An affiliate tipped us off: Luken Communications on 1/9 at 2PM ET sent all affiliates of their networks a short email that said as of today (1/10) their satellite Ku feed (they’ve had a combo feed of both the Ku and C band) of TuffTV, RetroTV and PBJ TV will cease and they will only be able to get them on the C-band.
That’s no problem for some affiliates, but others will need a technician to get to transmitter sites and as we know the weather has not been fantastic for much of us as of late.
So some affiliates are going to have to drop these multicast networks for a few days.
Matt Winn from Luken tells RBR-TVBR: “Luken Communications has delivered its numerous national networks, as well as its custom network feeds, to affiliates by C-band satellite service since 2008. C-band is the most reliable, industry standard satellite delivery method utilized by all major broadcast and cable networks. Although Luken has provided limited service on a Ku transponder for backup purposes, that service, which is highly susceptible to weather outages, was never intended to be used as the primary reception service by any affiliate.
Last April, Luken began contacting its affiliates about the planned discontinuance of the Ku service. Luken went to the extra measure of extending its Ku lease through the end of 2013 in order for those affiliates utilizing the Ku feed to make necessary preparations.
We regret any inconvenience the long planned discontinuance of service has caused our affiliates and viewers. We have asked our service provider for an additional, limited extension of time for those affiliates who still need to complete the transition. The Luken Communications Network Operations Center is available 24/7 to provide technical support to its affiliate partners.”
RBR-TVBR observation: Less than a days’ notice about a major satellite feed change? The affiliate wondered if there was a problem with Luken not being able to pay some of its satellite bills. Looks like that’s not the case, if the company indeed started warning affiliates back in April.
