Sun Outages: Fall 2019

It’s time, once again, for a technical phenomenon called “sun outages,” “solar outage” or “solar satellite interference”. Sun outages occur twice a year, where you may experience some degree of television interference during this time that no television programming provider has control over.

What are Sun Outages?

When the sun is aligned with a satellite, solar radiation, an energy the sun is emitting, interferes with the satellite’s signal and thus causes a brief signal outage. These brief outages occur when the sun passes directly behind satellites transmitting cable signals

When do sun outages happen and how long they last?

Sun outages occur every year, in Fall and Spring, and last approximately about a week each time. This Fall, sun outages are expected between October 4th and October 13th 2019. The approximate times for signal loss will be between 11:00 am and 5:30pm.

What kind of outage/interference can I expect?

During the sun outage, you may experience a pixelated picture, picture freezes, or audio distortions for a brief period of time.

How can I tell if it's caused by a sun outage or something’s wrong with my cable?

The sun outage happens only during the day between 11am and 5:30pm (no sun, no interference) and is brief, lasting for a few minutes—from 5 minutes, up to 45 minutes. These outages only affect television service and should not have any affect on internet or phone.

If you have any questions, please feel free to call our Customer Service Team at 877-727-2288 for assistance with your MTC service.