blackout

Other customers have complained about increasing outages, including the preventative blackouts the company uses to try to stop its equipment from sparking fires in hot, windy weather.

Yukelson also questioned whether the electrical grid can accommodate the additional load, saying that customers are already subjected to blackouts and brownouts during the summer.

The two sides agreed Wednesday to continue talks to resolve their differences over distribution deal terms, pausing the threat of a channel blackout days before the start of the college football and NFL seasons.

A prolonged blackout could interrupt the start of Fox’s NFL season that begins on Sept. 7.

"We were without adequate food and provisions. The ship had run out of diesel and was in complete blackout," Mr Singh told the BBC.