If you live in Fairfield County, your favorite hometown cable TV station may seem ‘missing’ this week.
As of Thursday, Channel 79, our town’s Government channel and Channel 78 from local schools, are moved up the dial to channels 1310 and 1305 respectively.
Among the Connecticut community stations to be affected are the Educational and Government channels in Greenwich, Stamford, Darien, Norwalk, Westport, Easton, Redding, New Canaan, Weston and Wilton.
“These hyper-local stations, locally produced, have covered what is happening in your schools and Town government for decades,” said Hal Levy, Chairman of the Area Nine Cable Council (A9CC), a state-created body that advocates for community cable TV.
“Now, after 20 years on the same familiar channels, they have been moved by Optimum cable to new channels. The cable company didn’t ask us for our input. They just did it and with very short notice. This will prove to be a major inconvenience and expense to stations whose brand identity has, for decades, been tied to their channel number,” he added.
“The Cable Council has asked Altice for help in informing local cable subscribers of this bad news,” said A9CC Vice Chairman Jim Cameron, Program Director of Darien TV79, that town’s government channel. “This has meant a major re-branding for us on very short notice… and much confusion for our loyal viewers,” he added.
See also:
Town of Greenwich Strongly Opposes Optimum Decision to Move GCTV from Channel 79
Aug 4, 2025