When you're watching your favorite team or school play on TV, the last thing you want is to be switched away from the game, but that's exactly what happened to Omaha viewers on Friday. Cox Cable subscribers were watching the final minutes of Omaha-Xavier in the Big East Tournament on Fox Sports 1 when they were switched to the start of the Pac-12 semifinals between UCLA and Stanford. 

The switch was supposed to be for California viewers only, but it also occurred in Omaha where fans were enjoying their home team Creighton beating Xavier. The switch only occurred on Cox, not the city's other cable provider, CenturyLink nor to subscribers of Dish or DirecTV.

The switch had Fox Sports 1 officials scratching their heads.

By the time Omaha was switched back to the Big East, the game was in its final seconds. Fox says it's responsible for the inadvertent switch.

“Our plan was to take the state of California to the start of the Stanford-UCLA game on Fox Sports 1 if the Xavier-Creighton game ran long. When the switch was made, it seems that Cox Cable in Omaha inadvertently switched to the Pac-12 game as well. We don’t know why or how, and we’re investigating. In order to get Omaha back to the Xavier-Creighton game as quickly as possible, we had to take all those seeing Stanford-UCLA back to the remainder of Xavier-Creighton. We apologize to all those affected.”

After tonight's Big East Championship between Creighton and Providence, Fox Sports 1 has only Fox Sports Live scheduled so there should not be any runover switch in Omaha or any other market. 

[Omaha World Journal/Deadspin]

About Ken Fang

Ken has been covering the sports media in earnest at his own site, Fang's Bites since May 2007 and at Awful Announcing since March 2013.

He provides a unique perspective having been an award-winning radio news reporter in Providence and having worked in local television.

Fang celebrates the four Boston Red Sox World Championships in the 21st Century, but continues to be a long-suffering Cleveland Browns fan.