A television transmission fault at the unmanned Mount Burr tower over the weekend cut off all free-to-air channels to the South East and western Victoria.

Although the ABC and SBS channels were unaffected, thousands of sports fans were denied seeing tennis star Ash Barty and the thrilling Ashes test cricket in action from 3pm on Sunday.

The fault had not been rectified when this edition of The SE Voice went to press yesterday (Monday).

Frustrations about the transmission cut were widely aired on social media in recent days.

A Telstra spokesperson said in a statement the telecommunications company was aware of the problem.

“A technician is on site at our exchange to investigate the issue and restore services as quickly as possible,” the spokesperson said.

“We believe the issue is related to a transmission fault.

“We know this is frustrating for TV viewers in the region but rest assured we’ll have the issue fixed as soon as we can.”

Late on Monday afternoon the spokesperson said work was continuing.

“We’re continuing to work on restoring some free-to-air TV services that have been impacted by a transmission issue in Mount Gambier,” the spokesperson said.

“Our technicians have undertaken transmission testing at Mount Gambier exchange and we have identified damage to our fibre optic cable about 30km away from Mount Gambier.

“Our fibre repair crews will undertake work to repair the cable and get services restored as quickly as possible.”

The main tower stands 170m and has been a prominent landmark atop Mount Burr since 1965.

The tower provides the television signal for the South East region and much of Western Victoria.

It became fully automated in the 1980s.

The SE Voice has approached the interstate headquarters of WIN-TV for comment.