by Dave Garb, Legislative Committee Chair

A Debacle with Altice and the PEG Community in New Jersey, and the Surrounding Tri-State Municipalities

Around August 21, all PEG stations that are part of the Altice/Optimum cable system had their channels moved from their normal positions to the 1300-1317 spectrum. To make matters worse, PEG operators, municipal clerks, mayors, and consumers were not notified of this switch. Altice Government Affairs stated they notified everyone. Notifications for the municipal and consumer level were nowhere to be found. This change not only affected us here in New Jersey but also in New York and Connecticut.

This gave all impacted communities no time to communicate with their residents about the switch. Both systemwide and local franchise agreements may have been violated with this unannounced change. Many municipalities questioned if it was allowed by their local franchise agreements or if the customers might need a new piece of equipment to view the channels. JAG Member, Howard Myers of Edison, NJ asked for a copy of this notification from Altice directly and was sent the following, after the switch occurred:

Good morning, Howard. Please see additional information on Edison PEG TV channel relocation:

PEG Channel Relocation:

Beginning August 19th through August 22nd, Optimum will be repositioning the location of our PEG channels (Public, Education, and Government Access) to a centralized location. These new channel assignments will allow for easier customer navigation and a better user experience, as all PEG channels will now be conveniently located within the same range [see chart above].

All customers subscribing to Basic cable or higher will continue to receive these channels in their video package, and there will be no change to any packaging or pricing as a result of this activity.

Customer Notifications:

Customers will receive advanced(30-day) notification regarding the repositioning of these channels via bill messaging—”Starting August 19, 2025, Your Local Access, Public Education, & Government Channels will be moved to a new channel position between 1300 and 1317 please check your local listings.”

Additionally, once the channels have moved, on-air channel slates will direct customers to the new channel positioning. Anyone tuning in to the previous channel numbers will be guided to the updated locations.

Customers can always find Optimum’s current channel lineup on our website at https://www.optimum.net/pages/channel-lineups.html.

Hope this helps explain the channel relocation, our steps to notify customers, and any other questions on channel lineup.

Please let me know if you have any questions.

Brian

Brian Quinn

Senior Director, Government Affairs

JAG Takes Action

When JAG heard about this move, we took quick and decisive action to understand what was happening, what it meant, and what actions we could take. JAG notified the NJ BPU Office of Cable Television and our members. We were astonished by the sentence in the letter that stated that “these new channel assignments will allow for easier customer navigation and a better user experience.” Easier for the customer to navigate? Some customers have been watching our stations for 35+ years. They know where to find us. Better customer experience? Those 1300 channels are in the HD Spectrum. We are still in SD format.

JAG President, Bob Duthaler sent a list of items for all affected systems needed to research out immediately:

• Do you have a local franchise agreement or was this under the Systemwide (State) agreement?

If the answer is Local – check your franchise agreement out to make sure they didn’t violate any terms in your agreement by doing this. If it is Systemwide, then not much can be done.

• If you have a local franchise agreement, do you have a stipulation about this?

I put in clauses that if they change, they pay us a fee to help rebrand.

• Have you checked with your municipal clerk’s office to see if they sent a letter stating they were changing your PEG channel location?

If the answer is no letter, then I would file a complaint with the BPU immediately.

• Have you checked any of your cable bills (go back at least 6 months) to see if they state in the bill that they are moving the local PEG channels shortly?

If the answer is again, no notification, then I would file a complaint with the BPU immediately.

• Can you get channels 1300-1317 with a normal cable box, meaning without spending additional fees for beyond basic cable?

If the answer is you need something beyond the basic cable service to see those channels, then they are in violation of the Federal Cable Act and NJ Cable Act, and you should notify the BPU immediately.

For the BPU to act and see if any rules or agreements have been broken, municipalities must file first with them. Any letters you and your towns write to Altice to continue to express your reactions to and thoughts about what happened or any possible future actions should copy the BPU. The BPU needs to receive all formal complaints from the affected municipalities in order for them to investigate and explore further.

Apparently, some municipalities registered complaints. On August 28, JAG member Jan Zachary of Manalapan, NJ forwarded the following letter from Altice about switching us back (note that it was addressed to the BPU):

August 28, 2025

Ms. Lawanda Gilbert, Director

Ms. Sherri L. Lewis, Secretary of the Board

NJ Board of Public Utilities

Office of Cable Television and Telecommunications

44 South Clinton Avenue, 1st Floor

Trenton, NJ 08625

Re: Public, Education & Government (PEG) Channel Relocation

Dear Ms. Gilbert and Ms. Lewis:

Altice USA, Inc. (“Optimum” or “the Company”) hereby notifies the Board of Public Utilities (“BPU”) of the following updates to Optimum TV lineups.

As previously noticed to the BPU, between August 19, 2025, and August 22, 2025, the Company relocated Public, Education & Government (“PEG”) channels to new channel positions. These updated channel assignments were designed to place all PEG content within a dedicated and easily accessible channel block between channels 1300–1317.

Following that notice, the Company received feedback from local municipalities and other stakeholders who expressed concerns regarding the changes. 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 PEG channels to their prior channel positions, on or about September 16, 2025.

Optimum values the perspectives of its municipal partners and customers and takes the feedback received seriously. The Company will continue to review its channel lineups on an ongoing basis to ensure that lineups are managed in a way that balances customer needs, operational considerations, and the evolving programming landscape, and may revisit channel positioning at a future date.

The Company will issue an email communication to affected customers in the coming days to inform them of the restored channel positions. Once channels are repositioned, on-air channel slates will be activated to direct viewers to the new channel locations, and impacted customers will be notified through bill messages or inserts of these changes.

Should you have any questions please do not hesitate to contact me by email at Brian.Quinn@Optimum.com.

Sincerely,

Brian Quinn

Senior Director, Government Affairs

Please let JAG know if you have not been changed back after this date. Please also review your franchise agreements and be prepared for the likelihood of this happening again soon. JAG highly recommends that your municipality send a letter immediately to Altice and copy the BPU Office of Cable Television on this relocation of PEG channels and the adverse effect it had on your consumers.

JAG Webinar

JAG will be holding a special webinar on Monday, September 29 at 11am to further discuss this, so we may provide insight and further information to our membership and municipalities (details to follow). JAG is also teaming up with New York and Connecticut to understand how we can work together to fight for your consumer rights and consumer protection issues such as this issue.