CBS’ ‘New Year’s Eve Live: Nashville’s Big Bash’ Special Faces Mid-Show Outage

CBS faced a technical snafu that knocked the live broadcast of “New Year’s Eve Live: Nashville’s Big Bash” off the air for about 12 minutes on Wednesday night.

In the interim the network ran an episode of “Matlock,” an abrupt shift that greatly confused viewers who had tuned in for a selection of country music superstars performing from Nashville and other locations in the lead-up to midnight. The interruption came about 50 minutes in to the five and a half hour special.

Related Stories

'Sinners' Actor Yao, Jodi Long Join Judy Lei's Indie Comedy 'Biz of Viz' (EXCLUSIVE)

'One Battle After Another,' 'Hamnet' and 'Sinners' Lead London Critics' Circle Film Awards Nominations

The circumstances behind the technical problems were not entirely clear.

At about 8:50 p.m. PT, singer-actor Lainey Wilson was in the middle of a tune when suddenly it was interrupted. Soon thereafter a voice mentioned “technical difficulties,” and after that CBS cut to a string of commercials. Those were followed by an episode of “Matlock” that appeared to start in progress. Finally, after about 12 and a half minutes, hosts Bert Kreischer and country singer Hardy came back on and apologized for the interruption. Singer Gretchen Wilson then took the stage.

The event is staged at Bicentennial Capitol Mall State Park in Nashville. The 2025 telecast featured appearances by such country notables as Jason Aldean, Bailey Zimmerman, CeCe Winans and the Fisk Jubilee Singers, Dierks Bentley, Brooks & Dunn, Rascal Flatts, Riley Green, Marcus King, Megan Moroney, Zach Top, Keith Urban and Stephen Wilson Jr.

“Nashville’s Big Bash” is executive produced by Robert Deaton and Mary Hilliard Harrington in partnership with Music City Inc., the foundation of the Nashville Convention & Visitors Corp.

(Pictured: Lainey Wilson performs at the Nashville’s Big Bash event telecast live on CBS)