Darien TV79 Channel To Move, Station Set To Rebrand

DARIEN, CT — Darien’s government cable channel, DarienTV79, will move to a new channel this month as part of a major reshuffling by Optimum cable.

The station, which has aired town meetings and community events for nearly 20 years, will shift from channel 79 to channel 1310 on Aug. 21. Sister station BlueWave TV, which covers the Darien Board of Education, will move from Channel 78 to Channel 1305.

"We’re not happy about this move," said Jim Cameron, program director and co-founder of TV79, in a news release. "Before the decision by Altice, owner of Optimum, we were not consulted. Unfortunately, it seems there’s nothing we can do to stop this change."

Cameron said the change will cause inconvenience and additional costs for the station, which operates on a limited budget funded by town support and grants from Altice through cable subscriber fees.

Prompted by the change, the station will rebrand as "DarienTV."

"It doesn’t make much sense to call ourselves Darien TV79 anymore," Cameron said. "We think our new name, DarienTV, better reflects the many video platforms where our coverage can be viewed."

The station’s programming is also available on its website, on-demand, and via 24-hour YouTube Live and Facebook streams, which will not be affected by the move.

"We’re creatures of habit in Darien, so I agree this change by Altice isn’t exactly welcome," First Selectman Jon Zagrodzky said in a news release. "That said, Jim and his team have done a terrific job rebranding our town’s most important communication asset. I really like the new logo, and with a little time, we’ll all be saying ‘DarienTV’ just as naturally as we say ‘TV79’ today."

"Right now we’re just trying to let our loyal viewers know about the impending move," Cameron added. "We know there will be some confusion but are hopeful our viewers will find us at our new channel or another of our platforms."

Greenwich's cable channel is also moving, and town officials pushed back on the decision, saying they, too, were not consulted about the switch.

Optimum told Patch it is repositioning the location of PEG (Public, Education, and Government Access) channels to a new location within our channel lineups.

Customers will not experience any disruption in service and will be able to access this content through their existing TV packages, Optimum said in an emailed statement to Patch.