For about an hour Sunday during the Super Bowl, some Time Warner customers in Southern California experienced a cable service outage.
@TWC_SoCal LA Customers: We're investigating an issue w/KTTV (FoxSD) feed. FoxHD appears to be OK. We're working to resolve ASAP. ^KT
Television screens froze on this Volkswagon commercial.
The outage occured in the middle of the game and lasted for about an hour including through halftime.
A representative for Time Warner told BuzzFeed the outage affected customers watching the standard-definition signal, but not the high-definition signal, telephone or internet.
We have resolved a technical issue with the SD signal on KTTV (FOX) and apologize for the inconvenience to our customers.
Customers who tried Time Warner's customer service number got a busy signal. Customers who got through heard an automated response offered to call back once service was restored.
Time Warner's online chat helpline wasn't any more helpful.
A Time Warner spokesperson said Monday there is no way to determine how many people were affected by the outage. He said it was due to a piece of equipment that processes video signals.
"There was an issue with a piece of equipment that processes video signals; we had teams of engineers working throughout the telecast and they restored the signal as quickly as they could. We're still looking into all the aspects of this issue ... Our engineers resolved the issue as quickly as possible, and we sincerely apologize for the inconvenience this caused our customers."
During the game, Time Warner aired this ad featuring P. Diddy. Thirty seconds of Super Bowl ad time costs about $4 million, according to The Washington Post. It aired after service was restored.
View this video on YouTube
Update: Deborah Picciolo, senior vice president of operations said in a statement the company would give customers "a gift of appreciation" because of the outage:
"Although most of our customers didn't experience an interruption, we want to express our sincere apologies to all Time Warner Cable TV customers in the Los Angeles area. Digital TV customers will receive a credit for the cost of an On Demand movie once purchased, and analog customers will receive a $5 gift card. These will be provided automatically; no customer action is necessary."