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Why ABC’s Texas vs. Oklahoma Broadcast Is Battling Technical Difficulties

The network is quite literally having to battle the universe in order to provide coverage of the Red River Rivalry.

Zach Koons

Why ABC’s Texas vs. Oklahoma Broadcast Is Battling Technical Difficulties
Why ABC’s Texas vs. Oklahoma Broadcast Is Battling Technical Difficulties /
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College football fanatics tuned in Saturday for the latest edition of the iconic Red River Rivalry between Texas and Oklahoma on ABC.

Unfortunately, actually watching the game proved to be a bit more challenging. 

Throughout the first quarter of the rivalry tilt, ABC—the network broadcasting the game in conjunction with ESPN—experienced several disruptions. Both the video feed and the audio from the announcing crew of Chris Fowler and Kirk Herbstreit fizzled at times, often at critical moments early in the contest.

Certainly the worst example of the spotty broadcast came when the Longhorns ran a fake punt from within their own territory on their second possession of the game. Much of the play was lost on television as viewers saw a mostly black screen instead.

Shortly afterward, on the same Texas drive, Fowler offered an apology to the television audience, vowing that the broadcast crew was doing everything it could to remedy the situation.

“We apologize. We’re rolling with some serious technical issues …” Fowler said. “It’s a power issue … Our crew is as good as any trying to get things in terms of the cameras and microphones back up and running.”

ESPN issued a statement explaining that initial technical issue.

“There was a brief power issue at the Cotton Bowl that impacted our field equipment and on-site generator early in the game. It was quickly resolved,” the network said, per Sportico’s Jacob Feldman.

Additionally, ABC and ESPN currently are dealing with another issue that can impact broadcast quality: the sun. Seriously.

This week, the Earth and Disney (which owns ABC and ESPN) company satellites are positioned in a direct line with the sun. The rare occurrence happens twice a year, and it can lead to outages because the sun can overpower the radio frequency energy transmitted by satellites down to Earth.

In 2014, Brian Burney, traffic manager for ESPN’s remote traffic operations, explained how the company tries to counteract the phenomenon and avoid major disruptions on broadcasts.

“Planning begins 4-to-6 weeks prior to each outage period. Remote Traffic Operations utilizes a software program that will predict when each satellite will incur a sun outage,” he explained. “The report allows our team to analyze each live event backhaul and determine if we need to make alternate arrangements so that we can bring the feed into Bristol [Conn., ESPN’s headquarters] uninterrupted.

“Once the outage is complete, the operators will switch back to the original satellite source to the conclusion of the event. It is a collective effort involving many different areas within our company to protect our product and the fan experience.”

Though it seems there’s just about nothing ABC or ESPN could do but weather the storm, college football fans and media members couldn’t stand missing out on part of an eventful first half in Dallas.

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Zach Koons
ZACH KOONS

Zach Koons is a programming editor at Sports Illustrated who frequently writes about Formula One. He joined SI as a breaking/trending news writer in February 2022 before joining the programming team in 2023. Koons previously worked at The Spun and interned for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. He currently hosts the "Bleav in Northwestern" podcast and received a bachelor's in journalism from Northwestern University.

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