An Ontario-based television station was forced to issue an apology to viewers after its morning news program was briefly interrupted by breaking hardcore gay porn.

The gaffe occurred at approximately 9:30 AM last Friday, when the cable feed transmitting CHCH's News Now AM to Cogeco and Shaw Cable customers was temporarily replaced with the feed of an adult TV channel, which happened to be airing gay porn at the time.

The transmission disruption lasted some three minutes.

CHCH news director Mike Katrycz issued a statement of apology to viewers on the network's website, claiming the blunder was the result of an error made during the repair of severed cable lines. "Apparently some cable lines had been cut, and in the splicing back together some inappropriate content went to air," Katrycz said. "Again it was beyond the control of CHCH, but we do apologize to our viewers."

Cogeco, Shaw Cable, and the Canadian Broadcast Standards Council have all launched independent investigations into the matter.

[image via Shutterstock]