Students planning to squeeze a little VH1 into their afternoons had an unpleasant surprise Monday, as 11 of the 20 channels on Northwestern’s Internet cable system were not functioning.

The cause of the problem was the loss of a cable signal from AT&T, which supplies NU’s cable. The 11 channels were out from 11:40 a.m. until about 3:40 p.m.

Although new technology used in the cable system might seem to be the likely culprit, the outage was the same kind of typical failure that could occur in any household, said Tom Board, NU’s director for technology support services.

Cable signals are interrupted when there is a problem with the satellite receiver that picks up television signals and transfers them to the cable lines, which then feed into homes, said an AT&T spokesperson.

In NU’s case, the signals are converted into digital format for transmission over the university’s computer network.

“We just happen to have 6,000 taps on this signal,” Board said.

Technicians must repair the satellite to regain reception. Such outages occur about once a week but in different areas, the AT&T representative said.

Board said Information Technology learned of the problem immediately from an IT bulletin. They contacted AT&T, which began working to restore the signal.

Although the problem is fixed for now, Board couldn’t say it will not happen again. Just as home outages are unpredictable, there’s no way to tell when a signal could go down, he said.

Jenny Selzer, a Weinberg junior, said she and most people she knew weren’t affected because they had class.

“Eleven to three is kind of an off-time,” she said.