Connecticut Public TV Apologizes for “Downton Abbey” Mishap

Connecticut Public TV is apologizing to "Downton Abbey" fans after cutting the season five premiere off early and will be rebroadcasting the show several times over the next week.

The program, shown Sunday night on CPTV, ended abruptly a few minutes before it was scheduled to end, then went to an ad for the Smilow Cancer Hospital at Yale-New Haven, followed by alternative public TV programming.

CPTV blamed a technical problem and said on its website it's "profoundly sorry and embarrassed by this mistake." The public television station will re-broadcast the program at 1 a.m. Monday and is offering it online.

The show will also reair on Thursday at 8:30 p.m. and Sunday at 7:30 p.m. on CPTV and on CPTV4U on Tuesday at 9 p.m. and Saturday at 3 p.m., according to a Tweet from Connecticut Public Broadcasting Network.

"We understand that this was an episode you’ve been waiting to see for months and we know how disappointed you must be. We share your disappointment," the post on the CPTV Web site says.

Viewers took to Twitter to complain. "This is a Downton disaster," one Tweet said.

The very popular British series follows the lives of an aristocratic family and their servants in 1920s England.

CPTV said in a statement that it is currently examining how the technical problem occurred and is working to prevent it from repeating.

Officials from the station went on to say there are indications that the Connecticut network was not the only PBS station in the country affected by this issue.
 

Copyright AP - Associated Press
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