Town Board focuses on cable service

NORTH EAST – The Town Board dealt with a number of issues at its business meeting on Thursday, Oct. 13. Among them was the need for improved cable service.According to town Supervisor Dave Sherman, the town should speak with Cablevision, which provides cable service to the municipality, about extending service to North East residents. He said now is the ideal time to do so.“We just received communications from Cablevision that we’re three years out from when our franchise ends, and they are proceeding to start the process of negotiations with our town for a new franchise,” Sherman said, adding the negotiation process takes a bit of time. “I feel we should push for service for every public town road we serve.”The supervisor said that in neighboring Connecticut, even on the least-used roads, one can see there is cable service provided to its residents. Also, he said, the need for reliable, far-reaching cable service goes beyond recreational wants.“It’s no longer just an issue of providing entertainment services,” Sherman said. “Cable provides Internet and phone too.”That’s why, he said, the board voted to give notice to the cable company it’s ready to engage in a discussion about the renewal of its franchise agreement and “inform the provider of the points we expect to see [tended to] in our franchise agreement.”The town and Cablevision have not yet set a date of when they will meet to work out the details of their franchise agreement; Sherman did not say how long he expects it will take to do so.

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