# Ball was 7 seconds late. **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [January 1, 2017, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ball-was-7-seconds-late/776062 "2017-01-01T16:32:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Hari\_Seldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hari_seldon/32/5173_2.png) [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2017, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ball-was-7-seconds-late/776062/1 "2017-01-01T16:32:13Z")
On account of the leap second, I kept comparing ABC’s clock on the ball drop to the clock on my set-top box which gets its time from the cable company. How do I know the latter was accurate? Every day at 1 PM, the CBC broadcasts the “Dominion time signal” and I had compared them yesterday and the cable time was right on. Whether I could have accurately detected a one second difference (what I was hoping to see) is perhaps questionable, but a 7 second difference in unmistakable. And the ABC clocks 0:00 coincided exactly with the ball hitting the ground and lighting up. Clearly ABC knew this was going to happen and adjusted their clock accordingly. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2017, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ball-was-7-seconds-late/776062/2 "2017-01-01T16:42:44Z")
> [@Hari\_Seldon](#): > > On account of the leap second, I kept comparing ABC’s clock on the ball drop to the clock on my set-top box which gets its time from the cable company. Our cable box turned 12:00 several seconds before the countdown at the Space Needle reached zero. The countdown may not have even started until several seconds after the clock showed midnight. ---
**Author:** ![Quimby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/22d042/32.png) [@Quimby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quimby)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2017, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ball-was-7-seconds-late/776062/3 "2017-01-01T16:59:25Z")
I also noticed ABC did not match my cable box or phone. ---
**Author:** ![That\_Don\_Guy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/that_don_guy/32/538_2.png) [@That\_Don\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/That_Don_Guy)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2017, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ball-was-7-seconds-late/776062/4 "2017-01-01T17:10:35Z")
My guess is, it was the “seven-second delay” that pretty much all live shows have, so they can censor dirty words and black out things like nudity. (The ABC clock, generated in the studio, would not need a delay.) Besides - “only” seven seconds? I have AT&T U-Verse, which has an inherent 15-second delay on all shows, so midnight was 22 seconds late. The Sky News coverage from London that goes through Roku was almost two minutes delayed. Also, it appeared that the “official start of the ball drop,” when the mayor pushes down on a giant ball one minute before midnight, did not happen as the singing of “Imagine” ran long. ---
**Author:** ![sich\_hinaufwinden](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c5a1d2/32.png) [@sich\_hinaufwinden](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sich_hinaufwinden)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2017, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ball-was-7-seconds-late/776062/5 "2017-01-01T17:11:08Z")
Aren’t live broadcasts sometimes run through a several second delay in case they have to beep profanity, etc.? > **[Broadcast delay](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Broadcast_delay)** > > In radio and television, broadcast delay is an intentional delay when broadcasting live material, technically referred to as a deferred live. Such a delay may be to prevent mistakes or unacceptable content from being broadcast. Longer delays lasting several hours can also be introduced so that the material is aired at a later scheduled time (such as the prime time hours) to maximize viewership. Tape delays lasting several hours can also be edited down to remove filler material or to trim a broadc... eta: NINJA’d ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2017, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ball-was-7-seconds-late/776062/6 "2017-01-01T17:17:46Z")
It’s more likely compression pipeline latency. It’s possible to compensate for this when broadcasting the station time etc, but when it comes to coverage of a public time event (such as New Year’s eve), there’s no way to compensate. ---
**Author:** ![Seanette](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/seanette/32/9139_2.png) [@Seanette](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Seanette)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2017, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ball-was-7-seconds-late/776062/7 "2017-01-01T17:31:53Z")
> [@That\_Don\_Guy](#): > > My guess is, it was the “seven-second delay” that pretty much all live shows have, so they can censor dirty words and black out things like nudity. (The ABC clock, generated in the studio, would not need a delay.) Seems like a reasonable explanation on the East Coast, but what about West Coast viewers who were watching a recorded show? 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2017, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ball-was-7-seconds-late/776062/8 "2017-01-01T20:16:28Z")
> [@That\_Don\_Guy](#): > > My guess is, it was the “seven-second delay” that pretty much all live shows have, so they can censor dirty words and black out things like nudity. AKA, in the case of CNN, the “Kathy Griffin Rule.” 😉 ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2017, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ball-was-7-seconds-late/776062/9 "2017-01-01T22:24:32Z")
> [@Seanette](#): > > Seems like a reasonable explanation on the East Coast, but what about West Coast viewers who were watching a recorded show? 🙂 Why go to the trouble of moving everything back 7 seconds in the program/commercial line up? ---
**Author:** ![Hari\_Seldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hari_seldon/32/5173_2.png) [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2017, 1:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ball-was-7-seconds-late/776062/10 "2017-01-02T13:37:45Z")
Ah, mystery explained. BTW, NBC seemed to have a 14 second delay. ---
**Author:** ![Spiderman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spiderman/32/230_2.png) [@Spiderman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spiderman)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2017, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ball-was-7-seconds-late/776062/11 "2017-01-02T15:04:33Z")
Maybe it was just trying to delay until when Trump takes office. ---
**Author:** ![Duckster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duckster/32/1244_2.png) [@Duckster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duckster)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2017, 11:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ball-was-7-seconds-late/776062/12 "2017-01-03T23:42:55Z")
When CNN rebroadcast their NYE NYC celebrations on the west coast, CNN was six minutes early counting down to midnight! ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2017, 3:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ball-was-7-seconds-late/776062/13 "2017-01-07T03:22:27Z")
I have a cable box, a Roku and an OTA, and I can also watch on my phone. If I decide to watch the same program on all four devices, it comes in at four different times. ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2017, 4:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ball-was-7-seconds-late/776062/14 "2017-01-07T04:19:58Z")
If my ball had been seven seconds late I’d still be single. ---
**Author:** ![aktep](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f0a364/32.png) [@aktep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aktep)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2017, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ball-was-7-seconds-late/776062/15 "2017-01-07T16:13:57Z")
> [@kunilou](#): > > I have a cable box, a Roku and an OTA, and I can also watch on my phone. If I decide to watch the same program on all four devices, it comes in at four different times. When I had Uverse, it used to annoy me that if I turned the same program on three different TVs, there could be as much as a 10 second spread between them.