Viewers may not have noticed, but consumer lawyer Eric Seidel has quietly left Tampa Fox affiliate WTVT-Ch. 13 after 19 years, departing the station to start his own legal and media firm.

Seidel, 47, says the departure was amicable and a "mutual decision," based on his desire to try something new as a window was opening in his contract with WTVT. Though the announcement was made on Friday, Seidel had been out of the office for several weeks while negotiating his departure.

And unlike other longtime on air folks who have left WTVT in recent years -- including anchors Kathy Fountain and Bill Murphy -- Seidel did not receive any on air mentions or say goodbye to viewers. Seidel said station officials told him only people who retire from the station are given such honors.

Now the former "consumer lawyer" is focused on creating his own civil litigation and business law firm, called Seidel Law.  "I will help consumers in the areas of personal injury, insurance law and other matters of civil litigation," he wrote in an email. "I plan to take a very active role in pursuing the rights of consumers here in the Bay Area as well - from those affected by the oil spill, to those who feel they were hurt by a defective product."

"It was totally my idea," Seidel said during a telephone interview, brushing aside notions he was downsized or that WTVT had declined to renew his contract. "I've been thinking about it, it's almost a natural progression from the work I was doing on air."