Although there has been a community outpouring of dollars as well as a partial insurance payment, it’s still unclear when the Valley PBS transmitter in the Sierra will be up and running again, station CEO Robert Mollison said at Thursday’s station board meeting.

Valley PBS was off-air for about two months after a wildfire in June knocked out its Bear Mountain equipment. Under an agreement with Cocola Broadcasting in Fresno, Valley PBS was able in August to restore its 18.1 station over the airwaves to reach Fresno-area viewers.

Transmitting equipment that serves the South Valley was undamaged, enabling viewers there to continue watching all four digital channels, Mollison said.

The station is still working through the environmental and technical details of the fire’s aftermath, including whether the tower can stay up or will have to come down, he said.

Valley PBS has received an insurance cash advance of $400,000, some of which was used to buy new equipment to resume broadcasting and to help offset the loss of revenue while it was off-air, Mollison said.

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Insurance, Community Support Help Bolster Finances

The cost of repairing damages to the transmitting equipment and tower was previously estimated at $2 million.

“We’re seeing a huge amount of support and community outpouring when it comes to what happened with the fire. We have seen a tremendous response,” Mollison told the board.

The station also expects to receive insurance payouts of $1.2 million for the tower and antenna, about $800,000 for the broadcasting equipment, and $180,000 for lost revenues, he said.

Engineers need to complete the reports that will go to the insurance company, Mollison said. In the meantime, the station is researching other options that will be considered before making a final decision on moving forward, he said.

“But we are prepared, just to let you guys know, to move forward very fast,” Mollison told the board members. “When the starting gun goes off, we can move. We will be able to move forward. So we’re preparing ourselves, but we’re not in a position to actually move forward until all of the pieces are in place.”