Altice USA, Inc., commonly known as Altice, is an American

telecommunications Telecommunication, often used in its plural form or abbreviated as telecom, is the transmission of information over a distance using electronic means, typically through cables, radio waves, or other communication technologies. These means of ...

provider with

headquarters Headquarters (often referred to as HQ) notes the location where most or all of the important functions of an organization are coordinated. The term is used in a wide variety of situations, including private sector corporations, non-profits, mil ...

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

, owned by the Franco-Israeli businessman

Patrick Drahi Patrick Drahi (; ; ; born 20 August 1963) is a Moroccan–Israeli billionaire magnate and investor with interests in media and telecoms. He is the founder and controlling shareholder of the European-based telecom group Altice. He lives in Swit ...

. The company delivers pay television,

Internet access Internet access is a facility or service that provides connectivity for a computer, a computer network, or other network device to the Internet, and for individuals or organizations to access or use applications such as email and the World Wide ...

telephone A telephone, colloquially referred to as a phone, is a telecommunications device that enables two or more users to conduct a conversation when they are too far apart to be easily heard directly. A telephone converts sound, typically and most ...

services, and original television content to approximately 4.9 million residential and business customers in 21 U.S. states. Altice USA is based at

One Court Square One Court Square, also known as the Citicorp Building or the Citigroup Building, is a 50-story, office tower in Long Island City, Queens, across the East River from Manhattan in New York City, United States. It was completed in 1989 and desig ...

Long Island City Long Island City (LIC) is a neighborhood within the New York City borough of Queens. It is bordered by Astoria to the north; the East River to the west; Sunnyside to the east; and Newtown Creek, which separates Queens from Greenpoint, Brook ...

Queens Queens is the largest by area of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City, coextensive with Queens County, in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. Located near the western end of Long Island, it is bordered by the ...

, New York City. The company's operational center is located at

Cablevision Cablevision Systems Corporation was an American cable television company with systems serving areas surrounding New York City. It was the fifth-largest cable provider and ninth-largest television provider in the United States. Throughout its ex ...

's former headquarters in Bethpage, Nassau County,

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

, on

Long Island Long Island is a densely populated continental island in southeastern New York (state), New York state, extending into the Atlantic Ocean. It constitutes a significant share of the New York metropolitan area in both population and land are ...

. With its combined brands, Altice USA is the fourth-largest cable provider in the U.S., serving customers residing in the

New York metropolitan area The New York metropolitan area, also called the Tri-State area and sometimes referred to as Greater New York, is the List of cities by GDP, largest metropolitan economy in the world, with a List of U.S. metropolitan areas by GDP, gross metropo ...

as well as in several

Midwestern The Midwestern United States (also referred to as the Midwest, the Heartland or the American Midwest) is one of the four census regions defined by the United States Census Bureau. It occupies the northern central part of the United States. It ...

and Southern U.S. states. As a multiple-systems operator, the company operates the

Optimum Mathematical optimization (alternatively spelled ''optimisation'') or mathematical programming is the selection of a best element, with regard to some criteria, from some set of available alternatives. It is generally divided into two subfiel ...

brand. The company also provides international news through the February 2017 U.S. launch of

i24NEWS i24NEWS is a International news channels, 24-hour news television channel created by journalists and reporters from Israel. It broadcasts in languages such as French language, French, English language, English, Hebrew language, Hebrew, and Ara ...

and local news through

News 12 Networks The News 12 Networks are a group of regional cable news television channels in the New York metropolitan area that are owned by Altice USA. All channels provide rolling news coverage 24 hours a day, focusing primarily on regions of the met ...

. In November 2016, Altice USA announced a five-year plan for

fiber-to-the-home Fiber to the ''x'' (FTTX; also spelled "fibre") or fiber in the loop is a generic term for any broadband network architecture using optical fiber to provide all or part of the local loop used for Last mile (telecommunications), last mile tel ...

service to build a

network Network, networking and networked may refer to: Science and technology * Network theory, the study of graphs as a representation of relations between discrete objects * Network science, an academic field that studies complex networks Mathematics ...

capable of delivering 10 Gbit/s broadband speed. In August 2017, the company stated it was on track to reach one million homes by the end of 2018. In June 2017, Altice USA raised US$2.2 billion in an initial public stock offering. In April 2022, Altice USA announced that the company would be rebranding its former

Suddenlink Suddenlink was an American telecommunications subsidiary of Altice USA trading in cable television, broadband, IP telephony, home security, and advertising. Prior to its acquisition by Altice, the company was the seventh largest cable operator ...

brand under the Optimum name.

Products and services

* Optimum Online, a

DOCSIS Data Over Cable Service Interface Specification (DOCSIS) is an international telecommunications standard that permits the addition of high-bandwidth data transfer to an existing cable television (CATV) system. It is used by many cable televisio ...

Internet service that offers speeds up to 940

Mbit/s In telecommunications, data transfer rate is the average number of bits (bitrate), characters or symbols (baudrate), or data blocks per unit time passing through a communication link in a data-transmission system. Common data rate units are multi ...

. As of April 2020, a

Fiber-to-the home Fiber to the ''x'' (FTTX; also spelled "fibre") or fiber in the loop is a generic term for any broadband network architecture using optical fiber to provide all or part of the local loop used for last mile telecommunications. As fiber optic ...

service has been available to more than half of its service footprint. ** Subscribers also get access to Optimum

Wi-Fi hotspot A hotspot is a physical location where people can obtain Internet access, typically using Wi-Fi technology, via a wireless local-area network (WLAN) using a router connected to an Internet service provider. Public hotspots may be created by ...

s that are located within the Altice's service area. Additionally, they may also connect to hotspots provided by

Charter Spectrum Spectrum is the trade name of Charter Communications. The name is widely used by both market consumers and commercial businesses. Services that Spectrum offers include cable television, internet access, internet security, managed services, mo ...

Comcast Comcast Corporation, formerly known as Comcast Holdings,Before the AT&T Broadband, AT&T merger in 2001, the parent company was Comcast Holdings Corporation. Comcast Holdings Corporation now refers to a subsidiary of Comcast Corporation, not th ...

, and

Cox Cox or COX may refer to: Companies * Cox Enterprises, a media and communications company ** Cox Communications, cable provider ** Cox Media Group, a company that owns television and radio stations ** Cox Automotive, an Atlanta-based busines ...

nationwide. * Optimum Voice, a

Voice over IP Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP), also known as IP telephony, is a set of technologies used primarily for voice communication sessions over Internet Protocol (IP) networks, such as the Internet. VoIP enables voice calls to be transmitted as ...

(VoIP) telephone service * Optimum TV, a

digital cable Digital cable is the distribution of cable television using digital data and video compression. The technology was first developed by General Instrument. By 2000, most cable companies offered digital features, eventually replacing their previo ...

service * Altice Mobile, a wireless network offering unlimited text, talk, and data over a 4G LTE nationwide network;

Other properties

* Altice Business, built of the former Lightpath, Optimum Business, and Suddenlink Business organizations,), an internet, telephone, and television service for businesses. Altice Business is currently available in 21 state and serves more than 375,000 businesses. *

, a group of cable networks that provide news, weather, traffic and sports to cable subscribers in the New York/New Jersey/Connecticut tri-state area through seven individual 24-hour local news channels and five traffic and weather channels. * News 12 Varsity, A high school sports network dedicated to providing live games of local varsity games. * Audience Partners, a provider of audience-based digital advertising solutions, which Altice USA acquired in March 2017. *

Cheddar Cheddar most often refers to either: *Cheddar cheese *Cheddar, Somerset, the village after which Cheddar cheese is named Cheddar may also refer to: Places * Cheddar, Ontario, Canada and Kannada * Cheddar Yeo, a river which flows through Cheddar ...

, a live-streaming financial news network, which was acquired in 2019 and sold to media company Archetype in 2023.

History

On May 20, 2015,

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

-based

French French may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France ** French people, a nation and ethnic group ** French cuisine, cooking traditions and practices Arts and media * The French (band), ...

company Altice NV announced that it would enter the U.S. cable market by purchasing

Suddenlink Communications Suddenlink was an American telecommunications subsidiary of Altice USA trading in cable television, broadband, IP telephony, home security, and advertising. Prior to its acquisition by Altice, the company was the seventh largest cable operator w ...

, the country's 7th-largest cable provider, for $9.1 billion. The acquisition closed on December 21, 2015. On September 17, 2015, Altice NV announced its intention to acquire Cablevision from the Dolan family and other public shareholders for $17.7 billion. The deal was approved by the

FCC The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is an independent agency of the United States government that regulates communications by radio, television, wire, internet, wi-fi, satellite, and cable across the United States. The FCC maintains ju ...

on May 3, 2016 and after approval from various regional regulators such as New Jersey's Board of Public Utilities and the New York Public Service Commission, closed on June 21, 2016. Under the terms of the deal, Altice paid $34.90 in cash for each share in Cablevision and a 22% premium to the company's stock price; Altice also assumed Cablevision's debt. In May 2017, Altice USA announced its intention to rebrand its Suddenlink and Cablevision properties under the Altice name by the end of the second quarter of 2018. In June 2017, Altice USA went public, raising $2.2 billion in its initial public offering. On January 8, 2018, Altice NV announced that it will

spin-off Spin-off, Spin Off, Spin-Off, or Spinoff may refer to: Entertainment and media *Spinoff (media), a media work derived from an existing work *''The Spinoff'', a New Zealand current affairs magazine * ''Spin Off'' (Canadian game show), a 2013 Canad ...

Altice USA into a separate company. Patrick Drahi will maintain control of both companies, although they will be led by separate management teams. On April 30, 2019, it was announced Altice USA was buying

for $200 million in cash. On February 14, 2020, Altice USA announced that it has bought

Service Electric Service Electric is a group of affiliated cable television companies serving eastern Pennsylvania and western New Jersey, United States. The company is headquartered in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania in the Lehigh Valley. Service Electric also offers br ...

Broadband Cable in New Jersey. The deal closed in July. On March 1, 2021, Altice USA announced that it would acquire Morris Broadband in North Carolina for $310 million which was later closed on April 6, 2021. Altice later announced that Morris Broadband would be rebranded into the Optimum name.

Markets

The company provides service in 22 states:

Carriage disputes

AMC Networks dispute

Altice engaged in a carriage dispute with the Dolan family (the former owners of Cablevision). Altice's contract to carry

AMC Networks AMC Networks Inc. is an American mass media and entertainment corporation headquartered in 11 Penn Plaza, New York City. The company owns and operates the AMC cable channel, BBC America, IFC, Sundance TV, and We TV. It also owns the art ho ...

group of channels was to expire on December 31, 2016. On December 28 the two sides reached an agreement, three days before their contract with AMC expired.

The Walt Disney Company dispute

Altice engaged in a dispute with

The Walt Disney Company The Walt Disney Company, commonly referred to as simply Disney, is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was founded on October 16 ...

; the contract to carry the company's channels was set to expire on October 1, 2017. On October 1, 2017, Disney and Altice reached a last-minute agreement to continue carrying the company's channels; this narrowly averted what would have been a blackout of ABC-owned stations

WABC-TV WABC-TV (channel 7) is a television station in New York City, serving as the flagship of the ABC network. Owned and operated by the network's ABC Owned Television Stations division, WABC-TV maintains studios in the Hudson Square neighborhood ...

and

WPVI-TV WPVI-TV (channel 6) is a television station in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. Owned and operated by the ABC television network through its ABC Owned Television Stations division, the station maintains studios on City Avenue in t ...

, along with the

ESPN ESPN (an initialism of their original name, which was the Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by the Walt Disney Company (80% and operational control) and Hearst Commu ...

family of networks and various other channels. As part of the agreement,

ESPN Classic ESPN Classic was an American multinational pay television television network, network owned by ESPN Inc., a joint venture between The Walt Disney Company (which controlled an 80% stake) and Hearst Communications (which had 20%). The channel was ...

was removed from the Altice lineup.

Starz dispute

On January 1, 2018, Altice dropped

Starz Starz (stylized in all caps as STARZ; pronounced "stars") is an American pay television network owned by Starz Entertainment, and is the flagship property of Starz Inc. Launched in 1994 as a multiplex service of what is now Starz Encore, ...

Starz Encore Starz Encore is an American premium television channel owned by Starz Inc., a subsidiary of Starz Entertainment Corp. (a namesake of the network) and headquartered at the Meridian International Business Center complex in Meridian, Colorad ...

, and all of their channels from its channel lineup. The dispute came after the companies were unable to reach an agreement. The dispute ended on February 13, 2018, after both companies reached a new multi-year agreement.

21st Century Fox dispute

On September 22, 2018,

21st Century Fox Twenty-First Century Fox, Inc., which did business as 21st Century Fox, was an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate based in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. It was formed on June 28, 2013, as the legal successor ...

announced that all of its entertainment and sports channels, including

Fox Foxes are small-to-medium-sized omnivorous mammals belonging to several genera of the family Canidae. They have a flattened skull; upright, triangular ears; a pointed, slightly upturned snout; and a long, bushy tail ("brush"). Twelve species ...

owned-and-operated station

WNYW WNYW (channel 5) is a television station in New York City, serving as the Flagship (broadcasting), flagship of the Fox Broadcasting Company, Fox network. It is owned and operated by the network's Fox Television Stations division alongside Secauc ...

and

MyNetworkTV MyNetworkTV (stylized as mynetworkTV; unofficially abbreviated MNT or MNTV) is an American commercial broadcast television syndication service and former television network owned by Fox Corporation, operated by its Fox Television Stations ...

O&O

WWOR-TV WWOR-TV (channel 9) is a television station licensed to Secaucus, New Jersey, United States, serving the New York metropolitan area as the flagship of the MyNetworkTV programming service. It is owned and operated by Fox Television Stations alon ...

, would be removed from Altice on October 1 if a new retransmission agreement was not reached by that date.

References

External links

* {{Authority control Companies based in Nassau County, New York Economy of the Northeastern United States Cable television companies of the United States Corporate spin-offs Companies listed on the New York Stock Exchange American companies established in 2016 Telecommunications companies established in 2016 2017 initial public offerings