PBS Affiliate Sues Data Center for 50TB of Archived Data After Cloud Provider Goes Dark

Nine PBS, a public broadcasting television station affiliated with the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS), has initiated legal proceedings against Iron Mountain Data Centers. Filed on July 28 in Denver District Court, the lawsuit seeks to compel Iron Mountain to grant Nine PBS access to approximately 50 terabytes (TB) of archived data. This substantial digital archive encompasses decades of television programming, video recordings, and other critical content, with some materials dating back as far as 70 years. The data is reportedly housed within a Denver, Colorado facility operated by Iron Mountain.

The predicament arose due to the unresponsiveness of Nine PBS's cloud storage provider, Open Source Storage (OSS). According to Nine PBS, OSS utilized Iron Mountain's infrastructure to store the station's extensive digital assets. However, OSS has ceased communication, leaving Nine PBS unable to access its vital historical records. The trade newspaper Current, which covers the public broadcasting sector, reported on the situation this week. Nine PBS alleges that despite its attempts to retrieve the data, Iron Mountain has refused to release it.

The 50TB of data represents a significant portion of Nine PBS's historical output and includes unique and irreplaceable content. Among the specific examples cited are the station's comprehensive coverage of the COVID-19 pandemic, in-depth historical records detailing the history of East St. Louis, and documentation of "The Great Flood of 1993." The Denver Post also reported in July that the archive contains over 11,000 distinct files, underscoring the depth and breadth of the historical record at stake. Nine PBS emphasizes that a substantial portion of this data is considered unique and cannot be replicated, making its potential loss a severe blow to public broadcasting's archival mission.

This situation highlights the inherent risks associated with relying on third-party cloud storage solutions, particularly when those providers become defunct or inaccessible. The potential loss of such a vast and historically significant archive could have profound implications for public broadcasting's ability to preserve, share, and provide access to its cultural and historical contributions for future generations. Nine PBS is now seeking court intervention to ensure the preservation and continued availability of this irreplaceable data for public access and historical research.