A strange broadcast issue Sunday saw some NBC affiliates (including WDSU in New Orleans) airing the Spanish audio feed of the Sunday Night Football Seahawks-Steelers game to some viewers. John Ourand of Sports Business Journal tweeted one clip of this:
Some NBC affiliates apparently are showing tonight’s SNF game in Spanish by mistake. This video is from a source in New Orleans. pic.twitter.com/YuP7RnPy8C
— John Ourand (@Ourand_Puck) October 18, 2021
But there were many more, and it appears they weren’t all from New Orleans. (And speaking as someone from New Orleans, my WDSU feed on YouTube TV aired the “Programming Note” shown above, but its audio was in English, so this may have been only for particular subscribers or particular providers. And I am not Ourand’s source.) Here are some of the many people who complained about this on Twitter:
https://twitter.com/jonobarnes/status/1449896201034375169?s=21
#NBC why is the Sunday night football game in Spanish????? pic.twitter.com/6ZpSrGoTwe
— Mark J Davis (@MarkJDavis) October 18, 2021
Am I tripping or are they speaking Spanish on everyone’s NBC for this Sunday night football game
— AG (@iOnlyDrinkMotts) October 18, 2021
For some reason I have the Spanish version of Sunday night football on my tv but I don’t know how to fix it so oh well
— Tom C (@tomas_carroll) October 18, 2021
Is anyone getting Sunday Night Football @SNFonNBC in Spanish only? #SEAvsPIT
— Lynn Weinberg (@lynnweinberg) October 18, 2021
I actually don’t mind the Spanish Broadcast of this Sunday Night Football game lmao I know a few words. “Perfecto” “Primo”
— Big Poppa Pump (Number 1 Eva Lovia Fan) (@AndrewD4133) October 18, 2021
It’s unclear how many people this impacted, and how many affiliates it was on (WDSU is the only particular one we have confirmation of). One person who responded to Ourand said this has happened before with NBC broadcasts, though.
This has been happening with a lot of NBC and Peacock events as it happened during another game and during a WWE event on Peacock
— WrongedSports (@SportsWronged) October 18, 2021
This does not appear particularly connected to the ransomware attacks on Sinclair local affiliates that messed up CBS and Fox NFL broadcasts on many stations earlier Sunday, as WDSU is Hearst-owned. But it does add to an unusual day of local broadcast issues for the NFL.
[John Ourand on Twitter]
