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PRESS RELEASE — Friday, October 10, 2008
For Information Call Karen Svea Johnson at 208-373-7369
or Anne Peterson at 208-373-7368Idaho Public Television To Be Off-Air Four Hours in East Idaho Tuesday; Crews Work To Install Emergency Generator
The Idaho Public Television signal in East Idaho will be interrupted for up to four hours during the daytime on Tuesday (October 14) while a crew installs equipment at the transmitter site.
The outage, which affects both the KISU-Channel 10 analog and KISU-Channel 17 digital signals, begins at 11:00 a.m. All IdahoPTV channels are scheduled to return to the air by 3:00 p.m.
Work is underway to install a new backup generator at the transmitter site to replace one that had to be removed in 2002 during construction of the digital television tower and transmitter. The new generator can provide the power necessary to keep both transmitters on the air during a power outage.
On Tuesday, the crew is connecting a transfer switch, which will be able to change the power source for the building from Idaho Power to the generator. Once the switch is installed, the remaining work will not interrupt television broadcasts.
Since 2002, there have been approximately 379 hours of power outages at the remote mountain site. In 2007, there were 198 hours of interrupted power, most due to a wildfire that burned 57 power poles.