During Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Finals between the Miami Heat and Boston Celtics, YouTubeTV experience a country-wide blackout, cutting the broadcast short for the last five minutes of the game. 

There was no fix. Instead of seeing the final minutes of Game 1, fans across the country were stuck watching an ad for “The Little Mermaid” on loop. Kind of hilarious but at the same time, infuriating if you were actually watching the game.

YouTubeTV crashes during final five minutes of Miami Heat-Boston Celtics Game 1

I use YouTubeTV but unlike the majority of mentally ill people in Philadelphia, there was no way I was going to watch that basketball game last night.

I just couldn’t bring myself to do it with Jimmy Butler (my guy) playing against the team that just ruined the Philadelphia 76ers, but as you could image, NBA fans were not very happy with YouTubeTV. 

The entire streaming experience, once heralded as an innovative way to watch television has turned into an absolute shit show and it goes well beyond what happened last night. 

From being trapped in an app on your SmartTV and unable to easily jump between sporting events and channels during breaks, to being forced to sign up for AppleTV, Peacock, or literally any channel now to watch shows or events, the entire experience has immediately gone to shit. A good Philadelphia-based example happened last month when the Phillies played on Friday night with the game broadcasted on AppleTV.

No bar or restaurant in the area even carried the game. How can that happen?

I find it hard to believe anyone at any professional sports league office thinks that’s a good idea but I guess they are just forcing the hands of everyone else to make the necessary changes to air the game. 

Now, you have football moving the NFL Sunday Ticket package to YouTubeTV this season and there’s going to be an NFL playoff game broadcasted exclusively on Peacock this year. 

Maybe I’m just an idiot, but none of that seems to make much sense. 

The concern is valid. YouTubeTV who again, just bought the NFL Sunday Ticket package that was previously carried by DirectTV can’t even handle a Wednesday night Game 1 of the NBA Playoffs. 

Doesn’t sound too promising, right? 

Imagine being a Heat fan and missing the 20-second delay of Jimmy Butler’s dagger at TD Garden.

Jimmy Butler DAGGER against the Celtics in Game 1

Side Note: I am well aware there are little-to-no Heat fans, but IMAGINE. 

That would have been like Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Semifinals (pain) and missing James Harden (snake) hit the dagger over Al Horford. 

The city of Philadelphia and YouTubeTV subscribers would have caused an uprising. 

Point being, the entire stream model is severely flawed but for whatever reason, professional sports continue to move in that direction. 

I don’t know why, but at the end of the day there’s more important things to worry about in the world.

That is until it happens during a Philadelphia broadcast, then we’ll raise hell together. 

Join The Chase