Afternoon edition of Countdown falls off air

This afternoon’s edition of Countdown on Channel 4 was was off the air for thirteen minutes due to a playout fault.

Shortly before 2.30pm, the video and audio froze. Within seconds, the programme fell off air completely, leaving almost two minutes of black and silence before an animated ‘Programmes continue shortly’ graphic appeared.

For the next few minutes, this caption occasionally gave way to black and silence. Frozen frames from a couple of advertisements also popped up.

For the next nine minutes or so, the ‘Programmes continue shortly’ graphic remained on screen, in silence.

There was no verbal apology from the announcer during the 13-minute break in the programme.

Daytime announcements on Channel 4 are pre-recorded. It’s possible the technical issues prevented even a pre-recorded apology from being played out.

Thirteen minutes after it disappeared, Countdown finally returned – but from an earlier point in the programme than it was at when it fell off air.

To get things back on schedule, some ad breaks were dropped and a 45-minute, alternative edition of A Place in the Sun replaced the billed hour-long edition of the programme.

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