Netflix wasn’t feeling the love Sunday night after a technical glitch forced the streamer to scuttle its live reunion show for Love Is Blind.
Following the debacle, Netflix’s no-longer-live Love Is Blind reunion special began trending for all the wrong reasons, with hoards of frustrated viewers venting on Twitter about the failed livestream.
The new plan is for the now pre-recorded Love Is Blind special to stream at 3 p.m. Eastern on Monday.
Netflix had been steadily beating its drums for the Love Is Blind reunion show, and untold millions of fans were primed and ready for the special to air on Sunday night.
But when the 8 p.m. Eastern air time arrived, eager Love Is Blind fans were greeted with an error message that read: “Pardon the interruption: We’re having trouble playing Netflix. Please check your internet connection and try again. Error Code M7037-1103.”
Needless to say, Love Is Blind fans weren’t amused.
Netflix’s Twitter feed did its best to do damage control, tweeting “Promise #LoveIsBlindLIVE will be worth the wait…” shortly after the live special was supposed to begin streaming.
But after 90 minutes of static (well, that’s how it used to work, anyway), Netflix finally threw in the towel:
To everyone who stayed up late, woke up early, gave up their Sunday afternoon… we are incredibly sorry that the Love is Blind Live Reunion did not turn out as we had planned. We’re filming it now and we’ll have it on Netflix as soon as humanly possible. Again, thank you and sorry.
Naturally, social media lit up with complaints from annoyed viewers, who channeled their frustration into some clever memes about Netflix’s live streaming stumble.
Netflix still hasn’t revealed the cause of its Love Is Blind live-streaming woes, but presumably a technical glitch was to blame.
While Netflix was among the first out of the gates when it comes to video streaming, the streamer has been conspicuously late when it comes to live events.
Chris Rock’s Selective Outrage comedy special marked Netflix’s very first live streaming event, and the much anticipated Love Is Blind reunion schedule was supposed to be the second.
Meanwhile, competing streamers have been busy with their own live events, namely sports. Amazon Prime Video streamed Thursday Night Football games live last season without any serious problems, Apple has its Friday Night Baseball games, Peacock managed to pull off live Olympics coverage last year, and Disney+ streamed Dancing With the Stars live.
I have little doubt that Netflix will eventually get its live-streaming ducks in a row, but Sunday’s Love Is Blind belly flop made the wrong kind of splash.
Author: Ben Patterson, Senior Writer
Ben has been writing about technology and consumer electronics for more than 20 years. A PCWorld contributor since 2014, Ben joined TechHive in 2019, where he covers smart speakers, soundbars, and other smart and home-theater devices. You can follow Ben on Twitter.