Altice to build News 12 studios at Bethpage site

Altice USA is planning a multimillion-dollar renovation that will add new TV and digital studios to its Bethpage facility as it readies the building for News 12 employees to relocate there.   

Construction will begin in early 2019 and will add a 40,000-square-foot broadcast center within Altice’s approximately 540,000-square-foot building at 1111 Stewart Ave.

News 12 Long Island employees now work at 1 Media Crossways in Woodbury.

“The move will bring the News 12 staff together with the Altice USA employees currently in Bethpage, which will make the environment in Bethpage more exciting for all employees with live, visible studios, etc.,” said Janet Meahan, Altice USA spokeswoman.

"Our new and enhanced studios will enable News 12 to continue to be the leader in the hyperlocal news space,” Michael Schreiber, president of the Altice USA News group, said in a statement.

More than 1,000 Altice employees work in Bethpage now, Meahan said.

Last week, Cablevision founder Charles Dolan and some of his family members, including Newsday owner Patrick Dolan, sued Altice USA, alleging that the Queens-based company laid off some News 12 employees in violation of the sale agreement between the Dolans and Altice’s parent company, Altice N.V. of the Netherlands. Altice USA last week said the suit was without merit.

Altice N.V. bought Cablevision Systems Corp. in 2016 for $17.7 billion.

By Tory N. Parrish

tory.parrish@newsday.comToryParrish1

Tory N. Parrish covers retail and small business for Newsday. She has worked at the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review and Observer-Dispatch in Utica, N.Y.