Popular Vail TV Channel is Going Away

Growing up in Eagle, we didn't have much local news on TV. Sure we got Denver channels, but most of their focus was on the Front Range, and unless Kobe Bryant was involved, the Western Slope was seldomly mentioned. However, we did have one channel dedicated to the Vail Valley, and that was TV8. Now, unfortunately, TV8 is going away for the foreseeable future.

TV8 was the one channel on TV that covered local happenings, and often I'd see my friends on the air, or see the camera crews around Vail covering ski races and other events that we in the Vail Valley cared about. In fact, I remember watching their morning broadcast, "Good Morning Vail" quite regularly.

However, after almost three decades, TV8 is suspending their broadcasts because of their recent financial struggles, which were amplified because of the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. TV8's owners, Vail Resorts, released this official statement:

“We have been proud to serve the Vail Valley with TV8 programming for 28 years. Unfortunately, the station has experienced financial declines in recent years due to the changing media landscape. TV8 now faces additional economic challenges from the COVID-19 pandemic. As such, we have decided to suspend the operations of TV8 for the coming year, effective July 17, 2020, and intend to review options for the future. As a company, we remain focused on our core business of operating our world-class mountain resorts as we strive to provide guests with an experience of a lifetime. We are grateful to our viewers and advertisers and sincerely thank all TV8 employees for their contributions to our community.”

I certainly hope that the suspension of broadcasts is temporary and once things get back to normal, they will be able to once again provide local content to the Vail Valley, but only time will tell what the future looks like for TV8.

[Vail Daily]