History Main / WeAreExperiencingTechnicalDifficulties

** Radio stations (including popular music stations) also reverted to sombre and/or classical music (ie the Twin Peaks theme) for the entire morning, with a repeating message (from Independent Radio News for the commercial stations) as explanation. This continued for two or three days, and even when normal programming resumed it seemed that 'Britpop' had not survived the interlude.

*** In the actual event, Creator/{{CBBC}} - which up to that point had been continuing to air normally, while most of the BBC’s other channels had already switched their broadcasts to BBC News to cover the developing situation - continued to show the regular-scheduled broadcast of ''Series/BluePeter'', then [[https://youtu.be/ZoflHZ9N3b0 ran a brief announcement from a continuity host that there was important news]], ran a TV spot for ''WesternAnimation/ShaunTheSheep''[[note]] probably to buy a little more time for the anchor of the CBBC's news programme to change into somber clothes, which was part of the plans on how to announce the death of the Queen[[/note]], then went to a special on the Queen's death from the CBBC's news show, Newsround. After spending time announcing and reflecting on the Queen's passing, the channel went back to regular programming, possibly as a safe-haven for kids to go to if the news became too overwhelming (much like some children's channels in the US and Canada did during 9/11). However, Creator/CBeebies averted this, and just played the usual goodnight song. Probably because the channel was going to close down mere minutes after the announcement, and it probably didn't want to scare some toddlers during the more soothing programming played towards the end of the day.

* This happens in the ''WebAnimation/ZeroPunctuation'' review of ''[[VideoGame/{{STALKER}} S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Clear Sky]]'' when the video seemingly begins to stutter like a broken CD. Cut to a still image Yahtzee and an imp playing Tic-tac-toe (see Test Card F in the 'Real Life' section below) whilst smooth jazz plays.

*** Of the other major BBC channels, [=BBC1=] and BBC News were taking the story of the Queen's downturn in health live, and so the lowering of the Union Flag shown live on TV became the ''de facto'' announcement of the Queen's death. Immediately after that shot, [=BBC1=] and BBC News, as well as BBC Parliament and BBC Alba(which had been showing a ''Tintin'' movie) switched to BBC News' announcer delivering the initial announcement. They were joined a minute later by BBC Scotland (which inexplicably dumped out of the announcement soon after to go back to regular programming briefly). BBC2 was airing a sporting event, and did not pick up the news until the BBC as a whole interrupted programming for the official news. And even then, the Welsh-language BBC waited until the program being broadcasted at that time completed to break into Welsh-language coverage of the Queen's death, roughly 5 minutes after the rest of the BBC had already started coverage. Averted by BBC Three and Four, as when they started up for the evening, both channels were suspended, [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d8dRXmTVxWY replaced by a slide telling viewers to switch over to BBC One for an important news announcement.]]

*** In the actual event, Creator/{{CBBC}} - which up to that point had been continuing to air normally, while most of the BBC’s other channels had already switched their broadcasts to BBC News to cover the developing situation - continued to show the regular-scheduled broadcast of ''Series/BluePeter'', then [[https://youtu.be/ZoflHZ9N3b0 ran a brief announcement from a continuity host that there was important news]], ran a TV spot for ''WesternAnimation/ShaunTheSheep''[[note]] probably to buy a little more time for the anchor of the CBBC's news programme to change into somber clothes, which was part of the plans on how to announce the death of the Queen[[/note]], then went to a special on the Queen's death from the CBBC's news show, Newsround. After spending time announcing and reflecting on the Queen's passing, the channel went back to regular programming, possibly as a safe-haven for kids to go to if the news became too overwhelming (much like some children's channels in the US and Canada did during 9/11).
*** However, Creator/CBeebies averted this, and just played the usual goodnight song. Probably because the channel was going to close down mere minutes after the announcement, and it probably didn't want to scare some toddlers during the more soothing programming played towards the end of the day.
*** Of the other major BBC channels, [=BBC1=] and BBC News were taking the story of the Queen's downturn in health live, and so the lowering of the Union Flag shown live on TV became the ''de facto'' announcement of the Queen's death. Immediately after that shot, [=BBC1=] and BBC News, as well as BBC Parliament and BBC Alba(which had been showing a ''Tintin'' movie) switched to BBC News' announcer delivering the initial announcement. They were joined a minute later by BBC Scotland (which inexplicably dumped out of the announcement soon after to go back to regular programming briefly). BBC2 was airing a sporting event, and did not pick up the news until the BBC as a whole interrupted programming for the official news. And even then, the Welsh-language BBC waited until the program being broadcasted at that time completed to break into Welsh-language coverage of the Queen's death, roughly 5 minutes after the rest of the BBC had already started coverage.

*** However, CBeebies averted this, and just played the usual goodnight song. Probably because the channel was going to close down mere minutes after the announcement, and it probably didn't want to scare some toddlers during the more soothing programming played towards the end of the day.

* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CzUfOwM9kyU This small error]] from Canadian network CTV's feed of the 1987 Grammy Awards. The technical difficulty only lasts about two seconds, but it's slight NightmareFuel for those who didn't see it coming.

*** In the actual event, Creator/{{CBBC}} - which up to that point had been continuing to air normally, while most of the BBC’s other channels had already switched their broadcasts to BBC News to cover the developing situation - continued to show the regular-scheduled broadcast of ''Series/BluePeter'', then [[https://youtu.be/ZoflHZ9N3b0 ran a brief announcement from a continuity host that there was important news]], ran a TV spot for ''WesternAnimation/ShaunTheSheep''[[note]] probably to buy a little more time for the anchor of the CBBC's news programme to change into somber clothes, which was part of the plans on how to announce the death of the Queen[[/note]], then went to a special on the Queen's death from the CBBC's news show, Newsround. After spending time announcing and reflecting on the Queen's passing, the channel went back to regular programming, possibly as a safe-haven for kids to go to if the news became too overwhelming (much like some children's channels in the US did during 9/11).

*** In the actual event, Creator/{{CBBC}} - which up to that point had been continuing to air normally, while most of the BBC’s other channels had already switched their broadcasts to BBC News to cover the developing situation - continued to show the regular-scheduled broadcast of ''Series/BluePeter'', then ran a brief announcement from a continuity host that there was important news, ran a spot for ''WesternAnimation/ShaunTheSheep''[[note]] probably to buy a little more time for the anchor of the CBBC's news programme to change into somber clothes, which was part of the plans on how to announce the death of the Queen[[/note]], then went to a special on the Queen's death from the CBBC's news show, Newsround. After spending time announcing and reflecting on the Queen's passing, the channel went back to regular programming, possibly as a safe-haven for kids to go to if the news became too overwhelming (much like some children's channels in the US did during 9/11).

* [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Test_Card_F Test Card F]], the British test card which has been parodied and homaged just about everywhere, really was used in cases of technical difficulties at the [=BBC=], since it was the default image to be shown when the television transmitters were turned off or being switched over. Thus, whenever an actual technical difficulty hit the broadcast in the days of analogue TV (such as a transmitter breaking down), it was common to see Test Card F show up. The [=BBC=]'s website references this by having the iconic clown appear on Error 404 pages.

* While not quite technical difficulties per se, anyone in the USA who thought to flip through the channels as [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/September_11_attacks 9/11 happened]] ([[HeroicBSOD and no one can blame folks who didn't]]), saw that many non-news stations had some sort of card up saying they would be off the air for the rest of the day due to the events going on. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aYvbmCAz658 Examples of this from television stations in New York can be seen here.]] [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2W6tsQ6g3Xc Here's someone channel surfing on 9/11 using DirecTV]]. Several stations were in fact off-air, as they had been using a transmitter on the North Tower.

*** In the actual event, Creator/{{CBBC}} continued to show the regular-scheduled broadcast of ''Series/BluePeter'', then ran a brief announcement from a continuity host that there was important news, ran a spot for ''WesternAnimation/ShaunTheSheep''[[note]] probably to buy a little more time for the anchor of the CBBC's news programme to change into somber clothes[[/note]], then went to a special on the Queen's death from the CBBC's news show. After spending time announcing and reflecting on the Queen's passing, the channel went back to regular programming, possibly as a safe-haven for kids to go to if the news became too overwhelming (much like some children's channels in the US did during 9/11).

** If you ever hear the phrase "This is the [=BBC=] from London" when one of their channels suddenly stops regular broadcasting, someone significant has died (this will occur either as a result of the sudden death of a reigning monarch or another member of the Royal Family (the phrase was used on the deaths of Princess Diana, the Queen Mother, Prince Phillip and Queen Elizabeth II, as described above), or the death of the incumbent Prime Minister) or [[OhCrap something terrible has happened]].

* Whenever Creator/{{CITV}} in the U.K. used to run into technical problems, they'd play this animation [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UG8qAIk2MCU of robots attempting to fix the problem.]] Notably, one [=YouTuber=] recalled it being played repeatedly during a botched broadcast of a youth ''Series/{{Gladiators}}'' program, to the point when Steve Ryde came to announce the mic picked up not only him saying "[=CITV=] will be back, Monday" but also [[ScrewThisImOuttaHere him throwing down his script and walking off]].

** One sketch involved a children's show called "Jingleheimer Junction", with characters personifying [[FunWithAcronyms Friendship, Unity, Caring, and Kindness]]. And yes, they all had their initials written on them. Naturally, this trope was used repeatedly (telling viewers that they would be back in a "Jingleheimer Jiffy").

*** In the actual event, Creator/{{CBBC}} continued to show the regular-scheduled broadcast of ''Series/BluePeter'', then ran a brief announcement from a continuity host that there was important news, ran a spot for ''WesternAnimation/ShaunTheSheep''[[note]] probably to buy a little more time for the anchor of the CBBC's news programme to change into somber clothes[[/note]], then went to a special on the Queen's death from the CBBC's news show. After spending time announcing and reflecting on the Queen's passing, the channel went back to regular programming, possibly as a safe-haven for kids to go to if the news became too overwhelming (much like some children's channels in the US did during 9/11). *** Of the other major BBC channels, BBC1 and BBC News were taking the story of the Queen's downturn in health live, and so the lowering of the Union Flag shown live on TV became the ''de facto'' announcemnent of the Queen's death. Immediately after that shot, BBC1 and BBC News, as well as BBC Parliament and BBC Alba switched to BBC News' announcer delivering the initial announcement. They were joined a minute later by BBC Scotland (which inexplicably dumped out of the announcement soon after to go back to regular programming briefly). BBC2 was airing a sporting event, and did not pick up the news until the BBC as a whole interrupted programming for the official news. And even then, the Welsh-language BBC waited until the program being broadcasted at that time completed to break into Welsh-language coverage of the Queen's death, roughly 5 minutes after the rest of the BBC had already started coverage.

*** In the actual event, Creator/{{CBBC}} continued to show the regular-scheduled broadcast of ''Series/BluePeter'', then ran a brief announcement from a continuity host that there was important news, ran a spot for ''Series/ShaunTheSheep''[[note]] probably to buy a little more time for the anchor of the CBBC's news programme to change into somber clothes[[/note]], then went to a special on the Queen's death from the CBBC's news show. After spending time announcing and reflecting on the Queen's passing, the channel went back to regular programming, possibly as a safe-haven for kids to go to if the news became too overwhelming (much like some children's channels in the US did during 9/11).

** If you ever hear the phrase "This is the [=BBC=] from London" when one of their channels suddenly stops regular broadcasting, someone significant has died (this will occur either as a result of the sudden death of a reigning monarch or another member of the Royal Family (the phrase was used on the death of Princess Diana, as described above), or the death of the incumbent Prime Minister) or [[OhCrap something terrible has happened]].

** According to leaked information, when Queen Elizabeth II dies, each BBC channel on air at the time (as of 2018, BBC One, BBC Two and BBC Four, plus each of the BBC's radio stations, although it is unclear if Creator/{{CBBC}} or Creator/CBeebies will be involved) will automatically switch broadcast to a sequence of photographs of the Queen for a period of several minutes, during which the staff of [=BBC=] News will prepare for a breaking news report on the unfortunate situation.

* While not quite technical difficulties per se, anyone in the USA who thought to flip through the channels as [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/September_11_attacks 9/11 happened]] ([[HeroicBSOD and no one can blame folks who didn't]]), saw that many non-news stations had some sort of card up saying they would be off the air for the rest of the day due to the events going on. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aYvbmCAz658 Examples of this from television stations in New York can be seen here.]] [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2W6tsQ6g3Xc Here's someone channel surfing on 9/11 using DirecTV]]. Several stations were in fact off-air, as they had been using a transmitter on one of the towers.

* During the '50s and early '60s, West German TV would experience mysterious "Tonstörungen" (sound difficulties) whenever they were transmitting sports events of any kind - more precisely, whenever the East German anthem was played during the medal presentations.

* For the 2015 Super Bowl, Chevrolet made an ad showing a brief aerial shot of the stadium, before having the footage horribly glitch out and cut to black, as if the TV crew is having broadcast issues or the viewer's cable just went out. The commercial then asks: "what would you do if your TV went out?" before a message saying they could use the 4G Wi-Fi in the new Colorado to stream the game.

*** Independent Russian media broadcaster ''Dozhd'' [[https://old.reddit.com/r/ukraine/comments/t5ug4p/the_entire_staff_of_the_russian_tv_channel_the/ replicated the above moment]] when they were shut down by the Russian government during the 2022 Russo-Ukrainian War, signing off with the same ''Swan Lake'' recording.

** Radio stations (including popular music stations) also reverted to sombre and/or classical music (ie the Twin Peaks theme) for the entire morning, with a repeating message (from Independant Radio News for the commercial stations) as explanation. This continued for two or three days, and even when normal programming resumed it seemed that 'Britpop' had not survived the interlude.

* Early in it's history, Spacetoon, the Arab world's pioneering children's TV network, had a call-in program named ''Conan on Air'', wherein Amal Saad Al-Din, the Arabic voice of [[Manga/CaseClosed Conan Edogawa]], would answer viewer's calls in-character. However, the popularity caused troubles for the telephone network the show was connected to, and thus on the show's final airing [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Zv79oCe2tI Spacetoon aired a notice saying the show had to be taken off the air due to technical problems]].

* Many years before in Britain, back in TheFifties, Creator/TheBBC would go one better than a simple static message by showing its short "interlude films" (most famously "the potter's wheel") when there were breakdowns on set, which were frequent as most programmes (including drama) were broadcast live. (These films would also be shown during unscheduled breaks in programming, or for interludes in plays. A short feature showing some of the films can be found [[http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p0276jjh here.]])

* ''WebVideo/PoniesTheAnthology'' uses this to comic effect as a transition from one clip to the next.

* A staple of davemadson (yes, [[WebAnimation/LooneyTunesIntroBloopers THAT]] davemadson)'s "Funny Signs" series, "technical difficulties" cards are usually put up in the aftermath of a {{tantrum|Throwing}}, which sometimes plants at least one character in the ground.

* The hotel-room-esque Relaxation Chamber you start ''VideoGame/{{Portal 2}}'' in has a TV in the corner; the first time you wake up it's off, and the second time it displays this message. It's pretty redundant with everything else going on.

* The remake of the first [[VideoGame/TheJourneymanProject Journeyman Project]] game, ''Pegasus Prime'' does this. When you're comparing video footage to find [[MakeWrongWhatOnceWentRight how the past was changed]], one of them shows spokesperson Enrique Castillo being killed on-stage. The video then cuts to a futuristic TV test card, with the words "Please Stand By" over it.

* ''VideoGame/Fallout3'', ''VideoGame/FalloutNewVegas'' and ''VideoGame/{{Fallout 4}}'' all have a variation of the classic "Indian head" card that reads "Please Stand By" before loading the title card.

* In stage 2 of ''VideoGame/{{Space Channel 5}}'', a test pattern briefly pops up when Jaguar crashes Ulala's broadcast. It also happens in Part 2 when [[spoiler: Ulala is apparently killed by Purge, and one of these replaces the loading screen.]]

[[folder:Web Comics]]

* This was a RunningGag in the ''WesternAnimation/UltimateSpiderMan'' episode "Freaky". One instance had a screen with a chibi Franchise/SpiderMan holding a messed up video tape when {{Wolverine}} [[FreakyFridayFlip in Spider-Man's body]] slammed into the side of a building after a botched web-swing.

* ''WebAnimation/DeathBattle'': During the rundown for "Roshi vs. Jiraiya", Boomstick claims that [[TemptingFate nothing surprises him when it comes to]] ''Manga/{{Naruto}}''. Then Wiz hits a button on his arm and poofs into a Sexy Jutsu. Boomstick gets a nosebleed like a pressure washer, and then we cut to a card with Boomstick handling the camera while drunk off his ass.