Sinclair Broadcast Group-owned FOX affiliate KBTV-4 and co-owned CBS affiliate KFDM-6, in the Beaumont-Port Arthur, Tex., market, are back on the air as of Monday afternoon. Both stations were out of service as of the Commission’s 10am Central report released on Labor Day and sustained considerable storm damage.
“We lost our signals when Tropical Storm Harvey swamped the area with several feet of rain and our primary and backup transmitters in Vidor filled with a foot of water,” the Sinclair stations stated on their respective websites. “Our staff has worked tirelessly to restore the signal and got it back late this afternoon.”
KFDM and KBTV asked that local viewers rescan their television sets and tune in to 4.1 for Fox and 6.1 for KFDM, should MVPD service not be available.
The return of KFDM and KBTV means that no television station remains off the air following the impact of Storm Harvey on the Texas Gulf Coast region.
Three religious noncomms remain off the air, in addition to Gow Media’s KFNC-FM “ESPN 97.5,” which is based east of Houston. An LPFM and two FM translators were also down as of 10am Sunday.
Meanwhile, cellular service remains spotty in a widely affected region, underscoring the importance of broadcast media in times of emergency.
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