Altice USA reported lower first-quarter earnings as the cable MSO continued to shed broadband and video customers, while building its mobile and fiber businesses. 

New York-based Altice USA lost 51,000 Optimum Fiber Internet residential broadband customers in the quarter, on top of the 29,300 lost in Q1. A year ago it lost 37,000 broadband customers. Altice USA finished the quarter with 4.09 million residential broadband customers.

The company also lost 72,800 residential video customers, leaving it with 2.02 million Optimum pay TV subscribers. In Q1, it lost 77,700 video customers.

Altice said it added 40,000 fiber customers in the quarter giving it a total of 434,000, a 74% increase from a year ago. Fiber penetration reached 14.3%, up from 9.4% a year ago.

Optimum Mobile lines rose by 33,000 in the quarter.

Net income dropped to $15.4 million, or 3 cents a share, from $78.3 million, or 17 cents a share, a year ago.

Revenue fell 3.6% to $2.2 billion.

Residential revenue was down 4.4% to $1.8 billion. Business services revenue rose 1.3% to $369.3 million. News and advertising revenue dropped 7.2% to $105.3 million.

“In the second quarter our company achieved significant improvements in operational metrics and customer satisfaction, growth in our fiber, mobile, and B2B businesses, and continued stabilization of ARPU across our base,” CEO Dennis Mathew said.

“We elevated product and network quality, introduced refreshed go-to-market strategies, which are starting to gain traction, and launched Entertainment TV, Optimum’s new low-cost internet TV package available exclusively on Optimum Stream, providing more choice and flexibility for customers,” Mathew said. “Looking ahead, we have an innovative roadmap of future product and experience enhancements that we are eager to bring to current and prospective customers this year and beyond, and we remain focused on advancing network and service quality, driving profitable customer relationships, and maintaining financial discipline.”

Faced with a fateful upcoming court date at the end of July, bankrupt Diamond Sports Group has a fresh new distribution worry.

Eleven of its 18 remaining Bally Sports regional sports networks have been blacked out on Altice USA’s Optimum cable TV systems, which reached 2.09 million remaining pay TV customers as of the end of March. 

Also read: Everything You Need To Know About the Bally Sports Bankruptcy

“We have worked diligently and championed on your behalf to reach a fair agreement, offering flexible and consumer-friendly options to Diamond Sports Group, the operator of Bally Sports Networks; however, Bally’s declined. As a result, their content is no longer available on our lineups,” Altice USA says on a website intended to inform customers of the carriage dispute. 

Notably, on this page, Altice directs bereaved baseball fans to the Bally Sports Plus direct-to-consumer streaming service and the Fubo virtual MVPD. The company also has a phone line to help customers talk through solutions. 

Diamond released its own statement: “It’s disappointing that Altice has chosen to stop airing our channels, and we regret that fans are impacted. We have been engaged in negotiations with Altice with the goal of reaching a fair agreement for Optimum’s continued distribution of the Bally Sports regional sports networks. Unfortunately, Altice has rejected multiple proposals with terms similar to what other distributors have already agreed to while demanding carriage on a premium sports tier that would require fans to pay more to retain access, demonstrating they are unwilling to let their subscribers enjoy broadcasts of their favorite teams.”

Diamond, which is seems out of room for delay and must present a viable plan to move forward on July 29 to a Houston bankruptcy, touts that it has locked up distribution with 10 of the 12 largest U.S. pay TV operators, and is reaching 84% of U.S. pay TV subscribers. 

Of more pressing concern is its impasse with Comcast — since April 29, all 18 Bally Sports channels have been blacked out on Xfinity-branded cable TV systems reaching around 14 million subscribers. 

Some of the channels impacted in the Altice USA dispute span numerous cable franchise regions and are blacked out by Comcast as well, such as Bally Sports South, the RSN home of the Atlanta Braves. 

Here are the 11 impacted channels:

• Bally Sports Arizona
• Bally Sports Extra
• Bally Sports Great Lakes
• Bally Sports Kansas City
• Bally Sports Midwest
• Bally Sports New Orleans
• Bally Sports Ohio
• Bally Sports Oklahoma
• Bally Sports South
• Bally Sports Southeast
• Bally Sports Southwest
• Bally Sports West

In its messaging to customers, Altice USA concedes, “Fortunately, there are various options available for you to continue watching your favorite Major League Baseball teams.” And that’s true. Bally Sports channels are carried by nationally distributed services like DirecTV satellite TV and DirecTV Stream, as well as virtual MVPD Fubo. 

Altice USA reported a loss of both video and broadband subscribers, resulting in red ink for the first quarter.

The company had 30,000 fewer Optimum broadband subscribers than in the prior quarter, compared to 19,000 net disconnects a year ago. The company finished the quarter with 4.1 million broadband subscribers.

In video, 78,000 customers cut the cord, the biggest loss in at least a year, leaving 2.1 million pay TV subscribers. Video losses accelerated from a year ago, when Altice lost 59,000 subscribers.

That left Altice USA with a $21.2 million loss for the quarter, or 5 cents a share, compared to net income of $$25.9 million or 6 cents a share a year ago.

Revenue fell 1.9% to $2.3 billion.

On the plus side, residential revenue per user (ARPU) increased 0.3% to $135.67 and business services revenue was $364.9 million, up 0.3%. News and advertising revenue rose 7.1% to $105.7 million, Excluding political ad revenue, news and advertising revenue was up 1.8%.

Customer-service calls were down by 1.7 million and the company had 235,000 fewer truck rolls.

"Our first-quarter results are reflective of the progress we are making to improve our operations and financial performance, which we are confident will set us on a path to achieve sustainable long-term growth,” CEO Dennis Mathew said.

“We are delivering quality and value to our customers by strengthening our networks, improving our execution discipline, enhancing our product portfolio, and accelerating local go-to-market strategies, and we are proud to once again report growth in our fiber and mobile customer bases alongside continued improvement across key operational and customer experience metrics,” Mathew said. “Our focus remains on driving profitable customer relationships and elevating network and service quality, all while maintaining financial discipline.”

Altice USA is launching a new campaign for its Optimum brand of broadband and cable services that uses the slogan, “Where local is big time.”

The new slogan highlights Optimum’s local focus and tech capabilities, the company said. 

“As a local provider of critical connectivity services, Optimum cares deeply about the vitality, happiness, and lasting success of the local communities we serve, not just because they are our customers, but because they are also our employees, neighbors, friends, and family,” David Williams, president of consumer services at Optimum, said. “We know how much our communities rely on us to stay connected, so how we show up for them matters to us. That’s why it is important our brand reflects our customer-first ethos and reinforces our local commitment combined with our ability to deliver world-class connectivity at a great value today and into the future.”

The campaign will target residential customers and businesses across Optimum’s service areas on TV, video, social media, radio, streaming audio, out-of-home and digital display.

Also Read: Altice USA Stock Perks Up in After-Hours Trading as Cable Company Meets Q4 Forecasts

The two “hero” ad spots highlight the role Optimum plays in ensuring that people and businesses stay connected.  Every ad is anchored in reaching customers where they are — in the communities where they live and work — and will be seen in markets across Optimum’s 21-state footprint.

“ ‘Where local is big time’ isn’t just a tagline — it reflects how we operate at Optimum and marks a significant moment centered around our ability to deliver connectivity services with big-tech capabilities in a simplified way that meets the specific needs of our markets and customers,” Optimum chief marketing officer Jennifer Garrett said. “Now, we are more poised than ever to reach our customers where they are and ensure that everything we’re driving locally, regionally, and nationally resonates with the communities that we call home.”

Altice USA said Optimum has introduced a new regional operations model with local senior leadership teams, enhanced customer communications, launched a suite of connectivity products and upgraded its broadband networks.

The campaign was put together with Publicis O1, a dedicated team of people from Publicis Groupe Agencies working on Optimum.

Altice USA’s Optimum brand named executives to senior positions as part of a new leadership structure.

Michael Parker was named president, business service; David Williams becomes president, consumer services and Leroy Williams was tapped as chief growth & innovation officer.

Optimum said its new structure creates dedicated consumer and business services divisions and puts an emphasis on innovation.

“Optimum continues to make steady progress on our mission to be the connectivity provider of choice in every community we serve as we drive improved operational and customer experience metrics across the board. Creating dedicated Consumer and Business Services teams as well as doubling down on innovation best positions us to accelerate our initiatives, strengthen our operations, meet customer needs, and return to growth,” said Altice USA CEO Dennis Mathew.

Parker joins Optimum from Comcast where he was regional senior VP of the company’s Beltway division.

David Williams joined Optimum earlier this year as chief revenue officer from Comcast, where he’d been chief marketing officer for the company’s largest cable division.

Leroy Williams joined Optimum as chief growth officer in 2023 from Samsung Electronics America, where he had been chief product officer.

Altice USA said Jennifer Garrett was named chief marketing officer for its Optimum brand, a new post at the company.

Garrett had been head of marketing for the business-to-business division of Charter Communications.

In her new post, Garrett will be responsible for the Optimum brand and value proposition, while acquiring customers and amplifying awareness of Optimum products across all business channels. She will report to Leroy Williams, executive VP, chief growth officer.

“We are thrilled to have Jennifer, with her over 20 years of experience leading brand, marketing, media, and customer base management in the telecommunications industry, officially join the Optimum team,” Williams said. “She is an exceptional leader and innovator with a proven track record of building top-performing teams and bringing businesses to new levels. We are on a journey to make Optimum the connectivity provider of choice and I am confident that under her leadership, our teams will be best positioned to help propel the business forward and advance the Optimum brand in every community we serve.”

Before Charter, Garrett spent more than a decade at Cox Communications in a variety of sales and marketing roles.

“I am honored to have the opportunity to lead Optimum’s best-in-class team to help elevate the brand, enable deeper loyalty, and drive growth among both new and existing customers,” Garrett said. “With Optimum’s powerful suite of connectivity products and services, I am excited to bring my insight-led and consumer-focused approach to the company and drive greater awareness around the brand and deliver continued growth.”

Altice USA said it has begun the rebranding of all of its Suddenlink systems under the Optimum name, launching a nationwide brand campaign, “Get Closer, Go Farther.”

Altice USA took the first steps toward retiring the Suddenlink brand in July 2021,  when it said all of its wireless products would be rebranded under the Optimum Mobile name. In April of this year, it launched its “Let’s Reconnect” campaign with a pledge to rebrand the Suddenlink markets later in the year. Suddenlink has about 1.8 million customers in 17 states mainly in the Midwest, southern and western parts of the country. Altice purchased the systems in 2015 for $9.1 billion. 

The rebranding news also comes days after reports claimed that Altice USA had hired Goldman Sachs to seek a buyer for the properties.  

“Get closer and go farther. That’s our Optimum brand promise and what we aim to deliver to our customers through our connectivity services and experiences we offer,” Optimum EVP consumer and business services Matt Grover said in a press release. “We are thrilled to launch this new campaign and officially bring our Suddenlink products and services under the Optimum brand, uniting our telecommunications division under one name, one voice, and one promise to customers to deliver the very best internet, TV, and mobile service to them every day.”

Starting August 1 and throughout the months ahead, the company will transition Suddenlink properties and assets to Optimum, including vehicles, stores, websites and uniforms.

In the press release, Altice USA said the aim of the new brand and tagline is to demonstrate the company’s promise to bring customers closer together with its products and services to enable them to go farther into the future. This effort includes new campaign TV spots, the acceleration of the build out of its fiber internet network; the launch of Optimum 2 Gig and 5 Gig Fiber Internet; removing data caps on all Suddenlink internet plans as part of the transition to Optimum; opening nearly 20 new state-of-the-art Optimum retail stores across the country in recent months; and rebranding its Optimum Mobile service, which was recently ranked #1 in customer satisfaction by the American Customer Satisfaction Index. ▪️

Shares in Altice USA soared Thursday (July 21) after a report in Bloomberg News said the mid-sized cable operator was seeking a buyer for its Suddenlink Communications division that could fetch as much as $20 billion.

According to Bloomberg, Altice USA is working with Goldman Sachs on a potential deal, citing unnamed sources.

Altice officials declined to comment on what they called "rumors."  

Altice USA CEO Dexter Goei opened the door ever so slightly to a sale back in May at the MoffettNathanson Media & Communications Summit, when he didn’t rule out a potential deal. 

“Suddenlink in itself is a great asset, great growth matrices, under-penetrated markets, less competitive areas, despite that it’s very rural,” Goei said at the conference. “But strategically, it's not a footprint that makes you sit there and say ‘Wow, that’s the most strategic footprint out there.’ So are we sellers or restructurers of certain of our assets in other areas outside of Cablevision? We're always open to listening to people out there if it makes sense for us to trade, swap, sell certain assets.”

Altice USA shares rose more than 40% in afternoon trading July 21, priced as high as $13.17 each, up 43.5% or $3.99 per share. Trading was halted briefly by the NYSE because of the spike, but was resumed later in the day. The stock closed at $11.24 each on July 21, up 22.5% or $2.06 each. 

Nevertheless, the gains have basically erased year-to-date declines for the shares — they were down 43% since December 31 prior to Thursday — fueled by broadband subscriber losses and threats of more intense pricing competition from telco Verizon Communications.

Altice USA has the greatest exposure of any operator to Verizon’s Fios product: About two-thirds of its Optimum footprint in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut competes with the telco. While its Suddenlink footprint is virtually Fios-free, it faces increasing competition from fixed wireless and fiber builds from large and small providers.  

Suddenlink operates primarily across 17 states in the Midwest, southern and western parts of the country. Although Altice USA does not break out specific data for Suddenlink, in a research note Wells Fargo Securities analyst Steven Cahall wrote that he estimates the unit has about 1.8 million customers and passes about 3.9 million homes. He also estimated that 2022 cash flow could be about $1.4 billion. At a $20 billion take-out price, that implies a 14 times cash flow multiple, which would be considerably higher than recent deals. 

Cahall had previously speculated in May that Altice USA could sell Suddenlink at a 7-to-8 times cash flow multiple, which would imply a $12 billion to $13 billion price tag. But if the Bloomberg report is correct, Cahall wrote that his past enterprise value for the company “was far too low.”

In a research note in September 2021, MoffettNathanson senior analyst Craig Moffett assigned a 12 times cash flow multiple to an upgraded Suddenlink, in line with past deals like Cable One’s purchases of Fidelity Communications (11.7 times) and Hargray Communications (17.2 times); adding that any possible buyer would not have as many cost-cutting opportunities as Cable One in those prior deals.

The list of possible buyers could run the gamut of private equity and strategic players, including Cable One, Breezeline (formerly Atlantic Broadband), Stonepeak Infrastructure Partners, TPG and others.    

Whatever the price it is likely to be far in excess of the $9.1 billion Altice paid for Suddenlink back in 2015. That purchase was the international telco’s first in the U.S., and led to its $17.7 billion purchase of Cablevision Systems in 2016.

While Altice was able to cut a lot of costs out of the two companies, more recently it has had trouble gaining broadband customers, reporting a loss of 13,000 high-speed data customers in Q1, after shedding about 3,000 broadband subscribers in 2021.

In a note to clients Thursday, Moffett said while the idea that Altice would sell Suddenlink isn’t that surprising — equity values across the cable landscape are short of their intrinsic values — he was surprised they would attempt a sale while they’re still publicly traded. Altice shares have been on a steady decline over the past several months -- prior to today (July 21), the stock was down 68% since September 3, 2021. That had some speculating in the past that Altice management could take the company private.  

“A large part of our recent reticence in taking a more constructive stance on the company despite its appealing valuation has been our fear that majority owner Patrick Drahi would be much more likely to take the company private first, potentially at only a modest premium, in order to capture the upside of a Suddenlink sale for himself,” Moffett wrote Thursday. ■

Altice USA said it will launch a 5 Gigabit per second broadband service in parts of its Long Island, New York footprint in June, along with a lower-priced 2Gbps product, more than twice the speeds offered by its competition in the market. 

The 5Gbps service will be priced for new customers at $180 per month, with the 2Gbps offering costing new subscribers $120 per month. Altice USA CEO Dexter Goei said in a press release that the multi-gig offering will be available across its New York, New Jersey and Connecticut fiber footprint by the end of the year.    

Altice USA said it would speed up the build out of its fiber network throughout its footprint earlier this year, aimed at bringing faster speeds to customers. The  company lost about 13,000 broadband subscribers in Q1 -- the only major cable operator to do so -- and has made some big changes in the past few months including rebranding its service, to win them back. 

Other operators have offered multi-gig service -- Comcast currently offers a 3Gbps service (Gigabit Pro) in all its markets for $299 per month and recently tested a 400Gbps service -- but offerings generally top out at about 1Gbps. And CableLabs’  DOCSIS 4.0 standard is supposed to enable speeds of up to 10Gbps once it is deployed.  

There are critics that have said most users don’t need speeds that fast -- most can stream video and access the internet with speeds as low as 100 Megabits per second -- but as bandwidth hogging applications like virtual reality, 4K TVs and multiple connected devices proliferate, they may  benefit from faster service. According to researcher OpenVault, average data usage for US consumers has doubled since 2018.  

In a press release, Altice USA said the multi-gig services are symmetrical, meaning customers will receive the same upload and download speeds. The higher speeds also will allow customers to access higher resolution video streaming up to 8K; lower latency which helps in data intensive applications like virtual reality and gaming; greater reliability and Smart WiFi6 for greater whole home coverage. 

“As we continue to expand our new 100% Optimum Fiber Internet network across our footprint, we are pleased to bring the fastest residential fiber internet service to the tri-state area,” Goei said in a press release. “Customers on our Optimum Fiber network are already enjoying fast, symmetrical speeds and a reliable connectivity experience, and we look forward to bringing even faster service with more bandwidth than ever before with our 5 Gig and 2 Gig Optimum Fiber Internet speeds.”   

Months after it reported a full year of broadband subscriber losses — the only major cable operator to do so — Altice USA continues to step up efforts to win back customers with a new campaign entitled “Let’s Reconnect,” and pledging to rebrand its Suddenlink Communications markets to Optimum later this year.

The new campaign comes after Altice USA lost about 3,000 broadband customers in 2021,  a year where although overall high-speed Internet customer growth slowed down, it was at least positive for the rest of the sector. Altice USA is in a bit of a unique competitive situation — about one-third of its footprint is within Verizon Fios territory, which has been very aggressive in winning broadband subscribers. As a result, Altice USA said it would accelerate the buildout of its fiber network and push hard to bring new services and functionality to customers. 

The rebranding and “Let’s Reconnect” campaigns are just another step in that process. Altice has already rebranded its wireless service as Optimum Mobile, and said Suddenlink subscribers in the West and Mid-Atlantic states would be receiving service under a new name in the future. That future, apparently, is now. 

“As part of Let’s Reconnect, we’re making changes to ensure that we are delivering the very best service and experience to our customers and keeping them at the center of everything that we do,” Altice said in a statement. “This means more speed and reliability through our fiber network and mobile service, 24/7 customer support online and over the phone, the opening of more retail stores across the country and so much more.”

In a letter to customers, Altice USA executive VP of consumer services Matt Marino pointed to increased internet speeds as the fiber buildout progresses; easy to understand pricing and surprise-free billing; better service through the hire of thousands of local employees and the opening of 70 new retail locations; and an increased commitment to its communities, through company donations to public schools and organizations.

“We heard you and we know it’s time to reconnect,” Marino wrote in the letter. “Though keeping you connected to what you love has always been our number one goal, we understand that we haven’t always gotten it right. So, we’re working hard to make important changes as a recommitment to you.”

Whether this will be enough to put a dent in subscriber losses remains to be seen.

Still, Altice USA is making an effort to right the ship. In addition to the fiber acceleration, the company has expanded its MVNO agreement with T-Mobile for its Optimum Mobile service, launched Optimum Stream, a 4K-capable Android TV device for free to its 1 Gigabit-per-second broadband customers, and made some management changes.  

Altice stock went into a tailspin in February after it announced plans to step up the fiber build and accelerate its edge-out program to expand its addressable footprint. Shares fell as much as 22% on February 17,ending the day down 18% to $11.83 per share from $14.40 each the day before. Since then, the stock hasn’t regained much of that ground — it closed at $12.70 each on April 4. 

In a research note in February, MoffettNathanson senior analyst Craig Moffett noted that Altice’s plans to speed up the fiber deployment and accelerate edge-outs to increase their addressable market are good signs. But Moffett added that it can no longer be assured that the company will be a grower in the long term.

“At the heart of the problem is broadband,” Moffett wrote. “Altice’s broadband subscriber growth has slowed to a stop.” 

It appears that with the new campaign, Altice is hoping to turn that perception around. ■

Altice USA said it has named former J.P. Morgan Chase executive Ben Collier as senior vice president of Brand, Marketing and Media, effective immediately. He reports directly to EVP of Consumer Services, Matt Marino. 

Collier will be based out of Altice USA’s Long Island City, N.Y., headquarters and will lead the company’s brand and marketing strategy, advertising, and media teams as the company prepares to unify its Suddenlink and Optimum brands under the Optimum banner.  

“We’re thrilled to have Ben Collier join Altice USA as the Optimum brand enters a new era,” Marino said in a press release. “He has proven throughout his career to be an intelligent, agile, and innovative marketer, and I have no doubt that he is the right person to lead our brand, marketing, and media teams as we look to re-engage our customers and grow our business in today’s ultra-competitive environment.”

Collier has nearly 20 years experience in marketing and advertising, most recently serving as executive director of Brand Experience and Development at J.P. Morgan Chase Private Bank, where he drove brand awareness, engagement, and client growth for the firm. He also has held senior marketing positions at Remy Martin and American Express.

“I’m looking forward to working with Matt and our teams across the company to continue to share what makes the Optimum brand experience and services like Optimum Fiber and Optimum Mobile so special,”  Collier said in a press release. 

Altice USA shares fell as much as 16% in early trading Thursday, after CEO Dexter Goei said broadband subscribers would be down by as much as 15,000 to 20,000 customers in the third quarter.

Shares in the New York-based MSO were trading as low as $21.21 early Thursday, down 16% or $4.05 per share. The stock closed at $22.06, down $3.20 or 12.7% each on Sept. 23.

Some analysts had expected Altice USA to add about 22,000 broadband customers in Q3, down from the 26,000 it added in the same period last year but higher than the 15,000 it added in Q3 2019. Other cable operators have said that they expect broadband growth to slow in Q3, as the positive customer growth effects tied to the pandemic begin to wane. 

At the Goldman Sachs Communacopia conference Thursday, Goei said that high-speed internet customer additions would be negative. 

“Our numbers are going to be negative coming into Q3 in terms of internet adds, probably to the tune of 15,000 to 20,000, which gets us to a trend of being flattish to slightly up for the year,” Goei said, adding that the operator averaged about 72,000 internet adds in 2018 and 2019 and 145,000 additions last year. “If we are flattish to slightly up this year, we’ll be breakeven over the last four years. That is disappointing.”

Also Read: Analyst Makes Case for Altice USA to Go Private 

Goei said that lower than expected gross adds, the result of “underwhelming” back-to-school performance in its markets in late August and into September, was the main culprit for the negative broadband additions. But the CEO is hopeful that new efforts launched at the beginning of September, like increasing the speeds of its Altice Advantage Internet product to 50 Megabits per second (a 65% boost), renaming it Optimum Advantage and keeping its price point at $14.99 per month, will boost subscriber rolls. In July, Altice said it would rebrand its Altice Mobile product as Optimum Mobile, the first step in aligning all of its brands under the Optimum name. 

Also Read: Analysts Search for Meaning in Altice USA Leadership Change 

“These are getting some traction,” Goei said. “We are hopeful that in Q4 we’ll see back-to- normalized trends and positive net adds and we continue to be very, very focused on increasing our investment in the network and our distribution channels.”

Goei also commented on the recent departure of chief operating officer Hakim Boubazine, adding that the executive had a long successful history with the company, but that it was time for a change. Boubazine said earlier this month that he would step down at the end of the year, and in the meantime would serve as a special adviser to the company. Goei would take on his duties in addition to those of CEO. 

Goei said despite Boubazine‘s success in the past, operating trends have been “a little underperforming” over the past few years. He added that the change will help the company execute more quickly on its goals, as well as allowing the organization to react to change in a more flexible way. 

“We thought it was a good time to make that change,” Goei said. “Me coming in really helps flatten the organization, allows people to have a lot more say in their opinions and it rises quickly to my attention and be able to react in a much more flexible way. The tenets and the foundations of what we want to do remain the same. … The buck will stop with me.” 

Altice USA’s recent acquisition of a regional fiber-optic broadband service provider helped offset organic customer losses in the second quarter, as revenue rose 1.7% to $2.52 billion and cash flow growth was flat at $1.1 billion in the second quarter. 

Altice said unique customer relationships were down by 12,000 in the period, but showed a gain of 23,000 unique customers when 35,000 subscribers from its most recent acquisition -- Morris Broadband -- is included. Altice USA purchased Morris broadband in April in a deal that valued the North Carolina company at $310 million. 

Organic broadband subscriber growth was flat in the period, but increased to a gain of 30,000 customers when Morris Broadband data was included. That compares to a gain of 70,000 broadband subscribers in the prior year. 

The same held  true for video customer losses -- down 48,000 organically in Q2, or 36,000 when Morris Broadband’s 12,000 video customers are considered. Altice USA lost 35,000 video subscribers in Q2 2020.

Also Read: Analysts Brace for Broadband Slowdown 

Residential revenue growth was spurred by a 7.8% rise in broadband sales and a 36.4% spike in News & Advertising revenue, supported by a strong recovery in local, regional and national advertising plus additional political advertising revenue from the New York mayoral and New Jersey  gubernatorial races.

At its Optimum Mobile service -- which was rebranded earlier this month  -- revenue rose 4% to $20.7 million as the company added 5,000 new customers. Optimum mobile ended the period with 180,000 customers, reaching about 3.8% of Altice USA’s residential customer base. 

Altice USA said that broadband-only customer usage averaged about 558 Gigabytes per month in Q2, a 26% increase and that the average broadband speed taken by customers has nearly doubled over the past three years to 316 Megabits per second in Q2. More than half of its broadband customers subscribe to speeds of 200 Mbps or less, representing an opportunity to upsell to faster service, the company said. 

Altice USA said it continues with its fiber-to-the-home upgrade plans, adding that at the end of the quarter it covered about 1.1 million homes with FTTH technology available for service. FTTH sell-in to new customers is at about two-thirds of net additions in areas where the technology is available, the company said.  Penetration of FTTH passings grew to 4.3% compared to 1.0% in Q2 2020. 

Altice said it also is moving forward with its edge-out program, adding 127,000 homes passed in the quarter (39k homes passed excluding Morris Broadband) and 315,000 homes passed in the past twelve months (160,000 homes passed excluding the acquisitions of Morris Broadband and Service Electric Cable T.V. of New Jersey). 

“As the states and businesses in which we operate have been reopening more widely, Altice USA has seen an acceleration in revenue growth led by advertising and business services,” CEO Dexter Goie said in a press release. “Our residential business remains extremely focused on achieving faster broadband customer growth going forward from a faster pace of footprint expansion and network upgrades including fiber. We are delighted to have announced recently the new Optimum Mobile brand as the first step in the company’s plan to align all its connectivity brands under one national Optimum brand, and we continue to invest in innovative new products such as Optimum Stream to support increased video streaming activity which is driving broadband data usage.”

Altice USA added more broadband customers in the second quarter than ever, spurred by stay at home orders throughout its service territory as the pandemic rages on, and prompting the company to reinstate guidance for the rest of the year.

Altice USA said it added 70,000 broadband customers in the period, more than five times the 13,000 it added in the prior year. Including complimentary Altice Advantage Internet customer net additions, residential broadband customers rose by 79,000 in the quarter. That growth fell to 53,000 additions when adjusted for customers receiving broadband via programs like the FCC Keep America Connected Pledge and a New Jersey order prohibiting companies from disconnecting broadband service for non-payment. But even with the lower number, Altice had its best broadband quarter ever.

At the same time, video subscribers fell by about 35,000 in the period, up from a loss of 21,000 customers in the same period last year.

Like its other cable peers, Altice USA attributed the broadband gains to the pandemic. The company added that internet usage in its service territories rose by 59% in the quarter, while video streaming was up 46% year-over-year. 

Total revenue was up 1% to $2.47 billion and EBITDA grew 2.5% to $1.1 billion.

“Our core cable business performed extremely well, and we remain committed to serving our broader community with the connectivity and news they need during this unprecedented time,” Altice USA CEO Dexter Goei said in a press release. “For the second consecutive quarter, we delivered best-ever customer net additions, driven by organic broadband growth, and increased revenue, net income and Adjusted EBITDA year-over-year. We saw resilience in our Business Services segment, where we grew revenue more than two percent, and began to see a recovery in our News and Advertising business as we exited the quarter. While the pandemic continues to pose some uncertainty in the back half of the year, we are encouraged by the strength and resilience of our business, and by the opportunity set presented.”

As a result, Altice USA has decided to reinstate guidance for the full year -- it withdrew guidance in Q1 because of the pandemic. Now the company said it projects revenue and EBITDA growth for the full year, capital expenditures of $1.3 billion and $1.7 billion in share repurchases. The company has set a year-end leverage target of 4.5 times to 5 times net debt/adjusted EBITDA.

Altice USA is seeking out construction and tech workers willing to sign up for voluntary layoffs that would begin on May 12, in an effort to cut costs due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

In a memo sent to employees, Altice USA Technical Services is asking for field service workers in New York state to volunteer for layoffs.

“As you know, earlier this week we shared that we’re seeing consumer behavior affecting field service expectations as well as local conditions and restrictions in our communities impacting some of our construction efforts such as FTTH [fiber-to-the-home] because of state restrictions, municipality closures impacting permitting, and availability from 3rd parties such as utilities due to resource constraints,” the memo stated. “This is causing us to have to make difficult decisions regarding our workforce which will require us to lay some employees off. As we are making these decisions we thought we would first seek to understand if there is anyone within FS [field services], OSP [outside plant], or on FTTH (Long Term Assignment from FS or OSP) who would like to volunteer for consideration to be laid off from the company. The layoff would be effective as of May 12, 2020."

Altice USA confirmed that its Altice Technical Service unit is offering a voluntary option for some techs, field service and outside plant workers to receive severance or remain in their current roles.

According to some former employees, Altice USA is offering those workers who agree to be laid off a severance package that includes two weeks of pay for every year of service and three months of health care coverage.

Like other cable operators during the pandemic, Altice USA has had to lay off workers as shelter-in-place and social distancing orders have taken hold. Altice hasn’t revealed how many workers it has had to let go, but has said it was a small percentage of its total workforce. According to its 10-K annual report, Altice USA has about 10,700 workers.

According to reports, Altice USA closed the Los Angeles studio for its Cheddar streaming news operations in April, resulting in some layoffs. 

 About 700 Altice USA workers are represented by two unions -- the Communications Workers of America and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers. CWA represents about 300 Altice USA workers in Brooklyn, N.Y., more than 100 workers in Westchester County, N.Y., and 52 workers in Beckley and Logan, W. Va. IBEW represents about 100 Altice USA workers in Oakland, N.J., and about 126 workers in Nassau County in New York. The CWA local in Westchester is currently in talks with the company to avoid laying off 16 workers at that facility and hopes to reach a deal soon.

“We are currently in negotiations to mitigate the layoffs with Altice and hope to have a workable solution in the near future,” CWA said.

According to some people familiar with the company, Altice USA has laid off about 200 workers in the New York, New Jersey and Connecticut areas, which works out to be less than 2% of the total workforce. It couldn’t be determined how many, if any, were let go in its Suddenlink territories in the Midwest, Southeast and Western parts of the country.

In a statement, Altice USA said that it is “well positioned” in the current environment, given the increased reliance on its networks and services. In the first quarter, Altice USA lost about 42,000 video customers and gained 50,000 high-speed Internet subscribers, both ahead of analysts’ expectations.

“At the same time, the pandemic and its impact on society have prompted us to evaluate the way we do business, including how we are managing our workforce to best support the immediate needs of our customers while also preparing for how we will operate in the future as consumers’ needs evolve,” Altice USA said in a statement. In the past several weeks Altice US has offered premium pay to customer-facing, contact center and news field employees and created a $10 million community relief program to help assist local communities during the pandemic.

“Regretfully, we also made the difficult decision to lay off a small percentage of employees, and while these decisions are never made lightly, we are providing severance and our full support to impacted employees,” Altice continued in the statement. “We communicated to these employees in mid-April.”

Altice USA said it is offering a premium pay increase to employees in customer-facing field service and retail positions in response to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

Effective immediately and retroactive to March 28, Altice USA employees in customer-facing roles will receive a 20% pay premium increase based on hours worked, the company said.

Related: Facing Up to COVID-19

Altice has taken several steps to battle the coronavirus outbreak. As of April 2, it said most of its employee base is now working remotely. To assist at-home connectivity for its workers, the company is increasing the complimentary data speed offering provided to its employees to 200 megabits per second. In addition, the company is:

• Offering paid administrative leave, in addition to sick, personal and vacation time, for employees who are quarantined or diagnosed with COVID-19.
  

• For the essential work that cannot be conducted from home, Altice USA has introduced a series of preventative measures including:
• Increasing the frequency and intensity of cleaning and disinfecting in locations that remain open;
• Adjusting practices in call centers and implementing zoning to ensure the recommended social distancing guidelines;
• Limiting the number of customers inside open retail stores; and
• Changing procedures for technicians entering customer homes, which includes, among other measures: taking daily temperature checks; making pre-calls to ensure a customer is not sick; providing nitrile gloves, hand sanitizer and sanitizing wipes to be used during service visits; and having technicians use personal remote devices to avoid touching customer equipment.

Altice USA also has opened its Altice Advantage broadband service for free for 60 days to any households with K-12 and/or college students who do not currently have home internet access. The company also joined the Federal Communications Commission’s “Keep Americans Connected Pledge,” which provides relief to customers impacted by the pandemic.

Altice USA said it is making live and on demand content from several networks available to its Optimum and Suddenlink customers through April 22 in response to the coronavirus pandemic.

Beginning March 27, Hallmark Channel, Hallmark Drama, Hallmark Movies & Mysteries, Cooking Channel, DIY Network, Science Channel, and Discovery Family will be available to its customers through April 22nd at no additional cost.

“We are pleased to provide our customers with an expanded selection of engaging family-friendly content during this unprecedented time,” Altice USA chief operating officer Hakim Boubazine said in a press release. “We hope our customers enjoy the wide variety of original programming as well as the live and on-demand content offered by these great networks.” 

In response to COVID-19, Altice USA has been active to ensure people within the communities it serves have reliable access to high-speed broadband connectivity and is providing its Altice Advantage offering to new households with students that don’t have internet access for free for 60 days. The company also signed the FCC’s ‘Keep Americans Connected’ pledge to provide relief to customers impacted by this pandemic.

Altice USA may have unlocked the secret to making promotions and promotional pricing work for cable: never let them end.

While the rest of the industry tries to wean itself off promotional pricing, Altice USA began a “Price for Life” campaign in its Optimum and Suddenlink footprints this month, offering new customers more than 220 video channels and internet service at 200 Megabits per second for $64.99 per month (not including taxes, fees and other charges) for as long as they have service with the company.

For customers who need a little more video and internet, “Price for Life” has three other tiers. Select includes over 340 channels and 200 Mbps internet for $74.99; Core TV has more than 220 video channels and 400 Mbps for $84.99; and Premier TV has over 420 channels (including premium channels HBO and Showtime) and 200 Mbps for $94.99.

The price points are the same as previous offers, with an added “for life” component. New customers also get a $100 Amazon gift card, can add digital phone service for an additional $5 per month and all of the packages utilize the company’s Altice One wireless hub platform.

Altice USA said the “Price for Life” packages help solve one of the biggest problems of promotional periods: the sticker shock a consumer feels when that period rolls off. That traditionally leads to heavy churn, but with no contract and no pressure, customers stay longer. Eventually, usually around the two-year mark, customers will find that they want higher internet speeds and upgrade to larger packages.

“This essentially eliminates the pain point of promotional rolloffs,” an Altice spokesperson said.

While programming costs tend to rise over time, the idea is that, in two or three years, customers will likely feel the need for an internet upgrade. And when they do, most likely to a higher price point, it will be their choice.

Revenue rose 4% and cash flow was up nearly 8% in the fourth quarter at Altice USA, driven by stable growth in broadband and improved video performance.

Altice ended the quarter with 15,000 fewer video subscribers, an improvement over the loss of 25,000 pay TV customers in the prior year.Broadband gains at 22,000 in the period were on par with the prior year gain of 25,000 customers.

That performance helped drive revenue up by 4% to $2.45 billion and cash flow up 7.8% to $1.1 billion in the quarter. For the full year, revenue rose 2.1% to $9.6 billion and cash flow increased by 4.6% to $4.2 billion.

"Altice USA has once again delivered great financial performance, meeting all of our guidance targets for 2018, and hitting many more operational milestones,” Altice USA Chief Executive Officer Dexter Goei said in a press release. “Throughout the year, we drove improved subscriber trends and accelerated revenue growth, achieved our highest ever margins, and generated material growth in free cash flow. We enter 2019 continuing on our fast- paced journey defined by innovation and simplicity to deliver state-of-the-art connectivity services, advanced business solutions and high-quality content.”

Altice USA met its 2018 guidance expectations of 2.5% to 3% revenue growth for the full year. Capex at $1.15 billion was in line with guidance of capital expenditures of less than $1.3 billion.

For 2019, Altice USA said it expects revenue growth of 2.5% to 3% with capex expected to rise slightly to between $1.3 and $1.4 billion.

Newsmax TV said it has reached a carriage agreement with Altice US that will put the conservative news channel in front of the cable operator’s Optimum customers in the New York market initially, expanding to its mostly Midwestern Suddenlink subscribers within one year.

The network said it will be carried as part of Optimum’s expanded basic package in the New York metro area.

Newsmax TV says it is currently available in 65 million U.S. homes and is carried by all major Multichannel Video Programming Distributors (MVPDs), including DirecTV, Comcast/Xfinity, Spectrum/Charter, Verizon Fios, AT&T U-verse, Dish, Sling, TMO/Layer 3, plus more than two dozen other cable systems. The channel says it expects to reach as many as 80 million homes by the end of 2019.

“Altice USA is one of the most influential cable operators in the nation, and we’re proud they chose to make Newsmax part of their line-up,” Newsmax Media CEO Christopher Ruddy said in a press release.

"Newsmax is filling a growing demand for more independent perspectives on the news today, and we are pleased to add Altice USA to its growing list of distribution partners," added Cathy Rasenberger, President of Rasenberger Media, who handles Newsmax' distribution efforts in a press release.

Newsmax TV offers about 12 original hours of news and content each day and gives viewers the opportunity to engage in the shows via call-ins, Skype and social media video, and live chat feeds. The channel also provides practical health, finance, and lifestyle segments, as well as news documentaries during overnights and weekends.

Altice USA today said that the first wave of symmetrical gigabit-speed fiber-to-the-home deployments have launched in select parts of Long Island.

According to an Altice press rep, the cable operator is delivering 940 Mbps upstream/940 Mbps downstream service, priced at $79.99 a month unbundled, to a select group of Long Islanders.

Altice didn't disclose what parts of its Long Island Optimum footprint the FTTH services are available in.

Related: Altice USA to Skip DOCSIS 3.1, Roll Out All-Fiber Network

Alice also said that it’s enhancing DOCSIS 3.0-powered HFC speeds in its Optimum footprint to 400 Mbps, with gigabit speeds scheduled to be available over HFC in 2019.

"Altice USA is focused on offering the best network and connectivity experience, and the activation of our full-fiber network with smart WiFi, the most advanced of its kind in the nation, demonstrates our commitment to creating converged customer experiences,” said Hakim Boubazine, Altice USA co-president and chief operating officer, in a statement. “Delivering our symmetrical Altice Gigabit fiber service is just the start as we continue to scale our fiber network to bring our customers up to 10 gigabit internet speeds to support the explosive growth of data usage while laying the groundwork for the future of the connected universe.”

Alice USA announced in November 2016 that it would eschew DOCSIS 3.1 upgrades across Optimum in favor of a five-year, FTTH deployment plan. 

Altice USA said it has opened its first Optimum Experience store in Long Island, N.Y., part of an effort to introduce state-of-the-art retail centers in its service territory.

The Long Island store – located at the Westfield South Shore Mall in Bay Shore, N.Y. – will allow customers to interact firsthand with the company’s Optimum-branded digital cable television, high-speed Internet, WiFi and voice services, as well as purchase third-party merchandise.

“The roots of our company extend throughout Long Island so we are thrilled to be opening this new Optimum Experience Center so our loyal customers can see and try the next generation of products and services that are now starting to roll out,” said Altice USA’s head of sales & marketing Gregg Graff in a statement. “What an exciting and unique opportunity for consumers to come together in a community-centric environment at our Optimum Experience Centers to test drive current and future technologies, view educational product and online service demos, purchase products, plus have a little fun.”

The company opened a similar store in Paramus, N.J., in November at the Westfield Garden State Plaza Mall.

The Long Island location occupies about 4,117 square feet and features:

Product and interactive displays and demos, including Altice One, the Company’s all-in-one entertainment and connectivity device with modern user interface and easy-to-use advanced features such as access to apps, voice search and more;

High-speed Internet demos, where tablets will showcase the Company’s online and app-based services;

The Nest suite of ‘smart home’ connected products, which include the Nest Learning Thermostat, Nest Thermostat E, Nest Protect smoke and CO alarm, and a range of Nest Cams;

A 15-foot TV Wall that demonstrates the different places customers can use Optimum Wi-Fi, including a selfie station featuring local areas where Optimum WiFi is available, and an Optimum WiFi hotspot finder interactive map;

A dedicated area specialized in Small Business solutions with demos of Altice’s latest technology, showcasing the Business Hosted Voice Platform and mobile application for small and medium sized businesses;

Third-party merchandise to purchase, including Samsung TVs, tablets, Nest products, home theatre equipment and accessories; and

A children’s gaming and television programming area;

Altice USA’s traditional Optimum retail walk-in stores will continue to handle all exchanges, returns and/or other requests for Optimum equipment, including cable boxes, routers, remotes, as well as in-person bill payments and questions.

The Long Island Experience Center is located between The Cheesecake Factory and Macy’s. Store hours are 10 a.m. – 9:30 p.m. Monday to Saturday and 11 a.m. – 6 p.m. on Sunday, subject to mall schedule changes.

After about five weeks in the dark, Altice USA customers will get access to the Starz premium channel, after the companies reached a long-term carriage deal that also allows the cable operator to sell the programmer’s standalone app to its customers.  

Starz went dark to Altice customers on Jan.1, mainly because of pricing. Altice USA was particularly peeved that the premium channel offered its standalone app to customers for $8.99 per month. Altice USA charged about $11.95 per month for the service. What followed was a sometimes contentious back and forth between the two companies, including filing petitions with the Federal Communications Commission to intervene.

Those differences appear to have been ironed out with the new deal, which includes the full suite of Starz and Starz Encore premium linear and HD channels, On-Demand, HD On-Demand and online services across the Optimum and Suddenlink cable systems. The agreement also allows for Altice USA to sell the Starz App to their customers on the new Altice One entertainment service, as well as broader digital rights including TV Everywhere. The deal also secures Starz's packaging position and expands its subscriber base.

“Our goal is to give customers the flexibility, choice and entertainment they want at a great value, and we appreciate their patience while we worked to reach a deal that was in their best interest,” said Hakim Boubazine, co-president and chief operating officer of Altice USA in a statement. “Through this new expanded arrangement, we are pleased to provide Starz’s wide array of programming on traditional and digital platforms, and look forward to working with Starz to continue to serve the diverse needs of our customer base across the U.S.”

Jeffrey Hirsch, Starz chief operating officer, said: “Starz is very pleased that both companies found a mutually beneficial way to expand our relationship over the next several years to offer the best content possible to millions of Altice USA subscribers. In addition to the thousands of blockbuster and library movies Starz offers, we believe Altice USA values our company’s programming commitment to create and deliver premium quality original series that serve traditionally underserved audiences. By working together, both companies are in a stronger position to provide the best content and products to our shared customers.”

For more information about channel line ups and timing, Optimum customers can visit Optimum.net/starz and Suddenlink customers can visit Suddenlink.com/starz.

(Photo credit: Howard Silk/Howard Prime.)

Altice USA has told the FCC to disregard Starz's petition for injunctive relief. The operator says the petition was procedurally defective, has no basis in law or fact or policy, and was simply an effort to manipulate the regulatory process for its business ends.

Those ends would be to get its programming back on the MSO's Optimum and Suddenlink cable systems. Starz asked the FCC earlier this month to intervene to get its networks back on Altice USA's Optimum systems in New York. The company had first filed a petition for declaratory ruling with the FCC, following that up last week with the emergency petition for injunctive relief.

Altice USA said it was an untimely petition because it was an emergency petition filed three weeks after the channels came off Jan. 1. Had it been an emergency, Altice argued, Starz would have filed the emergency petition before that.

The MSO also said Starz is engaging in a campaign to mislead customers and "disrupt" Altice USA call centers.

The cable operator also disputes Starz's assertion that it did not give its customers adequate notice of the blackout. "The FCC requires that cable operators provide customers notice of programming changes at least thirty days in advance of the change when the change is within the control of the cable operator," Altice said. "In this case, Altice did not know that an agreement for carriage would not be reached, despite its numerous offers, until December 31, 2017."

Related: 50 Cent Takes Starz-Optimum Feud Personally

Altice USA said its negotiations with Starz broke down not from any violation of FCC rules but because Starz wanted more than the MSO was willing to pay and pass along to its customers.

Starz wants Altice USA to "restore carriage of Starz, StarzEncore and Movieplex for the FCC-required 30-day notice period; correct Altice’s misleading and false disclosures regarding its deletions of Starz’s channels; and respond to consumer inquiries and complaints in compliance with FCC rules."

Related: New York Reps Push Altice, Starz to Reach Carriage Deal

Altice said Starz has not come close to meeting the threshold for an emergency stay, which is a showing of irreparable harm absent a stay (Altice said several million subs losing access to Starz is not such harm), the likelihood of success on the case's merits, that Altice would not be harmed by the stay, or that the public interest favors the requested stay.

Rapper, producer and entrepreneur Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson took the ongoing carriage feud between Starz and Altice USA seemingly to an extreme Friday, posting a video of himself following an Optimum cable technician van in New Jersey and apparently contemplating ramming the tech’s vehicle with his own car.

Whether Jackson, who serves as a producer and co-star of Starz original series Power, was joking or not — and a lot of his followers appear to think he was joking — Optimum parent Altice USA clearly was not amused. “The safety of our employees and customers is our number one priority and it is outrageous that a commercial dispute has led to the threat of violence against our employees,” Altice USA told Multichannel News in a statement. “This behavior is reprehensible and should not be tolerated, and we will do everything in our power to protect our employees following this public threat of violence.”

The Starz premium channel has been dark to Altice USA’s Optimum and Suddenlink customers since Jan. 1 after the parties failed to reach a carriage agreement. Altice claims that Starz wanted rate increases that would make it difficult to compete with the channel’s own standalone app, which is available for $8.99 per month. Optimum charges $11.95 per month for Starz service.

The video shows Jackson, acting in a manner similar to his gangster character Kanan in Power, driving behind an Optimum service truck, making several profanity laced statements and threatening to ram his car into the back of the truck.

“I’m fina start running down on these n****s. LOL #denofthievesintheaters,” Jackson wrote in a comment on the post. Den of Thieves is a movie starring Jackson, Gerard Butler and Pablo Schreiber that opened in theaters Friday. Jackson plays Levi Enson, one of three elite criminals who set out to rob the Federal Reserve bank in Los Angeles.

Starz declined to comment. Power, according to some reports, has a strong following in the New York area -- where Optimum operates -- and stands to lose a large chunk of viewership the longer the blackout lasts. That may be the reason Jackson appears so upset in the video. This isn't the first Instagram post he has made about the carriage dispute -- he has made others urging customers to contact Optimum to get Starz back on the air.

This is just the latest  in what is becoming an increasingly contentious battle between Starz and Altice USA. Earlier Friday, Starz said it had filed a complaint with the Federal Communications Commission, asking the agency to force Optimum to carry Starz because it did not give customers 30 days' notice that the channel was going to be blacked out. Altice USA said the charges were without merit.

Premium network Starz went dark to about 4.6 million Altice USA customers at midnight, with the cable operator suggesting that those that still want access to the service subscribe to the Starz standalone over-the-top product.

Starz had warned customers earlier this week that it could reach an impasse in its negotiations with Altice USA, which offers service in the New York metropolitan area under the Optimum brand and in the Midwest as Suddenlink. Starz had claimed Altice USA had refused to negotiate in good faith, while Altice chafed at what it claimed were pricing demands that would make the service more costly to its customers than if they just purchased the OTT product. In the end, Altice decided to let customers do just that, after Starz declined its offers, including one to extend its current agreement.

RELATED: Comcast Won't Authenticate Subs for Starz' New App

"We are focused on providing the best content experience for our customers and continually evaluate which channels meet their needs and preferences relative to the cost of the programming imposed by content owners,” Altice said in a statement. “Given that Starz is available to all consumers directly through Starz' own over-the-top streaming service, we don't believe it makes sense to charge all of our customers for Starz programming, particularly when their viewership is declining and the majority of our customers don't watch Starz. We believe it is in the best interest of all our customers to replace Starz and StarzEncore programming with alternative entertainment channels that will provide a robust content experience at a great value."

Starz’ streaming product is available for about $8.99 per month. Altice said customers seeking more information can do so by visiting Optimum.net/starz.

Starz stuck to its guns in a brief statement, adding that it is willing to continue to try to hammer out a deal.

"Altice has shown an unwillingness to negotiate in good faith to the detriment of our shared customers, and they have removed Starz from their platform," Starz said in a statement. "We remain available to discuss a fair and reasonable agreement that will serve the interests of our loyal subscribers."

While Altice said Optimum or Suddenlink customers can still access Starz through the OTT service, it is launching replacement channels for customers who previously received Starz or StarzEncore as part of a video package, including Hallmark Drama, Sony Movies, MGM HD, HD Net Movies, Flix, and Cowboy Channel. Certain customers will also receive a complimentary subscription to TMC.

Despite Altice’s claims that its viewership within its footprint is declining, Starz says it has the No. 2 and No. 4 top drama in premium television and its programming has resonated with African-Americans and the LGTBQ communities. Power is the No. 1 show among African-Americans on premium television and also ranks high (No. 2) in African-American households in Altice’s footprint. And Outlander continues to attract high ratings among female viewers – it was 2017’s No. 2 scripted series behind HBO’s Game of Thrones, per Starz.

Altice USA customers who previously purchased Starz a la carte will have the option to receive another premium service or they can purchase the Starz OTT service directly through Starz (for less, Altice claims, than what it would be able to charge if it agreed to the network’s demands). 

Charter Communications and Altice USA have agreed to carry their respective regional news networks, with Charter’s New York-centric Spectrum News NY1 channel available to Altice’s Optimum TV customers and Optimum’s i24NEWS Network debuting across Charter’s footprint today.

Spectrum News NY1 is available to Optimum TV customers in HD in Long Island, Westchester County and the Hudson Valley region in New York; Northern Bergen County and Morris County in New Jersey; and in Stamford and Bridgeport, Conn., as part of a multi-year agreement between the two providers. 

“We are excited about the partnership with Altice USA, and believe it is the perfect complement to NY1’s commitment to deliver news that is essential to the daily lives of all New Yorkers,” Spectrum Networks SVP of operations and integration Dan Ronayne said in a release. “By expanding our distribution, we are now able to deliver NY1’s hyper-local coverage of New York City news, politics and transit beyond the five boroughs.” 

With the deal NY1’s availability expands to more than 3 million Spectrum and Optimum TV households, on channel 98 in most areas. NY1 is also available in HD to Optimum TV customers in the Bronx and Brooklyn on channel 8.

As part of the agreement, Charter will launch Optimum’s i24NEWS across its footprint and News 12 Networks in its Western Connecticut systems. News 12 Networks is currently available to Spectrum TV customers in the New York area. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. 

MCN Flashback (2015): News12, NY1 Drive 70% of NY-Area News Tune-Ins

According to Altice USA, i24NEWS will initially be available to Charter’s Spectrum Silver customers and will expand across the footprint by Dec. 1.

“We are excited to bring our programming and in-depth news analysis from i24NEWS to Charter’s Spectrum customers,” said i24NEWS CEO Frank Melloul in a statement. “i24NEWS provides unique content that features localized news infused with global conversation and we look forward to becoming a go-to source for domestic and international news for Spectrum customers.”  

i24NEWS launched in the United States in January and is available on Altice USA’s Optimum and Suddenlink systems, Mediacom systems and now Charter’s Spectrum systems.

NEW YORK — Altice USA has been both a trailblazer and a visionary in providing the local and national Hispanic community access to Spanish-language news and entertainment, as well as providing innovative packaging of video and high-speed-data products.

The MSO will receive the award for Corporate Leadership in Hispanic Television & Video during the luncheon awards ceremony at the 15th Annual Hispanic Television Summit, to be held on Oct. 19, 12:30-2 p.m., at the Sheraton New York Hotel.

Related: The Hispanic TV Summit Awards
Outstanding Achievement in Hispanic TV > Rafael Amaya: Lord of the Ratings| Executive Leadership > Gonzalo Del Fa: Change Agent

At its former Cablevision and Suddenlink Communications systems — Altice purchased those companies in 2016 and 2015, respectively — the cable operator is continuing the tradition of service and commitment to the Hispanic community, which makes up a large segment of its customers.

The MSO's Optimum unit passes large Hispanic communities in the Greater New York City area, including the Bronx, parts of Brooklyn, parts of New Jersey and Long Island; Suddenlink operates in parts of Arizona, California, Nevada, New Mexico and Texas with significant Hispanic populations.

As Altice USA, the company’s commitment to the Hispanic community is expanding. In the coming weeks it plans to introduce new Spanish-language TV packages — including music, movies, kids and lifestyle programming — for Optimum and Suddenlink customers that better cater to the Spanish-language populations it serves, particularly in the New York Tri-State Area and the southwestern portion of the country.

For Optimum customers, the refreshed Optimum en Español package will offer more than 50 Spanish-language channels, starting at $12.95 per month for subscribers to Optimum Value and above. Suddenlink’s updated Conexión Única package will include more than 30 Spanish-language channels, starting at $10 per month. More details, including the new channel additions, will be made available in the coming weeks.

Hispanic TV Strategies:New Tech Joins Battle for Hispanic Subscribers|OTT Players Look to Latinos

On the phone and broadband front, the cable operator also offers a variety of bundles that feature Spanish-language programming as well as other services, including international calling and a new low-priced high-speed internet service, called Economy Internet, available to eligible households in both the Optimum and Suddenlink footprints for $14.99 per month. Details of the product are available in both Spanish and English at geteconomyinternet.com.

In its Optimum system, Altice USA offers more than 1,000 hours of Spanish-language video on demand programming each month, with content from many Spanish-language channels also available for out-of-home viewing.

Altice USA’s parent Altice N.V. has operations in the Dominican Republic, and is one of the main telecom service providers in that country bringing mobile and fixed residential and business services to more than 4.8 million customers.

Altice USA continues to offer a variety of Spanish-language and bilingual marketing campaigns. The company recently launched an advertising campaign featuring soccer superstar and Altice ambassador Cristiano Ronaldo and previously ran a campaign featuring comedian and actor John Leguizamo, both of whom are popular among Hispanic and general market consumers. The company also provides Spanish-speaking customer-service representatives to assist Spanish-speaking customers.

In addition, Altice USA celebrates Hispanic Heritage Month and recognizes the rich heritage of Hispanic Americans by administering a student essay contest across its footprint that asks students to write about a Latino, past or present, with whom they would like to spend the day. It also holds a separate but similar contest for the children of the company’s employees.

Altice USA and Viacom said they have signed a new distribution and advertising deal that returns Viacom’s cable networks to Suddenlink subscribers.

The deal also continues carriage of Viacom’s networks on Optimum systems and creates new advertising opportunities using Altice’s data and platforms combined with Viacom’s advanced advertising products.

Related: Altice USA Looks to Expand Content Reach

“We are pleased to establish a new partnership between Altice USA and Viacom,” said Michael Schreiber, chief content officer of Altice USA. “Our joint efforts to find flexible and creative solutions will benefit Altice USA's customers as we look to provide the best video experience in our markets, build on our innovative data-driven advertising capabilities, and provide our customers with access to Viacom’s marquee programming.”

Related: Viacom's Bakish Says Streaming ‘Entertainment Pack’ Talks Are ‘Advanced’

Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Altice USA, the domestic cable arm of European telecom giant Altice, is considering extending its cable news channels throughout its footprint in an effort to further differentiate the service.

Related: Altice Unveils New Global Brand, Logo

Altice operates News 12 channels in seven Optimum markets in the New York metropolitan area – Long Island, Westchester County, Brooklyn, Hudson Valley, the Bronx, and parts of Connecticut and New Jersey. In a briefing with reporters Tuesday, Altice USA chairman and CEO Dexter Goei said the company is considering expanding News 12’s reach to its Suddenlink markets in the U.S.

News 12 was the brainchild of Cablevision Systems, which Altice purchased in June for $17.7 billion. Altice purchased Suddenlink in December 2015 for $9.1 billion.

At the briefing, Goei said Altice is looking to content to differentiate it from the competition, but that it would most likely focus on its news content.

News 12 Networks president Patrick Dolan said that the idea of expanding News 12 throughout Suddenlink is still being considered, but he added that Suddenlink markets in Texas and Oklahoma, where high school sports is tremendously popular, could be potentially lucrative markets.

News 12’s hyper-local focus in suburban markets includes extensive coverage of high-school sports through its News 12 Varsity offering and its daily news programs.

“It’s beginning to be discussed,” Dolan said of the expansion. “A future version may be very sports oriented.”

As over-the-top, streaming video and skinny bundle packages proliferate, cable operators have scrambled to try to find unique ways to attract and retain subscribers. In April, Charter reached a deal with AMC Networks where the programmer would develop content that would be available exclusively to Charter customers for a time. “That’s not something we’re looking at today,” Goei said.

Altice hinted that its international news channel – i24 – could also gain wider distribution. The channel, which Altice developed in 2013 and with news operations in New York, Paris, Tel Aviv and Washington, D.C., offers news from the Middle East and the world 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The channel is currently available throughout the Optimum and Suddenlink footprint and via an online app.

Altice executives said Tuesday that targeting the widest audience possible for i24 is the ultimate goal.

Goei also touched briefly on Altice USA’s wireless strategy, adding that it is still being evaluated.

Related: Altice USA Open to MVNO Deal

Asked if he would consider partnering with other cable companies or providers to offer a wireless offering similar to a recent agreement between Comcast and Charter for their wireless product, the Altice USA chief seemed to back away from that path.

Part of the Comcast-Charter agreement is jointly procuring equipment and platforms, something Goei said is not a top priority for Altice, which already has an extensive mobile network in Europe and doesn’t need to “team-up” with other companies to obtain supply and technology discounts.

MSG Networks said it has obtained, from the National Hockey League, rights to stream NHL games live on the MSG GO app. Thus far, Altice-owned Optimum and Comcast's Xfinity have agreements to authenticate (enable views of) programming on the app and on MSGGo.com for its customers. Charter-owned Spectrum and Verizon Fios are among other big pay-TV providers in MSG Networks markets. MSG outlets air the NHL's New York Rangers and Islanders, New Jersey Devils and Buffalo Sabres contests. The app launched in 2015 with rights to stream New York Knicks' National Basketball Association games.

“As the outlet for more live local NHL games than any other RSN in the country, we are pleased to partner with the NHL and our teams to provide hockey fans with additional ways to view our games,” Andrea Greenberg, CEO of MSG Networks, said in a release. “With the addition of the NHL, MSG GO will certainly be a premiere mobile destination for hockey fans in the region.”

Added David Proper, executive vice president, media and international strategy, NHL in the release: “With this agreement, MSG Networks once again demonstrates what it means to be an excellent partner for our clubs. Together we share a vision for serving our fans, who are extremely passionate about their teams. This agreement for live streaming on MSG GO is all about fulfilling demand and providing our fans with the type of access they want in the way that is most convenient to them.”

Altice USA has tripled Internet speeds for residential and business customers in its Optimum New York metro area footprint to 300 Megabits per second and 350 Mbps, respectively, more than a year earlier than expected.

The highest data speeds for Optimum residential and business customers had previously been 101 Mbps.

Altice USA purchased Optimum (the former Cablevision Systems) in June for $17.7 billion. As part of the New York State Public Service Commission’s approval of the deal, Altice agreed to tick up data speeds to 300 Mbps by the end of 2017.

Altice USA’s Suddenlink operation, which offers service in about a dozen states, offers 1 Gigabit-per-second high-speed Internet service.

Pricing for the highest tier is $99.95 per month for new customers and $64.95 per month for a new 200-Mbps residential tier. Optimum will continue to offer a 60 Mpbs base service for $44.95 monthly and a 100 Mbps tier for $54.95 per month. Existing customers can call Optimum for pricing for the new tiers.

Business Optimum 60-Mbps high-speed Internet service starts at $59.95 for new customers, with 100 Mbps available for $30 more. A 250 Mbps tier is priced at $149.95 and 350 Mbps is available for $189.95 for new customers.

“Altice USA is excited to launch significantly faster speeds across the Optimum footprint, made possible by investment in our superior network and infrastructure,” said Altice USA chairman and CEO Dexter Goei in a statement. “We are particularly pleased to be able to meet our public interest commitments more than one year ahead of schedule. Across the globe, Altice’s business model is centered on delivering the most advanced technology and capabilities. Today’s accelerated introduction of faster Optimum broadband speeds marks only the beginning of the new products and service enhancements that we plan to bring to our customers in the U.S.”