A malfunction in the powerline that provides power to the Lower Red translator site on Red Mountain has caused television and radio outages in the Aspen area and points down valley. The outage is impacting TV stations that rely on the translator to rebroadcast “over-the-air” signals in mountainous terrain, including GrassRoots and Community Government television valley-wide. Over-the-air radio and network television in the Aspen area is also impacted by the outage. Cable customers are not affected.
“We are working to assess the cause of the outage and come up with solutions,” said Pitkin County Communications Site Manager, Jeff Krueger. “Our temporary solution is to use propane to power the translator site over the short term. This will only provide temporary and intermittent power to the site,” Krueger said.
Other solutions could include repairing or replacing the half-mile-long buried power line or finding alternate translator locations nearby to provide over-the-air service in the affected areas.
“Unfortunately, there is no quick fix,” said Krueger. “We expect electric power to Pitkin County’s translator on Lower Red to be out indefinitely. We are working diligently to find a long term solution,” Krueger said.
Cable television and online radio and television service remain available in the translator outage area.
Media Contact: Phylis Mattice, Assistant County Manager - 970-319-4330