Transmitter site work to take WBAY, WPNE off air Friday morning

Six local broadcast channels will go dark for six hours Friday morning to facilitate transmitter repair diagnosis.  The process will leave antenna viewers, and some cable and satellite customers, without WBAY and Wisconsin Public Television starting at 9 AM.

The repairs will also affect the two broadcasters' digital subchannels.

Besides those who rely on over-the-air antenna signals, some local cable customers and those with DirecTV service will not receive the channels until the diagnosis is completed, which is expected to take about six hours.  DISH Network, AT&T U-Verse and Time Warner Cable will not be affected by repairs, though the Green Bay Press-Gazette reports that Time Warner will only be able to carry WBAY on analog channel 3, not high-definition channel 1003.

The transmitter site, on Scray's Hill, southeast of Green Bay, is operating at low-power as of this evening, which may affect antenna viewers in outlying areas.  Station officials are speculating an electrical problem, and appropriate personnel are expected to be on site to diagnose the problem tomorrow, according to the newspaper report.  After that time, repairs are expected to be made, which may require a second shutdown.

This is not the first transmitter problem WBAY has experienced since the digital transition last year.  In October, WBAY scrambled to get their transmitter back to full power before carrying ESPN's broadcast of the Packers/Vikings game.

In the past few years, Wisconsin winters have not been kind to Green Bay broadcasters.  Last winter, WLUK suffered two separate transmitter incidents -- one due to a water pump failure and the other due to ice damage.  They also encountered a "fried tube" on their digital signal back in March 2007.  In February 2008, WFRV's analog transmitter went dark for days while repairs took place.

Source: 

WBAY

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Green Bay Press-Gazette