TNT Sports hit some significant technical difficulties with an NHL playoff game on TBS Sunday night. With 16 minutes left in the second period of Game 4 of the Washington Capitals-Montreal Canadiens series in Montreal, the TBS feed went to black:
Here’s how this went to black, with 16 minutes left in the second period. TBS got their feed back about 30 minutes later, after using Sportsnet’s feed for most of the intervening 10 minutes of game time. pic.twitter.com/b1VZyhdrmM
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) April 28, 2025
TBS then went to a couple of minutes of commercials. When they came back, studio host Liam McHugh explained they were having technical difficulties. They again showed a highlight of the Capitals’ first goal (which came a few minutes before the feed cut out), then announced they were switching to the Sportsnet feed:
TBS lost their feed of the Capitals-Canadiens NHL clash (a rare series in Canada where they do have on-site announcers) and shifted to the Sportsnet feed after a fade to black and a couple of minutes of commercials. Here’s Liam McHugh’s explanation of the technical difficulties. pic.twitter.com/YIh0Yub1BL
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) April 28, 2025
As noted there, the TBS feed would return after around 30 minutes of real-time and after about 10 minutes of game time. Luckily, there was a backup feed from another broadcaster they could switch to, a luxury Golf Channel and CBS didn’t have at the PGA Tour’s Zurich Classic Sunday (where a facility power outage meant the broadcasters had to pivot to showing last year’s tournament).
However, this does contribute to a playoff run that has faced some criticism from TNT Sports, particularly over their decision to have announcers call many of the first-round games involving Canadian teams remotely.
Strangely enough, the Washington-Montreal series featured on-site announcers (Alex Faust and Jennifer Botterill) in a Canadian building, yet technical issues still prevented them from working out for part of Sunday night. But at least they were able to regain their feed eventually.
