Yes, That Was Dead Air During the Telecast

NBC has a technical glitch, but viewers didn't miss any of the game
By Newser Editors,  Newser Staff
Posted Feb 4, 2018 7:58 PM CST
Yes, That Was Dead Air During the Telecast
An Eagles fan catches the game.   (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)

One of the commercial breaks generating a lot of buzz during the Super Bowl wasn't actually a commercial at all. TV screens went black for about 30 seconds after NBC cut to a commercial in the second quarter following a Philadelphia touchdown, reports CBS. While some may have suspected some bizarro ad message, NBC later tweeted an explanation: "We had a brief equipment failure that we quickly resolved. No game action or commercial time were missed." As USA Today notes, a 30-second ad during the game costs about $5 million. Twitter had all kinds of fun, with lots of comments like this: "Best Super Bowl commercial so far has been 'empty black screen.'" (More Super Bowl stories.)

Get the news faster.
Tap to install our app.
X
Install the Newser News app
in two easy steps:
1. Tap in your navigation bar.
2. Tap to Add to Home Screen.

X