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Updates at bottom

Okay, people from Northern Alabama and Mobile - very southeast - are letting me know that the show was blocked - black screen - during the Siegelman segment of 60 Minutes ONLY. I also got one email from Florida saying that they had strange GOP “Dem’s are soft on terror,” commercials. People, let me make myself clear here. If it is indeed true that so many people were blocked from viewing a show about DOJ corruption, then we are well into the arms of fascism. Please post here in the comments, so that other people can see, if you were a victim of this blackout.

Please note who your service provider is and what state you are in.

Update I:
I now have confirmation of Channel 19 going to black screen during Siegelman’s part of the 60 Minutes broadcast. Also, these are thus far the cities that were blocked from viewing this story by the Soviets of America: Huntsville and Mobile for sure. Still collecting more data.

Update II:

Michael just let me know in the comments that CBS is claiming a technical difficulty in New York:

60 Minutes Programming Note

February 24, 2008

We apologize that you missed the first segment of 60 Minutes tonight featuring “The Prosecution of Don Siegelman.

Okay, call me cynical, but someone explain to me how a technical problem in New York can affect parts of Alabama - and Alabama only it seems at this point (the subject of the 60 Minutes broadcast) and ONLY during the Siegelman segment? So now we have selective glitches too? This is unacceptable, period. My newest response, and it gives you some context too, is here.

Update III:
Some of the Alabama blackouts are reported to have happened on Channel 19, which is owned by Oak Hill Capital Partners, owned by the Bass family of Texas. The others appeared to have happened on one Comcast channel.

Folks, I am busy working, can someone do some research and post in the comments?

Update IV:

Could this Bass family be the same family involved in George W. Bush’s Harken energy scandal? H/T to Hissy.

Update V:

From Melissa in the comments:

“CBS News in New York told Scott Horton “there is no delicate way to put this: the WHNT claim is not true. There were no transmission difficulties.”‘

Update VI:

Here is what Scott Horton has to say with a link to his blog at Harper’s

Off the Air in Alabama

“I am now hearing from readers all across Northern Alabama—from Decatur to Huntsville and considerably on down—that a mysterious “service interruption” blocked the broadcast of only the Siegelman segment of 60 Minutes this evening. The broadcaster is Channel 19 WHNT, which serves Northern Alabama and Southern Tennessee. This station was noteworthy for its hostility to Siegelman and support for his Republican adversary. The station ran a trailer stating “We apologize that you missed the first segment of 60 Minutes tonight featuring ‘The Prosecution of Don Siegelman.’ It was a techincal problem with CBS out of New York.” I contacted CBS News in New York and was told that “there is no delicate way to put this: the WHNT claim is not true. There were no transmission difficulties. The problems were peculiar to Channel 19, which had the signal and had functioning transmitters.” I was told that the decision to blacken screens across Northern Alabama “could only have been an editorial call.”Channel 19 is owned by Oak Hill Capital Partners, who can be contacted through Rhonda Barnat, 212-371-5999 or rb@abmac.com . Oak Hill Partners represents interests of the Bass family, which contribute heavily to the Republican Party. Viewers displeased about the channel’s decision to censor the broadcast should express their views directly to the station management or to the owners.”

Update VII:

Bgansel notes in the comments that the strange ad has been running for a few days now, so it is not likely associated with the airing of 60 Minutes.

“That strange ad you are referring to has been running in other areas as well. I’m in Arizona and I’ve been seeing the ad run for the last several days. They specifically target the local Democratic Rep of the area and tell them to not vote for terrorists on the FISA bill. It is paid for by a group called Defense of Democracy.”

That is good news, sort of. The bad news is that the White House appears to be laundering propaganda again. The even worse news is that we now know that something happened in Alabama that had nothing to do with a glitch at CBS in New York.

Posted by Larisa Alexandrovna on February 24, 2008