LoneStarCon 3 says its own upload stream caused the freezes and blackouts that marred last night’s broadcast of the Hugo Awards Ceremony. Ustream is not to blame.

LSC3 has posted this notice online —

LoneStarCon 3 apologizes for the interruptions to the live broadcast of the 2013 Hugo Awards Ceremony. These problems were caused by issues with the upload stream from the Convention to Ustream. LoneStarCon 3 wishes to make it clear that these technical difficulties were in no way due to Ustream, who have provided excellent support throughout this year’s event.

This is a sensitive subject because last year Ustream’s automated copyright violation monitors killed the broadcast midway through. Ustream did much to make amends to Chicon 7, and whitelisted LSC3’s event this year.

I kept one eye on the broadcast, which had over 700 viewers most of the time, and another eye on CoverItLive, where Mur Lafferty, Cheryl Morgan and Kevin Standlee were texting about the ceremony. It was a bonus when Lafferty had to step away to accept the Campbell Award. Standlee says CoverItLive peaked at 822 viewers.