‘CBS Evening News’ Fails To Air After Technical Problems

The CBS Evening News did not air in East Coast media markets Tuesday night after a technical problem originating at the CBS News bureau in Washington. “CBS Evening News is currently experiencing technical difficulties,” the network said in a message posted to the evening broadcast’s Twitter feed. “We will bring you the CBS Evening News as soon as possible. We apologize for the issue.”

It exceptionally rare for any network or cable news shows to fail to air due to technical problems, and CBS quickly switched to a feed from its streaming news operation, CBSN.

Whatever the technical issues were, they seem to have caught the network by surprise in the moments before the show’s start. Just nine minutes before air, the broadcast shared a promotional video on Twitter that included anchor Norah O’Donnell’s exclusive interview with Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg.

CBS affiliates in the East received phone calls and messages on social media asking why the Evening News wasn’t airing, like WNCN-TV in Raleigh-Durham, North Carolina, that told its viewers the problem was with CBS, not the local station: