Filed at 12:01PM EST on Feb. 2, 2009
A transmission problem suffered by small cable operator RCN knocked out NBC's Super Bowl coverage for residents of one New York apartment building.
As first reported by CBS owned-and-operated WCBS on Sunday night, residents of The Highgate apartment building on Manhattan's Upper East Side began experiencing problems with their RCN video service early Sunday afternoon. The problems weren't fixed until late Sunday night, forcing some residents to travel to local bars to watch the Pittsburgh Steelers' victory over the Arizona Cardinals.
According to RCN spokesman Mike Houghton, the culprit in RCN's system was a hub transmitter dedicated to The Highgate building. RCN has 100 customers in the building, says Houghton, but only received calls from 24 customers complaining about the outage.
RCN is compensating affected customers by providing them with a service credit for one month of cable TV service, ranging from $75 to $100 depending on their subscription plans. The cable operator is also inviting those customers to a luncheon with NFL stars and RCN pitchmen Justin Tuck of the New York Giants and Brad Smith of the New York Jets. The luncheon will be held sometime in February or March.
"The company is looking into the issue to ensure that this problem does not happen again," said RCN in statement.
