They tuned in to see the news, got hardcore porn instead

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This article was published 21/04/2012 (5150 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Hardcore pornography isn’t usually on the schedule for morning network newscasts, but viewers of CHCH in Hamilton, Ont., got an eyeful over their morning coffee on Friday.

The station aired pornography for about a minute during Morning Live First Edition at 9:30 a.m., but news director Mike Katrycz stressed the mix-up wasn’t the station’s fault.

“It was beyond the control of our station,” he said. “As soon as I saw it I got on the phone. I knew something was desperately wrong.”

The issue turned out to be between the station and the viewers. CHCH was broadcasting news, but all the cable audience saw was smut.

Someone at one of the local cable companies had inadvertently switched the CHCH feed over to a more explicit channel, which is what Katrycz saw in his office.

The error was fixed, but not until after the damage had been done. Subscribers to Cogeco and Shaw cable broadcasts were exposed to the pornographic clip, but viewers watching the over-the-air broadcast weren’t affected.

The clip lasted for what “felt like an eternity,” Katrycz said, and phones immediately started ringing.

“We apologized to everybody, even though it’s not our fault,” he said. “It was on our channel on some cable providers and for that we’re very apologetic.”

Katrycz has a television in his office, and noticed the problem immediately. He called the station’s master control room, but they assured him the broadcast remained family friendly.

“I was fuming,” he said. “But when I called down to find out what the heck was going on, they didn’t know what I was talking about.”

A supervisor at Cogeco Cable refused to comment on the issue, citing an ongoing internal investigation. She said the company is “taking this very seriously.”

“In all my years of television, I’ve never seen something like this,” said Katrycz. “We promise we’ll get to the bottom of it.”

But this isn’t the first time pornography has invaded a television broadcast. It’s not even the first time this month.

On April 12, an ABC affiliate in Colorado Springs, Colo. had more than three hours of early morning unauthorized programming that including pornography and infomercials.

In 2007, thousands of viewers in New Jersey watching the Disney Channel show Handy Manny saw a brief clip of hard-core pornography because of a similar splicing error.

And in 2009, NFL fans in Tucson, Ariz., were treated to a 30-second clip of pornography during the Super Bowl — a time slot for which some companies pay millions.

— Postmedia News