Repair work to start on WCAX tower Saturday

Repair work will start on Saturday on our transmitter tower on the top of Mount Mansfield. It's part of our effort to get our signal back to all of our viewers as soon as possible.

A fire on the tower in Stowe on Tuesday knocked out our over-the-air signal.

Since then, we have brought in a specialized crew that will do the meticulous work of climbing the 190-foot tower to make the fixes needed. Those crews will start repairs on Saturday morning. We don't yet have a timeframe on exactly how long it will take, but the crews indicate we should think of this work in terms of days to be completed. The work is very dangerous and it will take time, even in good weather conditions, which are changeable during this season. But we have a work plan that is firmed up and we have obtained all the approvals needed to move forward with that as of 5 p.m. on Friday. A project like this normally takes months to prepare for and build, and we've managed with the help of local officials and broadcasters to get it done in just two days, thanks to their cooperation and support. Physically, this effort is like trying to hang a school bus in the sky and making sure it doesn't fall. But we have to build the school bus, too.

Our signal is now back up on more cable systems. Channel 3 is back on Stowe and Waitsfield cable and Burlington Telecom. We are also back up on Xfinity/Comcast, Charter/Spectrum, the Dish Network and DIRECTV.

We are still working on getting up on other cable systems. We need to work with each carrier to try to meet their needs to get our signal to them.

We will continue working hard to get our signal back to all our viewers.