There are obviously obstacles that broadcasters encounter when it comes to presenting international events to a wide audience. But it's difficult to think of a network that has struggled more with audio syncing than CBS has in the Champions League.
The persistent issues reached an embarrassing level on Wednesday.
As both Atletico Madrid and Arsenal took the field for the first leg of the UEFA Champions League semifinal, fans watching the match in the U.S. quickly noticed that something was off with the broadcast. The audio was about two seconds out of sync, as announcer Chris Wittyngham's calls played before the gameplay on the screen.
Social videos appeared to have the sound in sync, but that wasn't the case for viewers watching on both CBS and Paramount Plus.
ARSENAL STRIKE FIRST ⚡️Viktor Gyökeres clinical from the spot to put the English side in front 💥 pic.twitter.com/IBVZRLgvQC
— CBS Sports Golazo ⚽️ (@CBSSportsGolazo) April 29, 2026
Soccer fan justifiably fuming as the audio remained out of sync for the entire first half.
It's amazing that P+ has had an audio/video sync problem through the entire Champions League season.Maybe it's a feed problem, maybe not, but whatever the issue, amazing it's been allowed to persist the entire UCL season.The audio is seconds ahead of the video right now.
.@CBSSports @CBSSportsGolazo fix the audio in the Arsenal Atleti match.. it's ahead of the video https://t.co/BInXKKLQKv
As if it's not bad enough that CBS is on such a weak signal in the greater Cincinnati area that many homes can't pick it up on an antenna, they can't get the audio right for one of the biggest matches in the world. We used to be a proper country.
The CBS audio is like 5 seconds ahead of the picture
@CBSSports the UCL game's audio is like 5+ seconds ahead of the video. this is unacceptable stuff in a game of this magnitude
Yo CBS the announcer audio is way ahead of the gameplay.
It's actually inexcusable that this keeps happening with CBS.
This article originally appeared on For The Win: CBS had persistent audio issues during Champions League broadcast