The X Factor UK Technical Glitch Causes Viewers to Miss Results
Credit: ITV
British broadcaster ITV is doing damage control after a blackout on last night's results edition of The X Factor UK caused many viewers to miss the climactic result of the bottom two sing-off between Luke Friend and Tamera Foster.
ITV apologized to viewers in the wake of technical problems that caused a screen blackout in certain parts of England. The glitch kept more than a million viewers in the dark, prompting ITV to use its Twitter feed to keep viewers up to date on what was happening on the results show:
Rough Copy are the first act through to the semi...
— ITV (@ITV) December 1, 2013Rough Copy and Sam through to the semi, so far...
— ITV (@ITV) December 1, 2013Rough Copy, Sam and Nicholas through to the semi. Tamera & Luke in the sing-off...
— ITV (@ITV) December 1, 2013So we seem to be back... Let us know if you are still having problems. (Coming up next its Tamera & Luke in the sing off) #XFactor
— ITV (@ITV) December 1, 2013It's gone to deadlock...
— ITV (@ITV) December 1, 2013The act leaving #xfactor is Tamera. Luke is safe
— ITV (@ITV) December 1, 2013Viewers were irate, taking to Twitter to complain about the loss of signal. Some viewers were advised to try to watch in HD or online, which appeared to be unaffected.
The glitch had a clear and obvious result on overall viewership, as The X Factor averaged eight million viewers, down from 9.1 million for last Sunday's results show.
An ITV spokesman says the network has "apologized to viewers for the inconvenience caused."