Comcast Apologizes for Porn during Superbowl

By Vishesh Kumar

Comcast is examining whether a malicious attack is behind the interruption of the company’s Super Bowl coverage Sunday by a pornographic film in some areas of Tucson. The interruption, which lasted less than 30 seconds, affected customers watching the company’s standard definition coverage but not high-definition customers, a Comcast spokeswoman said.

Comcast has contacted the Federal Communications Commission as well as local authorities to investigate the matter. But an initial review showed that the company’s technical systems functioned properly at the time of the incident, suggesting someone deliberately seeking to interrupt the broadcast rather than a technical glitch.

“We are mortified by the incident and we apologize to our customers,” the Comcast spokeswoman said. The company will likely issue credits to customers who were affected, though the amount remains to be determined.

The station from which Comcast picked up its feed was NBC affiliate KVOA, which said it provided Cox Communications with a feed of the broadcast via fiber line, which Cox subsequently sent to Comcast, also via a fiber line. KVOA said on its Web site that only Comcast customers saw the pornographic images and that customers of other operators, like DirecTV Group and Cox Communications, as well as over-the-air viewers, received “clean feeds.” The incident “sparked a flurry of angry phone calls and emails to our newsroom,” the company wrote on its Web site.

The Comcast spokeswoman said it was not immediately apparent how or where the breach occurred. Cable signals pass through several pieces of transmission facilities, including out to an operator’s local offices and to customers ‘ homes.

This is the first time the company is aware of its signal being tampered with in this way, the Comcast spokeswoman said.

Complete Story