Letters

As many East End town residents know who tried to access their public, educational and government (PEG) channels recently, they were no longer available on channels 20 and 22. Instead you were directed to find your channels somewhere in the 1300s.

Because of the hue and cry in Newsday and all the local East End print and online media, and by town and village officials and the PEG industry, Altice/Optimum later backtracked and promised to return the channels to their original slots “on or about September 16, 2025” [“Optimum Walks Back Public Access Shakeup With Plan To Restore LTV, Sea-TV Channels in September,” 27east.com, August 29].

The League of Women Voters of the Hamptons, Shelter Island and the North Fork also affirms its strong support for the preservation of public, educational and government channels in their traditional locations on the basic service tier of cable television. PEG channels are not optional programming; they are essential to civic life, carrying town board meetings, budget hearings, League forums and candidate debates, school board sessions, and emergency alerts. These channels ensure that voters have free and open access to the information they need to participate meaningfully in our democracy.

Recent attempts by Altice/Optimum to relocate PEG channels into the 1300s of the lineup would have diminished public access to this vital civic resource and deprived subscribers of value they already pay for.

Even if Altice/Optimum has returned the PEG channels to their original sites by September 16, the League urges Altice, state regulators and municipalities to take immediate steps to guarantee permanent protections for PEG channel placement on low-numbered channels, so that this doesn’t happen again, and that it doesn’t happen without prior notice.

Arlene Hinkemeyer

Terry Wildrick

Co-Presidents

League of Women Voters of the Hamptons, Shelter Island and the North Fork