Loma Linda Broadcast Network Downed by Outage and Sandy, is Now Restored

A local fiber outage in Southern California and a transmitter problem in New Jersey during Hurricane Sandy disrupted the Loma Linda Broadcast Network from mid-afternoon Monday to Tuesday morning, the network's vice president for marketing said Oct. 30.

The faith-based network is available via cable, fios, internet platforms and VHS in more 17 million homes in North America, Derrell Mundall of LLBN said Tuesday in a phone interview.

The local outage started Monday afternoon in the Loma Linda area, Mundall said.

"It disrupted the feed to the satellite uplink in Pennsylvania," Mundall said. "It caused us to lose everything. We lost all of the feeds. We were down from yesterday afternoon until this morning. It was fairly catastrophic for us."

In New Jersey, transmitters were affected by Sandy overnight, Monday into early Tuesday, Mundall said.

"It brought equipment down temporarily, but it didn't affect us because we had no feed going to it anyway," Mundall said. "The transmitter was back up before the feed was retored."

The problems were repaired and all LLBN service was restored to households across North America by 8 a.m. Tuesday, Mundall said.

"We're still assessing what the cost of all of this will end up being," Mundall said. "It will probably be a week or two before we get it fully assessed."

The network president and CEO, Ganim Hanna, issued the following statement Tuesday online:

Dear Friends,
 
LLBN has been struck by two temporary disasters that could take us off the air longer than anticipated, potentially until Friday:

- A local fiber outage impacting multiple organizations in Southern California, including LLBN.

- Hurricane Sandy impacting New Jersey where our transmitter resides.

Multiple LLBN outlets are affected, including Internet, Roku, and satellite. Our engineers are on standby to reset our equipment once the fiber is restored by our service provider.

This outage not only impacts the many viewers who are blessed everyday by the programming from LLBN, but will also impact LLBN financially. We ask for your patience and for your daily prayers for LLBN and the many others affected by these disasters.Thank you for also letting others know who may not have access to this message. We are grateful that God is in charge!

Ganim Hanna
President/CEO

Loma Linda Broadcast Network facilities are on California Street and Barton Road in Loma Linda. LLBN is part of basic cable and basic fios packages in the Redlands-Loma Linda area, Mundall said. LLBN is available free on satellite and on some internet tv platforms, and it is available on VHF in some cities including Phoenix, Mundall said.

The network started in 1996 as a part-time television feed serving patients at Loma Linda University Medical Center, according to LLBN. It has grown into "a multiplex of four 24/7 networks reaching the world through satellite, terrestrial broadcast, cable TV, IPTV, mobile, and internet," the network's website states.

Back East, Sandy was no longer a hurricane but it was being described as a "super storm" that left more than 6 million homes and businesses without power, according to the New York Times.

"The storm led to power failures in at least 17 states, including more than a million customers in Pennsylvania and New Jersey and about 660,000 in New York City," the NYT reported.

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