When do sun outages happen and how long they last?
Sun outages occur every year in fall and spring, and last approximately a week each time.
This fall, solar interference will take place between October 5 through October 11. The exact time and duration will vary from channel to channel. This is due to channels being received off different satellites in the arc. Each satellite is affected at a different time as the sun moves across the satellite arc.
The approximate times for signal loss will be between 10:00 AM to 5:30 PM ET or 9:00 AM to 4:30 PM CT and will last for approximately five to fifteen minutes depending on the size of the dish.
What kind of outage/interference can I expect?
During the sun outage, you may experience brief occurrences of image pixelation or audio distortion on affected channels. Depending on satellite alignment, the picture may even momentarily freeze or go to a black screen.
How can I tell if it's caused by a sun outage or if something’s wrong with my cable?
Factors identifying interference as a likely sun outage:
- A sun outage happens only during the day between 10:00 AM to 5:30 PM ET or 9:00 AM to 4:30 PM CT (no sun, no interference)
- A sun outage will be brief, lasting for just a few minutes—from approximately five to fifteen minutes.
What should I do during a sun outage?
Solar satellite interference is out of the control of service providers. We apologize for any disruption of this type and can assure you this is a temporary disruption.
The best course of action is patience as your signal gets back to normal typically within five to fifteen minutes.
