MERRILLVILLE, Ind. – Lakeshore PBS viewers across Northwest Indiana and Chicagoland can expect an improved television viewing experience as Lakeshore Public Media gears up for significant upgrades that will bring a stronger and more reliable broadcast to viewers across the Region. This is the culmination of extensive behind-the-scenes efforts that have taken place over the last year to replace the station’s decades-old antenna with a new High Definition television antenna.
Beginning the week of August 28, engineers and a crew of tower climbers will be on-site to commence Lakeshore’s antenna installation project, heralding a new era in public broadcasting for Northwest Indiana and Chicagoland. This new antenna is designed to meet the latest over-the-air broadcast standard – ATSC 3.0 – and will also add substantial vertical polarization to improve indoor reception of both 1.0 and 3.0 broadcast services.
For approximately two weeks, viewers who rely on over-the-air signals — including platforms like AT&T Uverse, Direct TV, Dish, and antenna — may experience intermittent disruptions as crews work diligently to mount the new antenna at the top of the nearly 1,000ft tower located in Northwest Indiana. This is an improvement in itself as the station’s previous antenna was a side-mount installation located at a lower point on the tower. These disruptions will also affect Lakeshore Public Media’s secondary channel NHK World-Japan (channel 56.2) for over the air viewers, which brings viewers news and various programs from the Japanese public broadcaster.
“While we understand that broadcast interruptions can be frustrating to viewers, the end result will be an amazing accomplishment for public broadcasting in Northwest Indiana,” Lakeshore’s President and CEO, Chuck Roberts, said. “Lakeshore Public Media takes pride in bringing award-winning local programming as well as state-wide programming that is often lacking in our media landscape, and now the station will be able to serve more households than ever before.”
These upgrades reflect the organization's commitment to staying at the forefront of technology and ensuring that viewers receive the highest quality public broadcasting possible for decades to come.
“It’s truly an exciting time for Lakeshore staff who have been working so hard to make this new antenna a reality,” Carl Kurek, Lakeshore’s Vice President of Development, said. “We have made sure our broadcast is available on the growing number of digital platforms like YouTube TV and Hulu Live, but it is equally important that we also continue to improve the accessibility to over-the-air viewers across the Region including those who will now be able to discover the Lakeshore PBS broadcast in their channel line-up for the first time.”
As the transformation takes place, Lakeshore Public Media extends its gratitude to the community for their continued support and understanding during this exciting period of growth. The station will continue to keep audiences updated on the progress of the installation on its website at LakeshorePublicMedia.org/Antenna.
