During Mississippi State University’s premier football game this season versus the University of Southern Mississippi on Saturday, the SEC network switched its telecast from the MSU vs USM game to the game between University of Arkansas and Auburn University due to a weather delay. 
The Auburn vs Arkansas game was suspended earlier that day due to lightning in their area which caused the delay. The game resumed only after MSU and USM had begun playing. The newly launched SEC network made a decision to make alternate arrangements on other channels for the MSU vs USM game and continued with the Auburn vs Arkansas telecast. The decision was published on SEC Network’s social media pages, including on the channel. 
Sid Salter, chief communications officer at MSU, said MSU, like 13 other conference members, has done everything possible to facilitate what on balance has been a highly successful launch of the  SEC  network. 
“That   effort has resulted in the most successful network launch in broadcast history, with more than 100 million subscribers and climbing. As in any new venture that relies on cutting-edge technologies, there is always the possibility of startup glitches. But the feedback MSU has received regarding both the SEC Network and our first game in the expanded Davis Wade Stadium has been overwhelmingly positive,” Salter said.
A MSU alumnus who chose to remain anonymous said if the network were going to put the Auburn vs Arkansas game back on, it should have gone to the alternate channel.
“It was MSU’s scheduled time, and that is who should have been on screen at the time. I appreciate that they wanted to show the end of the Auburn/Arkansas game, but we ended up just listening to the commentators talk because Auburn had pulled away. In the meantime, MSU fans missed a solid quarter of the game. It’s not good business practice to swap from a scheduled game to a game that’s been delayed.
People need to be able to trust they will be able to watch their team when it’s scheduled,” he said.
SEC Network’s Facebook post made immediately after the game was switched reads, “Southern Miss vs Mississippi State can be seen on the SEC Network Alternate channel until the end of the Arkansas vs Auburn game. Check local listings or go to SECNetwork.com/channel to find the channel number in your area. Mississippi St game is also available on WatchESPN.”
Bill Martin, assistant athletic director of media relations, said due to the weather delay in the Auburn vs. Arkansas game, fans were notified ahead of time that the game would switch to the SEC Network Alternate channel upon the resumption of Auburn-Arkansas.
“It was also available online, like all SEC Network and ESPN family of network broadcasts. The broadcasters communicated that during the broadcast as did Mississippi State and the SEC through various social media platforms,” Martin said.