KATV Broadcasting Again After Tower Collapse, KETS Analog Still Down
This article was published on Monday, January 14, 2008 8:50 PM CST in News
By Jason Wiest
THE MORNING NEWS
LITTLE
ROCK -- KATV Channel 7 was back on the air Monday after its 43-year-old
tower collapsed Friday, knocking the Little Rock television station and
part of Arkansas' public television network off the air.
Getting
KETS Channel 2's analog signal restored will take a few more weeks,
said Allen Weatherly, executive director of the Arkansas Educational
Television Network. The station, which part of the AETN network and
serves Central Arkansas, had its analog transmitter destroyed when
KATV's 2000-foot tower collapsed while workers were stringing new guy
wires.
One person was slightly injured in the collapse of what was the world's largest structure when it was built.
Within
about 30 minutes of the collapse, KATV began uplinking a signal through
Equity Broadcasting, according to Debbie Hook, an assistant to KATV
president Dale Nicholson.
"Everybody that received us before should be able to receive us now" through cable, satellite or analog feeds, Hook said Monday.
KATV will eventually broadcast from a new tower, the specifics of which have not been worked out yet, she said.
AETN
will purchase a lower power analog transmitter and mount it on its
digital tower, Weatherly said. He said he was not sure how much it
would cost.
AETN officials considered not restoring the analog
signal since Congress and the Federal Communications Commission have
mandated that analog television be updated to digital by February 2009,
Weatherly said. About 10 percent to 15 percent of AETN's viewership in
Arkansas watches via an analog signal, he said.
"Our whole
mission is universal service, and (analog viewers) deserve to see
programming as much as anybody else," Weatherly said.
He said the public television network serves about 1 million viewers in Arkansas.
The cause of the collapse is not yet known, Hook said.
Sponsored Links
Reader Comments (No comments posted.)
The following comments are provided by readers and are the sole responsibility of their authors. The Morning News does not review comments before their publication, nor do we guarantee their accuracy. By publishing a comment here you agree to abide by our comment policy. If you see a comment that violates our policy, please notify the web editor.
Click here to read the Editor's Blog
Not already registered?
