After Hurricane Ian, Cable and Wireline Outages in Florida Tick Up

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All but one TV station back on air

In this aerial view, a neighborhood flooded by the rising Myakka River is shown in the wake of Hurricane Ian on October 01, 2022 in North Port, Florida.
(Image credit: Win McNamee/Getty Images)

Florida cable operators in the wake of Hurricane Ian continue to work to restore service (phone, TV and/or internet access), but most of a half-million subs (474,706) in the state remain without it as of Oct. 3, which is actually up slightly from the 441,799 without service in Florida Oct. 1.

By contrast, only one TV station remained out of service as of Monday, compared to 4 TV stations out of service Oct. 1.

That is according to the FCC's voluntary Disaster Information Reporting System (DIRS).

The FCC also said that as of Oct. 2, there were almost 10,000 cable/wireline subs (9,845) out of service in South Carolina as well.

The FCC has also extended filing deadlines for affected licensees, which would include paying annual regulatory fees, to Oct. 30. The extensions impact any deadlines currently coming due before Oct. 29, including deadlines for some license modifications, license renewals, and notifications of construction. ▪️

John Eggerton
John Eggerton

Contributing editor John Eggerton has been an editor and/or writer on media regulation, legislation and policy for over four decades, including covering the FCC, FTC, Congress, the major media trade associations, and the federal courts. In addition to Multichannel News and Broadcasting + Cable, his work has appeared in Radio World, TV Technology, TV Fax, This Week in Consumer Electronics, Variety and the Encyclopedia Britannica.