Netflix blames technical bug for live ‘Love Is Blind’ snafu

Netflix Co-Chief Executive Officer Greg Peters blamed a technical “bug” for why the company had to delay its “Love Is Blind” reunion special.

The reality TV special, originally set to run live at 8 p.m. ET Sunday night, eventually showed up on Netflix as a taped special on Monday.

“We’re really sorry to have disappointed so many people,” Peters said during the company’s first-quarter earnings conference call Tuesday. “We didn’t meet the standard that we expect from ourselves to serve our members.”

Peters explained Netflix had accidentally introduced a bug in an attempt to improve live broadcasting after airing a Chris Rock comedy special, “Selective Outrage,” last month. Netflix didn’t notice the technical error in internal testing because the bug only showed itself under the strain of millions of simultaneous livestreams from its subscribers, he said.

“From a technical perspective, we’ve got the infrastructure,” Peters said. “We hate it when these things, but we’ll learn from it and we’ll get better. We do have the fundamental infrastructure that we need.”

About 6.5 million viewers ultimately watched the “Love Is Blind” special on Netflix, Peters added.

Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos said there will be more live specials for popular reality TV.

“A reunion show that’s going to generate news and buzz, it really does play better live,” Sarandos said. “We’re super disappointed to not be able to come across with the live product for everyone who wanted it on the ‘Love is Blind’ reunion, but we’re super thrilled people love the show. Some of those results oriented shows do play a little better live.”

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