BROWNSVILLE, TEXAS: A cold front in South Texas was blamed for a power outage that took out the signal of KGBT-TV this week, the station reported.
KGBT-TV engineers are working diligently to get our digital transmission signal back up and running,” the station’s Web site said. “A power failure attributed to the cold front took down power to KGBT-TV transmitter on Monday afternoon. KGBT-TV’s digital TV signal is down until AEP officials can restore power to the transmitter.”
The outage affected households with Dish TV as well as over-the-air reception. Feeds to DirecTV and Time Warner Cable were not affected.
KBGT is the Barrington-owned CBS affiliate serving Harlingen, Brownsville and McAllen, Texas. Temperatures dropped nearly 20 degrees there Monday afternoon, bringing in more than 2 inches of rain in some areas and sustained winds of near 50 miles per hour.
The cold snap that downed the transmitter also trapped five people in watercraft on the Gulf of Mexico who had to be rescued by the U.S. Coast Guard.
KBGT engineer David Gomez today said the outage lasted little more than an hour, from around 2:30 to 3:45 p.m., “due to stormy weather and loss of utility power at the site.”
