Something went very wrong with NESN’s over-the-top streaming product NESN 360 on Sunday. It happened during the Boston Red Sox’s matchup with the Baltimore Orioles, with Kutter Crawford starting for Boston and Albert Suárez starting for Baltimore. But during the seventh inning of that game, with the Orioles leading 4-0 and Red Sox relief pitcher Bailey Horn on the mound, that game’s streaming feed kept flashing back to the first inning of Friday’s game between the teams, with Cooper Criswell and Corbin Burnes starting:
NESN 360 subscribers were in for a wild ride during Sunday’s Red Sox-Orioles broadcast. ⚾️📺😵💫😵💫😵💫https://t.co/TVkLqJwepC
— Awful Announcement (@awfulannouncing) 18 August 2024
Cue Mike Francesa’s “Is this a new report or an old report?” memes. (To be fair, he’s not the only one who accidentally reports old things as new.)
In any case, AA confirmed that this did not happen on NESN’s linear TV feed, but only on NESN 360. And that’s certainly far from ideal for this streaming service, which launched in 2022 and costs $29.99 a month.
Technical issues certainly exist on linear TV, as they have in the past at NESN and some ABC affiliates during a WNBA broadcast on Sunday. But a streaming-only glitch is not a good advertisement to get people to buy a direct-to-consumer product. (Red Sox fans might have preferred Friday’s game, as they won that 12-10, but lost 4-2 to the Orioles on Sunday.)
(Terrible announcement on X/Twitter)
