Glitch Interrupts Fox World Series Coverage

Fox lost power to its broadcast truck and its World Series coverage temporarily went dark.

The interruption took place at the start of the fourth inning as the New York Mets faced the Kansas City Royals.

After a brief delay Fox started broadcasting the MLB Network International Feed. 

During the delay, the teams agreed to play without instant replay because the Fox video was unavailable.

Fox restored its coverage in the fifth inning.

During the disruption, Fox went to its studio crew to explain the situation to viewers.

Fox later released a statement, which said:

“Before the start of the bottom of the fourth inning of tonight’s World Series Game 1, a rare electronics failure caused both the primary and backup generators inside the FoxSports production compound to lose power. The issue was immediately addressed, although it resulted in the audience missing one at-bat during the time needed to switch to carriage of Major League Baseball’s international feed, powered by a different generator on site. The on-field delay was due to replay capability being lost in both team’s clubhouses. We apologize for the interruption in tonight’s coverage and are working to ensure that the remainder of the World Series is broadcast without incident.”

There is still some discussion about the origin of the problem that caused the outage during last night's World Series game. But it is known that that Fox's power generators went out, which knocked out the signal from the NEP suppled EN2 truck that was producing the domestic feed for the World Series coverage.

Fox then began using the international feed, which was being produced by a Game Creek Video Amazin' truck, explained Pat Sullivan, the founder and president of Game Creek Video.

The Game Creek truck that supplied the international feed until the domestic feed was restored is also the truck that produces the regular season Mets games. Sullivan said he did not know the cause of the outage.

George Winslow contributed to this report.

Jon Lafayette

Jon has been business editor of Broadcasting+Cable since 2010. He focuses on revenue-generating activities, including advertising and distribution, as well as executive intrigue and merger and acquisition activity. Just about any story is fair game, if a dollar sign can make its way into the article. Before B+C, Jon covered the industry for TVWeek, Cable World, Electronic Media, Advertising Age and The New York Post. A native New Yorker, Jon is hiding in plain sight in the suburbs of Chicago.