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Former Cablevision owners have gone from friends to foes: Altice

By
Claire Atkinson
Published Nov. 21, 2016
Updated Dec. 14, 2016, 10:45 p.m. ET

Well, how’s this for awkward.

Altice Group, the $34 billion Netherlands-based telecom behemoth that bought Cablevision in June from the Dolan family, is headed for its first programming fee fight — and sitting across the negotiating table will be none other than Dolan family-controlled AMC Networks.

When Cablevision and AMC were both owned by the Dolans, carriage disputes didn’t arise. But the ink is barely dry on Altice’s $17.7 billion acquisition of the Bethpage, LI-based cable company and already tempers are flaring.

AMC Networks airs the hugely popular “Walking Dead” series on its flagship network and owns other channels including IFC and WE. It has been running a crawl telling viewers they could lose access to the channels if it is not able to come to an agreement with Altice, which operates the Optimum-branded service.

Altice didn’t pull any punches in dealing with the family it just wooed in ordered to acquire Cablevision.

“We are working hard on behalf of our customers to negotiate an agreement with AMC Networks that is reasonable and reflects the best interests of all our customers,” an Altice rep said ahead of the Dec. 31 end of the AMC Networks programming deal.

“AMC Networks is using misleading scare tactics, threatening to black out its programming unless we agree to their excessive demands and pay significantly more to carry the same AMC channels our customers currently receive, all of which have declining viewership on our systems,” the rep added.

AMC Networks, in a statement, said they are only trying to get what is fair.

“We have a long history of working with and creating value for Cablevision and Suddenlink and their customers, who enjoy our popular shows including AMC’s ‘The Walking Dead,’ the #1 show on television for the past five years,” AMC Networks said in a statement. “We are seeking nothing more than fair value for our programming, consistent with all of our recent distribution agreements.”

The network said it is committed to continuing to negotiate with Altice.

Altice called the behavior of the Dolan family’s AMC Networks “disappointing but not surprising given it has a history of using viewers as pawns to extract significantly higher fees from distributors.”

Stop trying to confuse viewers and instead focus on negotiating a deal that is fair, Altice chided AMC Networks CEO Josh Sapan.

This is not the first programming deal Altice executives have had to negotiate in the five months it has own the 2.6-million subscriber pay TV system — but it is the first with such vitriol.

Speaking on the firm’s third quarter earnings call, Altice USA CEO Dexter Goei said pay TV firms are “under siege by content providers.”

Programming costs are rising by about 10 percent but Altice only passes on costs of around 3.4 percent to consumers, Goei said.

About that crawl?

“We are informing our loyal viewers who are Altice customers that they are at risk of losing access to their favorite AMC shows,” the network said.