A Denver District Court judge set a process for Nine PBS to retrieve its archival data and programming from Iron Mountain Data Centers during a Wednesday hearing. The St. Louis station sued the information management company July 28 in Denver District Court seeking the return of approximately 50 terabytes of archival material stored in a Denver data center.

The complaint alleged that Iron Mountain refused to return Nine PBS’ materials because OSS, the now‑defunct company that the station had contracted with for storage services, technically owned “the physical services housing” the station’s data within Iron Mountain. District Court Judge Eric Elliff ordered Iron Mountain, which had a separate business relationship with OSS, to cooperate with Nine PBS in any way possible to retrieve the data.

Under his order, Nine PBS is to identify a third‑party vendor, such as a former OSS employee, who can assist in accessing and retrieving the data from the infrastructure that’s housed in Iron Mountain’s center within 30 days. Elliff acknowledged the complexities, noting Iron Mountain is the “custodian” but not the vendor that contracted with the station. Nine PBS will pay Iron Mountain current and past‑due fees for data storage, starting from when OSS stopped paying.

Nine PBS VP and CCO Leah Freeman thanked the court for a framework that confirms Nine PBS rightfully owns the archives, “These archives represent an important part of our region’s history, and we look forward to ensuring their preservation and protection through the Court‑approved process.” The judge ordered updates by Sept. 14 and, if retrieval proves more complicated, another hearing will be scheduled.