Eleven Sports viewers on their computers missed Brooks Koepka's winning putt after their feeds cut out. GETTY IMAGES
Eleven Sports "endured a challenging start to life" as Britain’s newest sports broadcaster after its coverage of the U.S. PGA Championship encountered technical problems, which included some viewers missing Brooks Koepka’s decisive putt, according to Paul MacInnes of the London GUARDIAN. Founded by League Championship side Leeds United Owner Andrea Radrizzani, Eleven Sports "grabbed headlines this summer" when it announced its arrival in the U.K. by "snatching" live coverage of La Liga and Serie A from Sky Sports and BT, respectively. Eleven Sports' coverage received criticism, with users complaining on social media about "everything from a lack of long-in information to microphones picking up noises from American commentators." More significantly, there were "problems with the video feed." On Friday, viewers watching on Facebook were "confronted with a blank screen," while on Sunday, the desktop service "cut out" just as Koepka was on the 18th green. An Eleven Sports spokesperson said, "After delivering almost 40 hours of comprehensive live coverage across four days of the PGA Championship, we are award of a technical issue which breifly affected a small minority of customers at the end of the final round" (GUARDIAN, 8/13).
