Channel 4 apologises for ‘technical issues’ after more broadcast difficulties

Channel 4 has apologised to viewers after its services suffered further “technical issues”.

The broadcaster has experienced a number of major outages since September, caused by issues at the broadcast centre which handles its playout services.

A statement posted on Twitter said: “We’ve experienced temporary technical issues related to the new operating process that was put in place after the outage.

“We are working to rectify it as quickly as possible but can confirm that the peak schedule is unaffected.”

We’ve experienced temporary technical issues related to the new operating process that was put in place after the outage. We are working to rectify it as quickly as possible but can confirm that the peak schedule is unaffected.

— Channel 4 (@Channel4) December 3, 2021

The issues arose after a fire suppression system was triggered at the broadcast centre of Red Bee Media, severely damaging a large number of hard disks in a variety of systems.

As well as its audio and pictures, Channel 4’s subtitles, sign language and audio description services were also temporarily disrupted, prompting criticism from the National Deaf Children’s Society and Ofcom.

The broadcasting watchdog criticised the broadcaster for not having “strong back-up measures”.

It said that once the issues were permanently resolved it would review Channel 4’s “equipment and facilities” and consider “what action might be required to make sure broadcasters do not find themselves in this situation again”.