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Letter to the editor

Bright House to offer government channel

By Times Staff Writer
Published December 20, 2007

CLEARWATER

Bright House to offer government channel

They've seen their cable channels shuffled and local government programs sent into the digital stratosphere.

But soon Bright House Networks digital cable subscribers will be able to catch some local government broadcasting whenever they want.

The cable provider announced Wednesday that in the first three months of 2008, it will create an on-demand channel to allow viewers to select programs from a revolving library of local government broadcasts and play them at their convenience.

Clearwater, Pinellas and Hillsborough counties will be the first to provide content for the channel, though Bright House is working on adding additional local governments to the mix.

A channel has not been selected and a date to launch the service has not been decided.

The move comes a week after Bright House peeved local officials across Tampa Bay by moving their programming off basic cable and far up the digital tier, into the 600s.

The change requires viewers without digital or high-definition cable to get a special tuner from Bright House for $1 a month to watch public meetings and government-produced programs.

Clearwater Mayor Frank Hibbard said local governments lost the battle over relocating government channels last March in Tallahassee.

LARGO

Mobile home residents oppose Goodwill plans

About 200 residents of three mobile home parks turned out along U.S. 19 on Wednesday to protest the possible purchase of a longtime Church of Scientology dormitory by Goodwill Industries-Suncoast.

Goodwill administrators are thinking of moving a work-release program for more than 200 nonviolent inmates into the building, originally a motel, near East Bay Drive and U.S. 19.

Mobile home park owners fear that having the program nearby would devalue their property and threaten their safety.

"We're backed right up to it," said Daniel O'Connor, 65, a resident and manager of the Embassy Mobile Home Park.

DADE CITY

Fire destroys house rented by family

An overloaded power strip sparked a fire and destroyed a home Wednesday afternoon, fire officials said. No one was inside at the time of the blaze.

After the flames were extinguished, Marcelino Monis peeked through the burned window frames, trying to see what remained of the home that he, his wife and their three children had rented for several months.

Officials said most of the contents were damaged by either flames or the heat.

"It's a total loss," said Donald Campbell, a Pasco County fire investigator.

[Last modified December 19, 2007, 23:39:14]