Brookhaven residents looking to find out what’s happening in their team won’t have to scroll all the way to Channel 1310 anymore. After a week of criticism from Supervisor Dan Panico and other Long Island officials, cable provider Altice USA announced it will restore government access channels to their original locations in mid-September.
Altice had shifted Brookhaven’s long-standing Channel 18 to 1310 last week, placing Town Board meetings and local programming “in the stratosphere next to nightly infomercials,” Panico quipped. The supervisor blasted the move as prioritizing profits over public service, warning that residents would have trouble finding critical broadcasts, including emergency updates.
The backlash came swiftly, with town and village leaders across Suffolk and Nassau complaining they were blindsided by the realignment. On Thursday, after the South Shore Press highlighted the controversy, Altice relented, telling the state Public Service Commission it would return channels to their old slots.
“After careful consideration of this input, while Optimum continues to believe the changes would have provided benefits to customers, the company has decided to return channels to their prior positions,” Altice vice president Chris Bresnan said.