Talk about biting the hand that feeds you. ABC affiliate WFTS in Tampa-St. Petersburg, Fla., has been tweaking Bright House Networks on its website by showing the MSO’s customers how to change the default channel on their set-top boxes. Under the headline "Make ABC Action News your default channel," ABC offers instructions, starting with: "Ever notice that your Bright House cable box always comes on to the same channel when you turn it on?" ABC goes on to tell subscribers to "stick it to the cable company" by setting their Scientific-Atlantic boxes to ABC Action News. Stick it to the cable company? Nice language for a station that’s a Cable News Network affiliate, and is owned by the E.W. Scripps Co., which profits greatly from its cable networks. There’s no bad blood between the TV station and the cable company, which was surprised to hear about this. "We can appreciate why our friends at WFTS would like customers to have their channel appear first," says Dan Ballister, VP of communications and public affairs for Bright House Networks in St. Petersburg. "However, we are very disappointed with the wording they’ve included in their instructions." WFTS did not comment by deadline.

The Daily

Subscribe

Carriage

It’s not just Opening Day for MLB players, but also for the new RSNs that have been waiting to make their regular-season debuts. Twins.TV unveiled distribution on DirecTV satellite and streaming, Comcast

Read the Full Issue
The Skinny is delivered on Tuesday and focuses on the cable profession. You'll stay in the know on the headlines, topics and special issues you value most. Sign Up

Calendar

Apr 16
Cablefax 100 Awards CFX100 2025 List to be published 4/16/25
Sep 11
2025 Faxies Awards Faxies Nominations Open! Final deadline: 4/4/25
Full Calendar

Jobs

Seeking an INDUSTRY JOB or hiring for one?
VIEW JOBS

In conjunction with our sister brand, Cynopsis, we are offering hiring managers a deep pool of media-savvy, skilled candidates at a range of experience levels and sectors. The result will be an even more robust industry job board, to help both employers and job seekers.

Contact Carley Ashley, [email protected], for more information about posting a job on the website and our Jobs newsletter, sent twice weekly to 85,000 media professionals.