Last weekend PBS launched a new station in Appalachia, Virginia. This time though, you won’t be able to watch this channel with your antenna as it is not being offered that way. This is the first time the area has had a dedicated PBS station in almost ten years.
PBS Appalachia Virginia will offer four channels on cable TV and will be streaming online through the PBS mobile app or the PBSAviginia.org website. Sadly if you want to watch it with your antenna, you are out of luck as it won’t be offered that way.
PBS Appalachia has partnered with the Hard Rock Bristol resort and casino to build a 4,000-square-fee studio. There you will find a television studio, podcast studio, and control room. Construction is expected to be finished in 2024, with the studios hopefully opening in July 2024.
“Partnering with Hard Rock is a perfect fit for PBS Appalachia because we are both community-minded companies who want to help move the region forward,” says Julie Newman, general manager of PBS Appalachia, and former news anchor of WCYB-TV. “We are grateful for their partnership and support.”
“We work to improve lives, help communities and sustain the Earth, infusing the power of music into all we do. Ever since Hard Rock’s founding, we have planted roots and thrived wherever we operate. We are proud to partner with PBS Appalachia, ” says Allie Evangelista, president of Hard Rock Bristol.
In the past, Blue Ridge PBS but in 2013, it was de-funded, and the decision was made to shut down its two OTA transmitters in the area. Now the Va. State Sen. Todd Pillion (R) and Va. Del. Israel O’Quinn (R), pushed through a budget amendment for Fiscal Year 2023 was passed to establish PBS Appalachia.
For now, cord cutters have limited options to watch PBS Appalachia. Hopefully, in the future, it will join other PBS on streaming services, both paid and free.