Posted by Jeff from bgp01107368bgs.wbrmfd01.mi.comcast.net (68.42.59.180) on Friday, March 01, 2002 at 1:20AM :
In Reply to: Something funny happened in Detroit posted by Jeff from bgp01107368bgs.wbrmfd01.mi.comcast.net (68.42.59.180) on Friday, March 01, 2002 at 1:18AM :
It wasn't Metro Detroit... just pontiac... and only 200 customers. Oh well, it's still hillarious.
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Comcast customers find all channels stuck on Arabic language programming
Thursday, February 28, 2002
BY HUGH McDIARMID JR.
FREE PRESS STAFF WRITER
Some late-night TV junkies had their screens abruptly changed to Arabic language programming for up to three hours late Wednesday - the result of faulty Comcast equipment.
Several of about 200 Pontiac-area viewers affected by the breakdown called Pontiac Police, worried that the programming glitch was something more sinister, said Comcast Director of Corporate Affairs Bill Black.
``In the wake of 911, all sorts of ideas were conjured up,'' he said Thursday.
The reality was more mundane: An 11:52 p.m. a regular test of the emergency alert system switched all channels to Comcast's test channel - channel 16. The test lasted less than 60 seconds.
But when the company's computers switched digital cable customers back to their original programs, one faulty router failed to make the transition. Instead, about 200 customers found all their TVs stuck on channel 16 - no matter which channel their tuner was set to.
``As luck would have it, that channel happened to showing the Arab American Network at the time,'' said Black.
It took less than a half-hour to restore normal service to most customers, and up to three hours to completely fix the problem.
-- Jeff
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