TAMPA, Fla. — For months, WFTS and The Spot – Tampa Bay 66’s parent company, Scripps, has been negotiating in good faith with Verizon to reach a fair agreement for the continued carriage of The Spot – Tampa Bay 66 on Frontier, a Verizon company. Our goal has always been to secure a deal that is equitable for both parties and, most importantly, for the Frontier subscribers who rely on our coverage.
Despite our efforts, Verizon says it plans to remove The Spot – Tampa Bay 66 from the Frontier channel lineup effective midnight on April 29, cutting off access to the local broadcast partner of the Tampa Bay Lightning during one of the most pivotal moments in the NHL season. Frontier subscribers would no longer have access to their hometown announcers, coverage and perspectives they count on as the Lightning pursue another Stanley Cup championship.
TV station owners and cable and satellite companies are required by Congress to negotiate distribution contracts. When customers pay Verizon a monthly fee for programming, Verizon pays each channel on its system a fee to include that channel in its service. That is the negotiation that is currently happening. Scripps uses these dollars to invest in local sports, news and weather coverage at each station.
We are continuing to advance the negotiation in the hope it can be resolved very quickly.
Our priority is to make sure that you are able to access the sports, news, weather and traffic updates that support your daily life, in addition to all the great programs we know you love.
What you can do: If you are a Frontier customer, call 1-800-921-8101 and ask them to make sure you don’t lose The Spot – Tampa Bay 66 programming and access to the Lightning games.
In the meantime, there are other ways to stay connected to The Spot – Tampa Bay 66 programming. The Spot – Tampa Bay 66 is available on channel 66.1 with an antenna and also on the streaming platforms DirecTV stream and Fubo. Find more information at https://tampabay66.com/findus.
Visit www.thefreeTVproject.org or Tablo TV to find the best antenna for your location.
How to Rescan Your TV for Our Free Over-the-Air Signal:
If you are using an antenna, you may need to rescan your TV to find our channel. It’s a simple process that is usually found in your TV’s menu.
- Click the “Menu” button on your remote control.
- In the menu, choose “Channel Setup” or a similar option.
- Select “Antenna” or “Tuner.”
- Start a “New Scan” or “Auto Scan.” Your TV will automatically find all available channels.
- If you run into issues, please refer to the product manual that came with your TV.
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