I WANT THE WORLD!

No "CSI." No "Survivor." No David Letterman. No NCAA basketball tournament.

For hundreds of thousands of St. Louis cable television viewers, that was the heart of a recent feud between Charter Communications and the Dallas-based owner of KMOV (Channel 4).

And for a few brief days, those viewers watched and worried as the two companies bared their fangs and circled one another in the latest national skirmish between a cable company and a broadcaster looking to be paid for its signal. The threat was simple: Unless Charter agreed to pay more, local cable subscribers were about to say goodbye to CBS.

Like many Charter subscribers, Carol Struckman, of Mehlville, was stunned to read KMOV's doomsday message crawling across the screen on a recent Saturday afternoon. Mortified at the prospect of losing her favorite show — "As the World Turns" — she combed through KMOV's website and contacted Charter for more information.

"It might sound silly to some people," Struckman said. "But I'm addicted to it (the soap opera). I've been watching it for 40 years."

Entire story, here.