It Was NBC’s Goof; NFL Is Off the Hook

It turns out that NBC, not the NFL, was to blame for Los Angeles television viewers missing the final 21 seconds of Sunday’s Miami Dolphin-Cincinnati Bengal game.

NBC spokesman Ed Markey on Sunday said his network had to cut away from the game because the NFL regarded Los Angeles as a secondary market for the San Diego Chargers and NBC was required to show the Chargers’ 1 o’clock game at Pittsburgh in its entirety.

But NFL spokesman Greg Aiello on Monday said that was not the case, and Markey said, “I stand corrected.”

Aiello said, “It was, as we said at first, a miscommunication problem, and it won’t happen again.”

NBC’s mistake was particularly ill timed because Cincinnati, which lost, 26-23, was driving for a potential game-tying field goal or game-winning touchdown when the plug was pulled in the middle of a play.

Things got worse when NBC went to a commercial break and then a pregame analysis from the announcers in Pittsburgh before the kickoff of the Charger-Steeler game.

NBC didn’t even offer highlights of the Bengal-Dolphin finish. Viewers had to switch to Fox to see how the game ended.

Infuriated viewers swamped the NBC switchboard in Burbank with complaint calls.