Altice USA has unveiled its new communications hub, Altice One, offering customers seamless navigation across traditional video and over-the-top services as well as whole-home WiFi connectivity, a voice remote and other features.
Altice USA’s parent company Altice N.V., had previously successfully introduced a similar offering in Europe under the name “La Box” several years ago. In the U.S., the technology will be largely housed in the cloud, offering fully integrated access to live TV, video on demand, apps such as YouTube and Pandora, cloud DVR recordings and WiFi connectivity – plus advanced search via a new voice-activated remote control, with more to come.
“We live in a world where content and technology are converging at a fast pace, and Altice One provides the experience, entertainment and connectivity that consumers are looking for today,” Altice USA CEO Dexter Goei said in a statement. “Altice One is just the beginning of a new, better and simple experience for Altice’s Optimum and Suddenlink customers as we look to become the connected home provider of choice now and into the future. Less than two years after acquiring Cablevision and Suddenlink, we’re thrilled to bring this new service to market for our customers and reinforce our ongoing commitment to continuous innovation in the U.S.”
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Altice One has been in customer trials and will be available in select areas of Long Island beginning next week, rolling out across the rest of Altice USA’s footprint in the coming months.
News of the new platform comes as Altice USA announced third-quarter earnings.
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Aside from the voice activated remote – a staple of Comcast’s X1 operating system – Altice One features include a My Picks section for customers’ favorite shows and recently recorded content; Restart, which allows customers to go back to the beginning of a show; a cloud DVR and 4K capabilities. In addition, Altice One allows for more seamless app integration, including access to content from YouTube and Pandora, with deals in place to integrate additional OTT services in the near future.
When it reached its carriage deal with Disney earlier last month, Altice agreed to eventually carry Disney’s direct to consumer offerings – an ESPN-branded service slated for early 2018 and a Disney DTC service to be launched in 2019 – so those services likely will be included.
Connectivity features include: Altice One Minis, smaller digital boxes servicing additional TVs in the home and offering the same user interface and experience. Each mini also can act as a WiFi extender.
In a conference call with reporters Thursday, Goei said the first installation of the service is scheduled for Monday (Nov. 6) in Long Island and that future rollouts will concentrate on double play and triple play customers. About 60% of Altice USA’s customers take two or three services, he added.
