A lightning strike on Thursday damaged the WUFT-TV transmitter, located on NW 53rd Avenue in Gainesville, and the over-the-air stations are down indefinitely.
On Friday, WUFT posted on its Facebook page that, “The WUFT-TV transmitter experienced a power surge and engineers are troubleshooting the problem. Currently, WUFT 5.1, 5.2 and 5.3 are not broadcasting over the air. Some of the signals are still available on the Watch Live page, PBS Passport, and cable and streaming services. Create TV content is available at createtv.com. Stay tuned for updates.”
According to Rob Harder, WUFT’s director of broadcast operations, the station content can still be viewed via digital, cable and streaming platforms on Cox Cable, YouTube TV, Hulu and on the WUFT website.
“Our WUFT-TV transmitter was damaged from a lightning strike last Thursday,” Harder told Mainstreet in an email. “Since then, our engineers have been working to repair the transmitter and explore options if it cannot be repaired. We want to be and are working towards being back on the air as soon as possible.”
WUFT will post the latest information on its website and social media platforms.
“We will be updating that as the situation warrants,” said Harder.