Judge Clears Nine PBS to Retrieve 70 Years of Archival TV Data
A Denver judge has ruled in favor of Nine PBS, allowing the station to retrieve its 70 years of archival TV data from Iron Mountain Data Centers.
Nine PBS has been on the brink of losing 70 years of TV history, with 50TB of data stored in Iron Mountain Data Centers. The station's cloud storage provider, Open Source Storage (OSS), went out of business, cutting off access to the important backups.
The situation began in 2019 when Nine PBS started using OSS as its cloud storage provider. The station renewed its contract annually without incident until February 2026, when it tried to meet with OSS about a new agreement. However, OSS seemed to cut off access to Nine PBS's cloud data without warning or a grace period.
Nine PBS then learned that OSS saved its cloud data at physical servers housed in Iron Mountain, Colorado. The station wrote to request that Iron Mountain preserve and return the data, but Iron Mountain didn't confirm or deny that it holds this data.
The situation escalated, with Nine PBS filing a lawsuit against OSS and later against Iron Mountain, the data center provider for OSS. In June 2026, Nine PBS obtained a default judgment stating it owns the data in question and has the right to possess it. However, Iron Mountain decided to block any access, saying OSS owns the physical servers.
## A Breakthrough in the Case
On August 12, 2026, a Denver judge established a process that would allow Nine PBS to retrieve its 50TB of archival data from Iron Mountain's Denver data center. The outlined framework includes appointing a third-party vendor to assist in the retrieval of the data from the hardware in Iron Mountain. This must be done within 30 days.
Nine PBS must also pay the current and overdue storage fees that OSS missed, and any physical devices the third party takes off the premises must be returned to Iron Mountain after data retrieval. Lastly, Nine PBS must verify no other ex-OSS client data is accessed, and indemnify Iron Mountain against any corruption of data owned by others.
Both Nine PBS and Iron Mountain are requested to provide progress updates on the data retrieval process by September 14. This development is a relief for Nine PBS, which can now focus on retrieving its valuable data.
## Lessons Learned
This case highlights the importance of having a proper backup strategy in place. Nine PBS's reliance on a single cloud storage provider put its data at risk when the provider went out of business. The station must now implement a 3-2-1 backup strategy to ensure its data is safe in the future.
The data retrieval process will be closely monitored, and both parties are expected to provide progress updates by September 14. This development is a positive step for Nine PBS, which can now focus on retrieving its valuable data and preserving its TV history.
