After complaints, Optimum backtracks on reassignment of government access TV channels

Long Island cable provider Optimum late Thursday backtracked from its realignment of government access channels after town and village officials complained it had become too difficult for residents to find broadcasts of meetings and news conferences.

Local officials and TV executives had said they were caught by surprise late last week when Optimum reassigned government access channels from their longtime double-digit homes, such as channels 18 and 20, to new spots between channels 1300 and 1400.

On Thursday, after Newsday had published an online story about the issue, Optimum parent Altice announced plans to return the channels to their original slots in mid-September.

"The company received feedback from local municipalities and other stakeholders who expressed concerns regarding the changes," Altice vice president Chris Bresnan said in a letter to the state Public Service Commission, which regulates the cable industry. "After careful consideration of this input, while Optimum continues to believe that the changes would have provided benefits to customers, the company has decided to return [government] channels to their prior channel positions, on or about September 16, 2025."

Altice had attributed the channel changes to changing viewer habits. 

The changes affect many of Long Island's 13 towns, including Brookhaven, Huntington, Islip, North Hempstead, East Hampton and Riverhead, and various villages, officials said.

Before Altice announced it would restore the channels, Brookhaven Supervisor Dan Panico ridiculed the move, saying the town's new channel 1310 is in "the stratosphere next to nightly infomercials where you regularly find food juicers and Ginsu knife sets."

"Altice has prioritized profits by bumping government access into the boondocks of cable programming," he said in a statement. "In Brookhaven, we have made a concerted effort to stream and televise our public meetings ... but now our residents will have trouble finding our programming."

Public, education and government access channels, also known as PEG channels, are made available to towns and villages as part of franchise agreements allowing cable operators to broadcast in those areas.

PEG channels account for about 0.1% of Optimum viewership, Altice said.

Some government officials had said they were not concerned about the changes.

“As long as everybody with Riverhead cable will have access to channel 1310, I don’t think it will be a big deal,” Supervisor Tim Hubbard said Tuesday. “It’s just a channel change.”

But Erica Bradley, executive director of North Shore TV, which operates government channels for 15 municipalities in the Great Neck area, said the Optimum changes caused "confusion" for viewers.

"Altice appears to have taken this action without advanced notice to these groups, which has prevented us from preparing our constituents for the change in a timely and orderly manner," she said in an email before Optimum reversed course.

Josh Gladstone, interim executive director of Local TV, a nonprofit that operates East Hampton Town's television programming, said the town was “bumped from a long-standing channel placement of 20 and 22, where we've been operating for over 40 years, without any notice."

Gladstone said the town channel broadcasts information during emergencies such as hurricanes and wildfires.  

"The small independent voices for, by and of the community are up against challenges at every level,” Gladstone said before Optimum's reversal. “I’m guessing there’s a monetary value associated with a lower channel number.”

Newsday's Denise M. Bonilla, Sam Kmack, Deborah S. Morris, Joshua Needelman, Joseph Ostapiuk, Ted Phillips, Jean-Paul Salamanca and Tara Smith contributed to this story.

By Carl MacGowan

carl.macgowan@newsday.comCarlMacGowan

Carl MacGowan is a Long Island native who covers Brookhaven Town after having previously covered Smithtown, Suffolk County courts and numerous spot news and feature stories over his 20-plus year career at Newsday.