CBS All Access streaming had technical difficulties with its Super Bowl kickoff as some viewers trying to watch online were met with an error message at kickoff. The issue was resolved for most viewers, but the disruption showed that the internet is not always the most reliable medium for big moments.
At around 6:30 p.m. on Super Bowl Sunday, online viewers were complaining about the glitchy livestream available through CBS All Access app, which is a subscription service. The app is available online and on mobile and connected TV devices like Roku and Amazon Fire TV. CBS’ streaming slip was being called a crash of the service by some viewers complaining on Twitter.
A person with knowledge of the technical difficulties said that CBS All Access did not experience a crash. It was an issue for people trying to log into the service at game time. The stream itself was not disrupted.
Still, any hurdles to viewing online show that streaming internet can still be unreliable at moments, especially big ones like the Super Bowl. Brands pay $5.5 million for a 30-second commercial and are trying to reach as wide an audience as possible.