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Counsel to deal with Cablevision
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Supervisor Mark Lesko announced at the Town Board's work session last week that Brookhaven has retained the services of outside counsel "to assist the town in renegotiating the franchise agreement" with Cablevision. In addition, Lesko countered what he characterized as "bits and pieces of misinformation" regarding a potential Cablevision competitor, Verizon Fios, and its relationship with Brookhaven.
"The claim that Brookhaven is dragging its feet is absolutely not the case," Lesko said. The supervisor noted that Verizon already offers telephone and Internet access for town residents and expanding that service to add television would be "welcome."
"I have reached out to Verizon several times since I took office," he said. "They have not responded."
Susan Hays of Verizon, who will be involved in negotiations should the connection be made, said through a spokesman that she has no comment at this time.
Getting back to Cablevision, Brookhaven last week retained attorney Tom Levin of the Meyer Suozzi law firm to "assist" in its ongoing negotiations, the supervisor said. Lesko insisted all town residents "absolutely" have access to Channel 18, the public access channel that airs Town Board meetings and work sessions. Recently many subscribers have lost Ch. 18 as Cablevision converted to all digital signals from the previous analog system.
Lesko said there are other options on the table impacting on the town's negotiations as well, including whether Brookhaven may choose to run its own channel, instead of the current system of taping meetings and bringing the tapes to Cablevision for their technicians to place on Ch. 18. Also, the town is considering cablecasting meetings live, but arrangements would have to be made for meetings that run long — not unusual in Brookhaven — and rebroadcasts.
Lesko said he "hopes to meet within a week or two" with Levin and Town Attorney Karen Wilutis to move the process. The supervisor said he isn't aware of any imminent deadline to complete the negotiations.
State law requires cable television companies to provide so-called PEG channels — public, educational and governmental access — to subscribers as part of its basic packages. Cablevision provides "Local Programming" on Ch. 18 and "Public Access" on Ch. 20, according to data posted on its website. Customers without a cable box are currently unable to receive those channels even though they are "basic" subscribers.
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