NJ OKs Altice/Cablevision
New Jersey gave a green light to Altice’s $17.7 billion takeover of Cablevision. The New Jersey Board of Public Utilities OK’ed a settlement among the BPU, the parties and the New Jersey Division of the Rate Counsel that includes conditions…
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for maintaining customer service, establishing a low-income broadband service, upgrading the network and protecting jobs in the state. The conditions are similar to what was proposed last week in New York state (see 1605200070), which is the last remaining regulatory OK required by Altice and Cablevision. PBU President Richard Mroz said he's confident the settlement will benefit Cablevision customers and employees, as well as seniors and families with children. Under the conditions, Altice will be prohibited from cutting customer-facing jobs for two years. It will upgrade network speeds to 300 Mbps by no later than year-end 2017. Within 15 months of the deal closing, it will provide 30 Mbps broadband to low-income households with no data cap, modem fee or self-installation charge for $14.99 monthly. It will double the download speed of Cablevision’s $24.95 low-cost plan to 10 Mbps within 120 days of closing and continue to sell the service for two years. Also, the ISP must offer a broadband product without a data cap for three years. In a declared emergency like Superstorm Sandy, Altice must provide free Wi-Fi and access to hyper-local news and weather to all New Jersey residents. It must partner with utilities to speed power restoration, provide backup customer support, and have network redundancy and backup powering ready to go. And it must write a storm readiness communications plan, including public service announcements. Altice agreed to “abide by and honor any final orders with respect to any pending appeal or declaratory judgement, whether issued by the FCC or by a court of competent jurisdiction,” a condition said. The settlement includes a “most favored nation” clause ensuring that New Jersey doesn’t get a worse deal than any other state that approved the transfer of control. Cablevision has 783,058 customers in New Jersey. “Altice is pleased with the approval order by the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities for the acquisition of Cablevision, which recognizes the benefits that the proposed merger will bring to consumers in New Jersey,” an Altice spokeswoman said. “The transaction is expected to close on track in the second quarter.”