Mr. Potter,

First and foremost, we greatly appreciate your desire to watch KET and sympathize with your viewing troubles. As the Commonwealth’s only statewide public media, it has been and always will be KET’s mission to serve every Kentuckian.

However, the means and possibilities for reaching viewers have expanded greatly through the years. In addition to directly serving viewers through our transmitter network, we offer signals for all three KET channels (KET, KET2, KET KY) free of charge to every cable and satellite company delivering programming to viewers in Kentucky. While we do our best to ensure delivery of high quality feeds to these companies, how they receive and redistribute our programming to their customers is ultimately out of our hands.

Specific to the provider you reference, DirectTV, we have been aware of the issues you address and most assuredly have made attempts to resolve them. The site chosen by DirecTV to pick up KET’s Western Kentucky programming is in Cape Girardeau, Missouri. Unfortunately, this DirectTV site is outside of the KET Paducah transmitter’s coverage area and our signal is not reliably received there due to terrain. KET has requested DirecTV utilize a different transmitter feed received at one of their other sites, but they have thus far declined to do so. Rather, DirectTV is suggesting that KET build a new taller tower or provide a fiber connection to their site. Both of these options are cost prohibitive for KET at this time.

Obviously this is an unfortunate situation, as it robs viewers the opportunity to see all the informative, educational and engaging programs that KET provides every day, not the least of which are those that feature the people and places that make Western Kentucky special and all of the programs that unite and serve our commonwealth.

As we continue to seek solutions to improve the quality, access and reliability of our service for DirectTV subscribers in Western Kentucky, please note that we are also taking full advantage of multiple online delivery options. KET-produced programs, including Comment on Kentucky and Kentucky Life, are streamed live on our website. Plus, in partnership with PBS, both local and national programs are available for on-demand viewing via computer, phone and other mobile devices. Much more information is available at www.ket.org.

Best,

Todd