a business and you’re providing a service to the public, for better or worse, nobody really remembers the times things have run smoothly but everyone sure remembers when things do not.
That was the situation Bleacher Report faced Saturday night as B/R Live suffered technical difficulties for at least 90 minutes. B/R Live’s support account tweeted at 8:39 ET that they were aware of technical problems and were doing what they could to fix them.
https://twitter.com/BRLiveSupport/status/1086800380078575616
B/R Live’s Saturday night schedule included a free preview of NBA League Pass where games included a competitive Celtics-Hawks matchup, the Raptors facing the Grizzlies and Dwyane Wade’s final game in Chicago as the Heat took on the Bulls.
In addition, the National Lacrosse League had four games going on consisting of defending champs Saskatchewan taking on Rochester. B/R Live also broadcasted ONE Championship but that took place earlier in the day and was unaffected.
It’s unknown why B/R Live suffered technical issues. The last time a major outage happened under B/R Live’s watch was during the highly anticipated match between Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson which resulted in them livestreaming the event for everyone and those who paid got their money back.
Even though that was nearly two months ago, some lacrosse fans have noted that this isn’t the first time they have experienced technical issues while they were trying to watch a match.
But… the same problems have been happening the past 6 weeks?!?! How much time do you need to fix it?
— Brad Nowakowski (13-8) (@bnowakowski85) January 20, 2019
There are issues every week Time to refund your subscribers
— Heather Matthews (@HMatthews222) January 20, 2019
I have issues every week definitely very upset feels like a waste of money
— Meghan Rankin (@megzr25) January 20, 2019
@NLLcommish @SaskRushLAX Trying to grow the NLL with a streaming service that is not dependable=bad idea. Lots of customers are/will be looking for a refund. Please find a service that is dependable.
— Doug Pascoe (@dougler4646) January 20, 2019
Things happen and it’s certainly frustrating for those who pay for a service and can’t watch what they paid for and it’s frustrating for those who are probably getting the brunt of the complaints when things are probably out of their control in terms of getting things back online. I will give B/R Live some advice. When your streaming service is suffering technical issues, don’t use the main Twitter account to link to the site when it’s not working. I’m pretty sure that doesn’t help the situation at all. Just post the highlight and make the best of it.
[Photo: Associated Press]
About Phillip Bupp
Producer/editor of the Awful Announcing Podcast and Short and to the Point. News editor for The Comeback and Awful Announcing. Highlight consultant for Major League Soccer as well as a freelance writer for hire. Opinions are my own but feel free to agree with them.
Follow me on Twitter and Instagram @phillipbupp