Metro Detroit viewers who turned on WXYZ-TV Wednesday morning were met with a blunt message instead of local news, weather, or regular programming: “This station is unavailable.”
For Xfinity subscribers, what may have looked like an April Fool’s Day stunt turned out to be a real contract dispute between Comcast and Scripps, the media company that owns WXYZ-TV Channel 7 and WYMD-TV Channel 20 in Detroit. The blackout began after the companies’ carriage agreement expired at 5:59 p.m. Eastern time on Tuesday, March 31, according to Xfinity.
That left some Detroit-area households without access to one of the city’s major local television stations overnight, cutting off viewers from scheduled primetime programming, local reporting, severe weather coverage, and live sports.
Xfinity placed the blame on Scripps in an on-screen message shown to customers trying to access the station.
“Our contract with Scripps, the owner of this channel, has expired,” Comcast said in the message. “Scripps has refused our reasonable offers, and their demands would significantly increase the price you pay. Thank you for your patience as we work to keep your channels affordable.”
Scripps pushed back publicly, saying it had been negotiating fairly and that its stations provide critical public service programming communities depend on every day.
“Scripps takes our public service responsibility to serve our communities seriously,” the company said in a statement. “Our stations provide on-the-ground reporting, real-time severe weather updates and live sports coverage that keep people safe and connected to what matters most in their daily lives.”
The company added that it had been “negotiating in good faith to reach an agreement that reflects this value and is fair for both parties and viewers.”
“We hope Comcast recognizes the critical value we play for our communities and restores our stations’ signals so we can continue to serve their customers,” Scripps said.
For Detroit viewers, the disruption reached beyond entertainment.
WXYZ is a longstanding local news source in the market, and the loss of service also affected WYMD-TV as part of a broader blackout impacting 19 Scripps markets across the country. In at least one market outside Michigan, viewers in the Miami area reportedly had a live NHL game cut off in the middle of the broadcast when the agreement expired.
WXYZ acknowledged the disruption on its website and social media platforms, apologizing directly to viewers affected by the blackout.
“We apologize for the disruption of service for Comcast Xfinity subscribers,” the station wrote on Facebook, while encouraging customers to contact Comcast.
Scripps also pointed viewers toward other ways to stay connected while the dispute remains unresolved. The company emphasized that its local programming is still available for free over the air with an antenna, through station websites, on streaming apps, and through other cable and satellite providers available in the region.
The station also pointed to services including YouTube TV, DirecTV, and other locally available television providers as alternatives for customers who want continued access to its programming during the standoff.
For those switching to an antenna, Scripps shared steps to rescan a television and reconnect to available broadcast channels. That process typically requires viewers to open the menu on their TV remote, go to channel setup or a similar setting, select antenna or tuner mode, and run a new channel scan.
Still, for many Detroiters, the bigger issue is not whether there are backup viewing options. It is the fact that local access can disappear overnight when corporate negotiations break down.
That matters in a media environment where local television remains one of the most immediate ways many residents get severe weather alerts, school closings, community updates, and breaking news. When those stations go dark on a major provider, viewers are left to scramble for alternatives that not every household knows how to use or can easily access.
With local journalism already under pressure, this blackout raises a deeper question about how fragile access to trusted local news has become.
Neither Comcast nor Scripps announced Wednesday when service might be restored.
Until a new agreement is reached, Xfinity customers in Metro Detroit remain caught in the middle of a corporate standoff that has taken one of the region’s most familiar stations off the dial.
