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PURA questions Optimum over program logs, SD broadcasts and alleged commercial content on PEG channels
Summary
During the June 10 hearing, PURA staff and intervenors pressed Optimum on technical and compliance issues: requests for Telview/programming logs, airing of a radio simulcast with commercial spots on a PEG channel, standard-definition distribution, and whether Frontier subscribers pay fees without receiving PEG service.
PURA staff and multiple intervenors used cross-examination on June 10 to press Optimum witnesses for documentary evidence and technical details about how public-access programming is scheduled, reviewed and transmitted.
PURA attorney Church asked about the company's estimate that "fewer than 40%" of people subscribe to cable in its service areas; the Optimum witness said that was a national trend statistic from Pew Research and not a company-specific subscriber percentage. Commissioners then requested rate and package breakdowns as late-file exhibits so the record can assess the company's claim that PEG subscriber fees impose a disproportionate burden on customers.
Technical questions probed the video resolution and delivery chain for PEG channels. A Nutmeg attorney asked why some PEG channels remain in standard definition; Optimum replied that distribution remains SD ("we have settled at providing the SD stream") and that internal conversations have occurred about HD upgrades but no mandate exists to upgrade. The panel asked for equipment inventory, camera models and a more updated equipment list as a read-in exhibit.
The hearing also addressed a recorded morning radio simulcast that included commercial advertising aired on a public access channel. Optimum staff said the broadcast was a livestream simulcast and pledged to review it for compliance; PURA cautioned that commercial programming is generally prohibited on PEG channels and directed parties to clarify the issue in the record.
Finally, Nutmeg and commissioners raised a potential enforcement concern: Optimum reported collecting per-subscriber PEG fees from Frontier customers despite saying it has no interconnect agreements with Frontier. PURA asked Optimum to provide a late-file exhibit quantifying how much Frontier-sourced PEG funding Optimum collected over the past five years and to detail any outreach to Frontier or to PURA about interconnection issues.
The authority requested multiple late-file exhibits (programming logs since Jan 2025; camera models; updated Telview/area interconnect responses; financial breakdowns) and set follow-up deadlines; no compliance determination was made at the hearing.
