Error Puts Strippers on Public Access TV

POUGHKEEPSIE, N.Y. (AP) - Viewers expecting to see the latest local meeting on their public access channel got an eyeful recently when Cablevision played a tape of nude dancers accidentally.

The mistake affected customers in parts of Dutchess, Ulster, Putnam and Orange counties.

Hopewell Junction resident George Morton returned home from Palm Sunday Mass and turned on his television to see a striptease contest.

“I thought, this is terrible,” Morton said. “I don’t get HBO or anything like that.”

Cablevision said Thursday it was not a public access program and that a “program switching error” occurred.

“When it was detected, the programming was removed immediately,” Cablevision spokesman Bill Powers said. “We have taken appropriate steps to prevent this from happening again.”

Morton said he planned to file a complaint with the Federal Communications Commission.