Broadcasters impacted by widespread CrowdStrike outage

Major broadcasters around the world are facing technical difficulties July 19, 2024, due to a widespread IT outage affecting Microsoft Windows-based systems. 

NBC News, MSNBC and Sky News are among those facing broadcast interruptions and having to use backup options to bring coverage to viewers.

Sky News, for example, began encountering technical difficulties around 5 a.m. local time and switched to airing documentaries at 7 a.m. The channel went off-air approximately an hour later. It resumed broadcasting at 8:50 a.m. with a modified studio setup, lacking graphics, teleprompter and pre-recorded segments. After a brief news update, the channel went off-air again before resuming at 9 a.m.

David Rhodes, Sky News chairman, stated on social media platform X that the network was unable to broadcast live TV that morning.

On MSNBC’s “Morning Joe,” talent noted the show may look different, with the network’s primary New York City studio not in use. Co-hosts Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski were anchoring from their remote Florida studio. Willie Geist broadcast from an insert-style setup.

Later in the morning of July 19, MSNBC returned to using Studio 3A, which is where portions of “Morning Joe” normally broadcast from. 

NBC News also produced a network level special report on the situation.

BBC’s CBBC was also sidelined, with a cheerful continuity loop playing noting “Sorry! Something’s gone wrong.”

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Australian broadcasters, including Sky News Australia, ABC, SBS, Channel7 and Channel 9 also reported issues. On Sky News Australia, video walls showed Microsoft Window’s Recovery screens with teleprompters also blank.

Microsoft 365 reported on social media that it was investigating an issue affecting user access to various Microsoft 365 applications and services as well as issues with its Azure cloud computing service.

Cybersecurity company CrowdStrike issued a statement addressing the situation. The technical issues were later traced to a security update CrowdStrike rolled out.

The company said it was working with customers affected by a defect in a content update for Windows hosts. CrowdStrike clarified that Mac and Linux hosts were not impacted and that the issue was not a security incident or cyberattack.

Companies using Windows but not CrowdStrike’s Falcon Sensor cybersecurity solution do not appear to be affected, including multiple major broadcasters.

The company stated that the problem had been identified and isolated, and that a fix had been deployed. In order to grab that fix, however, it appears that most systems, including individual computers, will need to be rebooted. 

The outage, which has spread to other industries include airlines, hospitals, emergency services and retail stores, has caused issues around the the globe.

This story has been updated with additional information.