Billy Joel Special Cut Off

[TheBigA]

Fans of Billy Joel are angry at CBS for cutting off his TV special at 11:30 PM for local news:

Billy Joel Fans Not Feeling Alright After Network Cuts 100th Madison Square Garden Show Broadcast During ‘Piano Man’

Billy Joel fans were furious at CBS on Sunday (April 14) after the network cut the broadcast of Billy Joel's 100th MSG show short during 'Piano Man.'

www.billboard.com

CBS Pulls The Plug On Billy Joel At Worst Possible Moment, And Fans Are So Pissed

The iconic singer's landmark performance was cut off at the exact wrong time -- and viewers are livid.

www.huffpost.com

The special was delayed due to coverage of The Masters. The CBS contract with affiliates requires them to return to local at a certain time. Unfortunately Billy was in the final verse of his biggest hit Piano Man when the switch occurred. No warning, no artful fade, just a hard edit from the show to local news.

 

[Mediafrog+]

Didn’t watch the show, but was this a national thing done by CBS itself or a case of some CBS affiliates with a common Master Control hub dumping out prematurely due to a hard timed automation playlist that wasn’t updated? The “abrupt cut” seems to indicate the latter. There have been numerous instances of station automation not being updated to reflect time shifts in the network feed.

I have never heard of any “return to local at a certain time” agreement, and CBS programming has previously run much later in the evening due to delays. Also what happened on the west coast, with its later feed?

 

[bturner1]

An artful fade would have been nice but the abrupt end, mid-song was unexpected, jarring and what would be considered unprofessional back when I sat in front of a board. It wasn't just one station.

 

[TheBigA]

An artful fade would have been nice but the abrupt end, mid-song was unexpected, jarring and what would be considered unprofessional back when I sat in front of a board. It wasn't just one station.

Correct, it was the full network feed for East Coast and Central time zones. Obviously the Masters didn't delay the west coast feed, so that one was unaffected.

 

[AbrahamJSimpson]

Didn’t watch the show, but was this a national thing done by CBS itself or a case of some CBS affiliates with a common Master Control hub dumping out prematurely due to a hard timed automation playlist that wasn’t updated? The “abrupt cut” seems to indicate the latter. There have been numerous instances of station automation not being updated to reflect time shifts in the network feed.

I have never heard of any “return to local at a certain time” agreement, and CBS programming has previously run much later in the evening due to delays. Also what happened on the west coast, with its later feed?

There’s no indication it was anything other than network. Automation firing at inopportune times happens but this appears to be a case of dumping out at the network.

The contracts may include terms for overruns due to things like NFL playing with the schedule. Maybe this should have been thought through well in advance. Heck, maybe it was. But it’s likely to be the topic of a meeting or two…or three…or whatever…today.

 

[TheBigA]

The contracts may include terms for overruns due to things like NFL playing with the schedule. Maybe this should have been thought through well in advance. Heck, maybe it was. But it’s likely to be the topic of a meeting or two…or three…or whatever…today.

Seems to me there are ways to make up time as shows air. They could see the train coming hours in advance. Obviously no spots can be lost, but perhaps digitally speed up one of the earlier shows. The hard part is when this happens on a Sunday. Staffing isn't always the best on the weekends. But yes, there will be meetings today, and I'd expect a rebroadcast of the special to be announced.

 

[Mediafrog+]

A close read of the articles, plus viewing the video of the abrupt cutoff of the show in one market, points to CBS providing affiliates (or their master control hubs) with an incorrect outtime for the program, which meant playlist automation triggered the next event (news) prematurely. Apparently there was some sort of earlier special report that wasn’t accounted for, which pushed the Billy Joel special back a bit further.

Would love to know what was actually coming down the network feed at that point, and if the program actually continued while affiliates were dumped to news.

 

[Mediafrog+]

Seems to me there are ways to make up time as shows air. They could see the train coming hours in advance.

In the case of small delays promos within shows can be dropped, but you have to quickly let station master controls know updated local break times so they can be programmed into automation.

Obviously no spots can be lost, but perhaps digitally speed up one of the earlier shows.

Impractical to do on the fly, and would likely violate license agreements with the show producers.

 

[luperm]

But let me guess...you can watch it all (for a cost) on Paramount Plus!

 

[NYAZSporty]

Correct, it was the full network feed for East Coast and Central time zones. Obviously the Masters didn't delay the west coast feed, so that one was unaffected.

Yeah, here in Phoenix (KPHO), we saw the ending in full. In fact, it went a minute over the scheduled end at 10:01 MST & we ended up getting a JIP message leading into the late news because it also airs on sister Gray independent station KTVK.

 

[Mr Tony]

My market (Mankato, MN) I had the whole thing til the ending credits on both my available CBS stations (KEYC Mankato) and WCCO Minneapolis ( which is an o&o)

Part of the issue might have been CBS doing a special report about Iran iirc for 3 minutes after the Masters which made the new start time at :33

 

[secondchoice]

But let me guess...you can watch it all (for a cost) on Paramount Plus!

I have Paramount. (Long story not part of conversation). I was watching OTA 46 Atlanta. They jumped into news. After the cut off I went to Paramount and the same thing happened. It jumped into 46 news. Apparently Paramount CBS mirrors 46 if you are in the Atlanta market.

 

[Mr Tony]

Would love to know what was actually coming down the network feed at that point, and if the program actually continued while affiliates were dumped to news.

I had the whole show til the end and I’m in the Central Time Zone. KEYC Mankato, MN (and we also get wcco Minneapolis on cable which stayed til the end)

 

[luperm]

I have Paramount. (Long story not part of conversation). I was watching OTA 46 Atlanta. They jumped into news. After the cut off I went to Paramount and the same thing happened. It jumped into 46 news. Apparently Paramount CBS mirrors 46 if you are in the Atlanta market.

I would be surprised if they did not clean it up for replay at some point.

 

[secondchoice]

I would be surprised if they did not clean it up for replay at some point.

I will check tonight.

 

[AbrahamJSimpson]

We’re not that far from the end of the season, so a makeup wouldn’t be all that hard to accomplish, in the grand scheme of things. Plot a date a few weeks down the road, and they should be able to make it work.

 

[gr8oldies]

But let me guess...you can watch it all (for a cost) on Paramount Plus!

I've got it, and that's where I'll watch it

 

[NYAZSporty]

I have Paramount. (Long story not part of conversation). I was watching OTA 46 Atlanta. They jumped into news. After the cut off I went to Paramount and the same thing happened. It jumped into 46 news. Apparently Paramount CBS mirrors 46 if you are in the Atlanta market.

Paramount+ does streams for CBS affiliates, similar to what Peacock is doing for NBC. The Billy Joel special will be available in full there. As for Mr. Tony's point about the SR being the issue, well that doesn't give the affiliates an excuse even in this day in age where many stations are automated MC, considering CBS has these situations happen a lot, not just for breaking news, but especially like yesterday when sports run long.

 

[gr8oldies]

Paramount+ does streams for CBS affiliates, similar to what Peacock is doing for NBC. The Billy Joel special will be available in full there. As for Mr. Tony's point about the SR being the issue, well that doesn't give the affiliates an excuse even in this day in age where many stations are automated MC, considering CBS has these situations happen a lot, not just for breaking news, but especially like yesterday when sports run long.

I remember in my TV time getting a list of all the contingencies for sports and other programs.

 

[Mediafrog+]

My market (Mankato, MN) I had the whole thing til the ending credits on both my available CBS stations (KEYC Mankato) and WCCO Minneapolis ( which is an o&o)

That would support the theory that it was an incorrect out time that many CBS stations hubbed master controls went with, and was not cut off on the actual network feed.

Part of the issue might have been CBS doing a special report about Iran iirc for 3 minutes after the Masters which made the new start time at :33

Most likely so, and master control times were not adjusted for the end of prime time for the affected stations.

I have Paramount. (Long story not part of conversation). I was watching OTA 46 Atlanta. They jumped into news. After the cut off I went to Paramount and the same thing happened. It jumped into 46 news. Apparently Paramount CBS mirrors 46 if you are in the Atlanta market.

As is common with streaming services, the Paramount feed will have a significant delay from OTA. I have YouTube TV, and the local stations on it are about 25 seconds behind OTA.

As for Mr. Tony's point about the SR being the issue, well that doesn't give the affiliates an excuse even in this day in age where many stations are automated MC

You have to remember that most station master controls are hubbed elsewhere, perhaps more than a thousand miles away, and those hubs are running dozens, if not hundreds of program feeds at the same time. The local stations have nothing to do with that within their own buildings. The days of stations having their own in-house master control are mostly gone. So a screwup at a hub can affect many stations.

I remember in my TV time getting a list of all the contingencies for sports and other programs.

Yes, contingencies are conveyed to stations well in advance. For instance, if a live program is scheduled, and that event gets cancelled for whatever reason (even at the last minute) there is backup programming ready to go.