Several HDTV Nets Remain Down Following Fire

A&E, History, YES and NFL Network Knocked Out

By Linda Moss -- Multichannel News, 9/11/2007 1:41:00 PM

Two HDTV networks were back on the air, but two others remained down Tuesday in the wake of a fire at a Stamford, Conn., building that houses facilities for several programmers and a company that does uplinking for them.

A&E Network HD, The History Channel HD, YES Network HD and NFL Network HD were initially knocked out of service following an early morning fire Monday at 250 Harbor Drive in Stamford. 

But by Tuesday afternoon, A&E Television Networks was upconverting its standard-definition signal to HD as a temporary measure so it could resume delivering HD feeds for A&E Network HD and History Channel HD, according to spokesman Lynn Gardner.

However, the HD feeds of both YES Network and NFL Network were still down Tuesday afternoon. NFL Network expected its HD network to be black until Wednesday evening, according to spokesman Seth Palansky.

As for YES Network’s HD signal, spokesman Eric Handler said, “We’re looking to get it up and running as soon as possible.”

The building with the fire housed facilities for Ascent Media Group, which uplinks the HDTV feeds of the four networks. 

Officials at Ascent Media said the fire broke out on the roof of the building during a power outage. "Our staff is fully mobilized and we are bringing all possible resources to bear to restore services to our customers.  The cause of the fire has not yet been determined," Peter Brickman, managing director of the Stamford facility, said in a prepared statement. 

YES Network and AETN also have offices in the Stamford building, which was still without electrical power Tuesday.

The fire took place in a building at the same complex as a Time Warner Cable office, which was located at 290 Harbor Drive in Stamford.   

Both YES Network’s and NFL Network’s standard definition networks were off the air very briefly Monday morning as a result of the fire, according to Handler and Palansky, but both SD signals were back up quickly Monday.

The regional sports network and NFL Network was working Tuesday to restore their  HDTV signals.

YES Network is headquartered in Manhattan, but has some facilities, including a HDTV studio and control room, in the Stamford building, according to Handler.