Thousands in NY, NJ to lose access to NY1, News 12 in cable dispute

New Yorkers may soon lose access to NY1.

Thousands of households across the New York City area will soon lose access to Spectrum News NY1 or News 12 thanks to an ongoing dispute between the cable companies that own the stations.

Spectrum cable will stop carrying News 12 and Optimum customers will lose access to NY1 on June 30, recent filings with the state Public Service Commission show. The move abruptly ends an eight-year-old reciprocal deal where the companies carried each other’s 24-hour news stations at no charge.

“Customers are being notified via on-air channel slates and bill messages or inserts of this change,” Chris Bresnan, Optimum’s senior director of government affairs, wrote to the commission earlier this month.

Unlike most television carriage disputes, this battle doesn’t seem to be centered on money.

Instead, a Spectrum spokesperson said Charter Communications, the cable provider’s parent company, decided to pull the plug on News 12 because Optimum’s parent company, Altice USA, dropped out of trade organizations that represent the industry, including one known as NCTA — The Internet & Television Association.

“Altice has removed itself from these groups and the professional courtesy of peer-to-peer collaboration no longer exists with their company,” said Spectrum spokesperson Don Kaplan. “As a result, we made a business decision to no longer carry News 12.”

An Optimum spokesperson said Charter’s claim is “inaccurate” and “demonstrates their continued disregard for consumers and NY-area residents who rely on this local news coverage.”

“Our joint involvement in various cable industry organizations has nothing to do with maintaining the long-standing reciprocal programming agreement that benefited hundreds of thousands of viewers across the tristate area,” said Erin Smyth, the spokesperson.

The dispute was first reported by Cablefax, a trade publication.

The change will affect Spectrum subscribers in New York City, Westchester County and the rest of the Hudson Valley, as well as those in New Jersey and Connecticut, according to Spectrum. Optimum subscribers in Brooklyn, the Bronx and the Hudson Valley will be affected, according to Optimum.

Customers are currently being notified of the changes and can downgrade or terminate their service at no charge within 30 days of receipt of the notice, according to the filings.