So what do the series finale of ABC’s “LOST”, a “zombie” satellite, and your cable TV service have in common?  Fortunately for LOST fans, nothing.  At least not anymore.

There’s been a lot of buzz about the final season of LOST.  How will it all end?  What’s the real story behind the island, the survivors and the others?  As last night proved, we may never know the answer to all of our questions, so we might as well enjoy the finale for what it was – the end of one of the best shows on television.  However, at least one person was focused on a totally different aspect of the LOST finale.  It’s total interruption.

While looking for local broadcast times during dinner with friends this weekend, I stumbled across an interesting article by Ian O’Neil on Discovery News.  I immediately read his story out loud, because it was the kind of real life news that truly was better than fiction.  Who could’ve come up with something as outlandish as a “zombie satellite” ruining Sunday’s finale from the depths of space?  Well, you can’t say he didn’t try to warn us.

O’Neil opens his analysis with the shockingly straightforward, “Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but there could be a serious interruption to one of the most anticipated television events of the year.”  At that point, I had to share.

According to O’Neil, the Galaxy 15 satellite, launched in April of this year, encountered a solar storm causing it to lose communication with its controllers.  Now, the satellite is orbiting Earth with no contact below.  Hence, the “zombie satellite”.  The bigger problem (for us anyways) was the likelihood of the rogue satellite causing interference with AMC-11, the satellite used to broadcast cable TV to much of the United States.  O’Neil claimed that the satellite could actually knock out cable TV for up to two weeks, including last night’s LOST finale!

Fortunately, it would appear that we’ve averted catastrophe.  For now.  Last night, the LOST series finale aired without incident.  This morning, people all over the country enjoyed their coffee alongside their favorite morning television anchors.  All was right with the world.

Of course, Galaxy 15 is still orbiting with no contact from Earth below and a severe cable TV outage may still be in our future.  You never know.

To learn more about the “zombie satellite” , you can also check out Brian Weeden’s article on the Space Review.

Tags: cable tv service, satellite

This entry was posted on Monday, May 24th, 2010 at 1:20 pm and is filed under Cable TV, Satellite TV. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.