Optimum moves government, public access channels, surprising local officials

Government, public access and local programming cable channels have been relocated in the Optimum TV lineup as of Friday, Aug. 22.

Government access, which provides government programming to Optimum cable television subscribers, has been moved from channel 22 to channel 1310. Public access channels 20 and 115 have been moved to channel 1300 and 1302 respectively. The local programming channel, previously channel 118, has been moved to channel 1301.

There was no interruption or change in service, a spokesperson for the cable provider said in an email today.

Altice USA, which provides Optimum cable television service, notified the New York State Public Service Commission of the planned changes last month.

“The updated channel assignments will allow for easier customer navigation and a better user experience, as all PEG [public, education and government] channels will now be conveniently located within the same channel range,” Altice USA’s Vice President For Government Affairs Chris Bresnan wrote in the July 18 letter to the Public Service Commission notifying it of the change.

“Changing consumer viewing habits call for occasional shifts in TV lineups to easily allow customers to access the content they want in the most optimal locations within their lineups,” Optimum’s Communications Manager Raffaella Mazzella said in an emailed statement sent to RiverheadLOCAL today. 

“The change in channel location for the PEG (Public Education Government) channels in question has been carefully designed to enhance our customers’ experience by placing all PEG content within a dedicated and easily accessible channel block in the 1300s,” Mazzella wrote.

Riverhead Town in a press release this afternoon said the change was “initiated without prior notice.” 

Access to all town government meeting videos will continue to be available on the town’s website, the press release from the supervisor’s office noted. Videos will continue to be livestreamed online and available on demand after meetings are concluded. 

Some local officials have objected to the change. 

“Altice has prioritized profits by bumping government access into the boondocks of cable programming,” Brookhaven Town Supervisor Dan Panico said in a statement yesterday. 

Panico predicted Brookhaven residents will have trouble finding our programming, “since it has been relegated from channel 18 into the stratosphere next to nightly infomercials where you regularly find food juicers and ginsu knife sets.”

The change goes against Brookhaven’s government transparency efforts, Panico said.

“Altice needs to restore Channel 18 for the people of Brookhaven,” he said.

Huntington Town called the channel switch “egregious” in a statement posted on the town’s website.

Altice violated the terms of its franchise agreement with Huntington by initiating it without prior written notice, Huntington said in the statement.