AFCON 2023: Football fans drag Sky Sports for poor coverage of Senegal opener

Broadcast streams on various television outlets, including Sky Sports and Super Sport, faced significant disruptions, severely impacting the viewing experience.

As the game unfolded, fans were left bewildered when the broadcast streams suddenly cut out. Sky Sports News presenter Vicky Gomersall explained the situation, stating, as reported by Daily Mail, "We have to apologise because the world feed has gone down so nobody can see the pictures." 

Similarly, BeIN Sports attributed the issue to a 'satellite problem'. The technical difficulties were not limited to visuals, as viewers also reported a lack of commentary during the broadcast, with only crowd noise audible for nearly 15 minutes at the start of the game.

The situation didn't improve quickly. Various streams, including those from Sky Sports and Super Sport, went down again shortly after being restored. 

Sky Sports displayed a message apologizing for the fault, while Super Sport informed viewers that engineers were working on resolving the issue. 

Sky Sports also had to cut back to their news studio, with Gomersall providing match updates amidst the ongoing technical difficulties.

The troubles persisted through half-time, leaving viewers frustrated. When the images returned at the start of the second half, the commentary was still absent, leading to mounting criticism from fans on social media platforms. 

Disappointed viewers expressed their frustrations with comments like, "No commentary Afcon is a joke," and "So poor that the AFCON coverage has no commentary."

Sky Sports, tasked with broadcasting all 52 fixtures of the tournament live, had already apologized for sound issues earlier in the match. 

The persistent problems raised questions about the quality of coverage, leaving fans disappointed and voicing their concerns over the handling of such a significant sporting event.