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Media

Starz, Altice reach multiyear carriage agreement

By
Richard Morgan
Published Feb. 13, 2018, 1:29 p.m. ET

The six-week standoff between Starz and Altice USA ended with a multiyear agreement on Tuesday that will restore Starz’s 17 premium channels on the New York-centric cable system.

Neither side detailed terms of the new carriage pact, although the impasse marked the first time a major cable company publicly pushed to pay a lower fee for each of its subscribers.

The agreement allows Altice to offer its 4.6 million customers the full suite of Starz and Starz Encore premium linear and HD channels, On-Demand, HD On-Demand and online services across its Optimum and Suddenlink cable systems.

It also lets the Long Island City-based cable company sell the Starz app to its customers on the new Altice One entertainment service.

The over-the-top streaming app delivers Starz’s content for $8.99 per month — regardless of whether a customer has bought into the cable company’s bundle.

Altice, which yanked Starz content without notice on New Year’s Day, challenged the OTT offering during its often-contentious talks with Starz and its Lionsgate parent company.

“Given that Starz is available to all consumers directly through Starz’s own over-the-top streaming service,” Altice complained in a January statement, “we don’t believe it makes sense to charge all of our customers for Starz programming.”

After reaching an agreement, Altice COO Hakim Boubazine said the goal all along was “to give customers the flexibility, choice and entertainment they want at a great value — and we appreciate their patience.”

The blackout temporarily deprived Altice’s customers of two regionally popular series — “Power” and “Outlander” — and replaced them with a package that included the Cowboy Channel, Hallmark Drama and Sony Movies.

Many Altice customers took to Twitter to decry the swap, which Lionsgate Vice Chairman Michael Burns labeled “a classic bait and switch.”

“I will switch to another provider if you don’t bring back STARZ,” @LovelyLinda1823 tweeted. “I refuse to pay the same for fewer channels and I refuse to pay more!”

Added@TraciStevenson9: “The f****** Cowboy Channel !?! What kind of fools do you think we are!”

Starz COO Jeffrey Hirsch praised the agreement on Tuesday, saying that as a result “both companies are in a stronger position to provide the best content and products to our shared customers.”