Could have seen this coming.
The demand for the Floyd Mayweather-Manny Pacquiao fight, one of the most highly-anticipated fights in boxing history, is causing the cable companies carrying the pay-per-view event to buckle, and many cable and satellite customers are reporting their service is unavailable.
When the starting bell should have been rung late Saturday night, HBO’s Jim Lampley said that the fight had been delayed due to "electronic overload." A representative for HBO said the fight could be pushed back 45 minutes so that cable companies could restore service, Sports Illustrated reported. (They finally did get things in order, giving the fight a late start.)
The outages were happening to may cable providers, according to CNBC's Steve Kopack.
My count of cable companies currently fielding PPV issue tweets:VerizonCoxCharterComcastCablevisionDirecTVDISHBright HouseAT&TRCN
— Steve Kopack (@SteveKopack) May 3, 2015
Service issues were reported in cities around the nation, including Los Angeles, New York, St. Louis and more, according to DownDetector.com. There were reports of issues with service from Charter, Time Warner Cable, DirecTV, Dish Network and other cable providers.
Some customers said they were unable to order the fight, others complained of issues with the picture or being able to access the channel.
"There are more orders tonight than any night in PPV history. Fans should just be patient and distributors will process their orders," HBO said, according to Richard Sandomir of The New York Times. HBO is carrying the fight for customers willing to pay up to $100 along with Showtime.
Charter Communications said they were aware of the issue and were working to resolve it, as did Time Warner Cable.
The marquee fight is expected to break numerous records, including as the richest fight in history. It is expected to surpass the revenue from any PPV event in history. Forbes projects it to the tune of $300 million.
The week before the fight, Showtime and HBO expressed concern that the high demand might cause service issues, USA Today reported.
For the cable companies' sake, let's hope people remember the great fight and not the technical issues they got with their $100 bill.
THE WORST TV SERVICE EVER IS @dish DISH TV IS A DISASTER!! THANKS DISH TV FOR NO PACQUIAO MAYWEATHER FIGHT
— Rob Schneider (@RobSchneider) May 02 2015
Ordered #MayweatherPacquiao fight on .@comcast .@XFINITY. Can't view fight, been on hold for almost 2hrs, server errors online. #nothappy
— Chéri Sides (@theeconprof) May 02 2015
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