Altice Not Wedded to Further Dropping Major Cable Programmers
Suddenlink's decision to drop Viacom content last year (see 1504090051) remains "a very good decision," though not automatically one that Altice USA will make for its Optimum -- formerly Cablevision -- footprint, Altice USA CEO Dexter Goei said during Altice's…
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Q2 earnings call Tuesday. The Viacom move's "impact on customers was relatively minimal" because that content was replaced by alterative channels, and given the big and rapidly growing cost of content, Altice USA will look at viable alternatives, Goei said. He said "it really is on a case-by-case basis." Multiple times during the Tuesday call, Goei and Michel Combes, CEO of parent company Altice, said Altice USA's focus is on integration of Suddenlink and Optimum, network investment and reducing churn. Goei said the company is seeing increased customer adoption of its higher-margin top-tier broadband offerings with the elimination of data caps on them. Tuesday's earnings report was the company's first since it closed on Cablevision in June (see 1606210026). Goei said Optimum had about 120 people resign from the management and executive ranks, including all the Dolan family members, saving the company $50 million to $100 million annually. For the quarter, Suddenlink revenue was up 5.2 percent to $640 million from the year-ago quarter and the typical seasonal decline in broadband and video customers was less. Optimum pro forma revenue was $1.62 billion, up slightly more than 1 percent, Altice said in a news release.