states cable television system operator . cablevision redirects here ; for other uses see cablevision disambiguation . altice usa altice usa at time of photo cablevision headquarters at the former grumman campus in bethpage ny . type subsidiary industry telecommunications mass media founded 1973 as cablevision 1989 as cablevision systems corporation founder charles f. dolan headquarters bethpage new york u.s. key people dexter goei chairman and chief executive officer charles f. stewart co president and chief financial officer hakim boubazine co president and chief operating officer products cable internet voip phone business services optimum tv television optimum online internet optimum voice voip phone lightpath business news 12 news 12 varsity revenue 6.461 billion 2014 1 operating income 921.25 million 2014 1 net income 311.44 million 2014 1 total assets 6.765 billion 2014 1 total equity 5.041 billion 2014 1 owner altice nv number of employees 13 656 sept 2015 1 divisions telecommunications services subsidiaries newsday llc 25 % suddenlink communications website www.alticeusa.com altice usa formerly cablevision is a subsidiary of altice nv and an american cable television provider multiple system operator with systems serving areas surrounding new york city and in 16 other states through currently independent subsidiary suddenlink communications . excluding suddenlink altice usa is the fifth largest cable provider 2 and ninth largest television provider in the united states with most customers residing in new york new jersey connecticut and parts of pennsylvania . 3 altice usa also offers high speed internet connections optimum online digital cable optimum tv and voip optimum voice phone service the eighth largest telephone provider in the u.s. 4 through its optimum brand name ; as well as fiber optic business class data and voice services across the new york area under the lightpath brand . altice usa is the successor to cablevision systems corporation founded by charles dolan . on september 17 2015 netherlands based altice nv announced its intention to acquire cablevision from the dolan family for 17.7 billion . altice has already begun layoffs in larger numbers.the new owner of cablevision and its optimum service is closing call center and customer support operations in shelton and stratford at a cost of some 600 jobs.they are also planning on moving the news 12 studios in june 2017 . i don t like to pay salaries drahi said according to reports . i pay as little as i can no one in our company is making more than a couple hundred thousand dollars a year . the deal was approved by the fcc on may 3 2016 5 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 . 6 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 . 7 the cablevision name has been retired and the company is now known as altice usa with optimum remaining the customer facing brand of the company . contents 1 products and services 1.1 other properties 2 history 2.1 role in the west side stadium debate 2.2 philanthropy 3 carriage disputes 3.1 msg network 3.2 yes network 3.3 nfl network 3.4 tennis channel 3.5 espn3 and watchespn 3.6 verizon fios 3.7 2010 carriage disputes 3.7.1 january 2010 food network and hgtv dispute 3.7.2 march 2010 abc contract dispute affecting wabc tv and wpvi 3.7.3 october 2010 fox and mynetworktv dispute affecting wnyw tv wwor tv and wtxf tv 3.8 tribune company dispute 3.9 meredith corporation dispute 4 corporate governance 5 former properties 5.1 the madison square garden company 5.2 amc networks 5.3 other former properties 6 official sponsors 7 financial records 8 see also 9 references 10 external links products and services edit altice usa call center in newark optimum online is a docsis internet service with speeds that range from 5 1 to 101 35 mbps that includes a leased modem free router email and access to optimum wifi hotspots in new york new jersey connecticut and parts of pennsylvania . static ip is also available for business customers . optimum voice is a voip voice over ip telephone services provided by cablevision for its optimum online customers . new customers must have optimum online first before using optimum voice as it uses the internet voip for the phone session . optimum voice is not currently available in the pennsylvania portion of cablevision s footprint . sip trunking is also available for business customers . optimum tv formerly io digital cable is a digital cable service offered by altice usa available in new york new jersey connecticut and parts of pennsylvania . it includes 130 hdtv channels interactive channels such as games and channels that allow viewers to browse listings of autos and homes for sale in the area and video on demand . hd channels are free with optimum tv to customers who subscribe to the service package that includes the sd channel . additionally optimum tv comes with 46 channels of music choice music channels . optimum tv also offers single room set top dvr and multi room cloud dvr for an additional cost . it was the first american company to offer bbc world news formerly bbc world . for years cablevision was one of the few providers not carrying bbc america until they finally added the channel on august 25 2011 . other properties edit on july 29 2008 cablevision acquired newsday and amnewyork in a deal worth 650m . 8 9 msg varsity part of cablevision local media which includes newsday 3 history edit in the mid 1960s charles dolan built a cable system called sterling manhattan cable in the borough of manhattan and launched home box office hbo . 10 he ended up selling both the cable system and hbo to time life inc. he used the money to start a new cable system in suburban long island called cablevision . cablevision quickly expanded and built system throughout the new york metro area the other boroughs of new york city new jersey westchester county and connecticut . cablevision s last logo 1989 2016 in the 1980s cablevision also expanded into the chicago boston and cleveland areas . by the mid 1990s cablevision would offer service to 2.9 million subscribers in 19 states . through a series of transactions in the late 1990s cablevision decided to consolidate their cable systems into three core areas new york cleveland and boston . despite reducing the number of areas served they were able to bring the number of subscribers to 3.5 million through these transactions . one major transaction made at this time was with tele communications inc. tci . cablevision gained 10 new york area cable systems from tci and in exchange tci gained 33 % ownership in the company . in 1999 at & t corporation took over tci thus giving them the one third ownership in cablevision . 11 in 2000 cablevision sold off its remaining systems outside of the new york area in boston cleveland and kalamazoo michigan to media one adelphia and charter communications respectively . at & t sold its share of cablevision in 2001 . on june 13 2010 cablevision announced that it would acquire bresnan communications for 1.37 billion . 12 bresnan provides service to about 308 000 cable subscribers in colorado montana utah and wyoming . this is the first time in a decade that cablevision has owned systems outside of the new york area although bresnan like cablevision had its headquarters in the new york city suburbs . in may 2011 cablevision rebranded the bresnan systems as optimum west . on february 8 2013 cablevision reached an agreement to sell its optimum west systems to charter communications for us 1.63 billion . 13 on november 23 2013 cablevision laid off 400 employees . 14 on september 17 2015 it was announced that patrick drahi s european telecom conglomerate altice would acquire cablevision for 17.7 billion including debt pending regulatory approval . 15 the transaction closed on june 21 2016 and the cablevision corporate name was promptly retired . altice usa continues to operate under the optimum brand . role in the west side stadium debate edit in 2004 and 2005 cablevision provided funding for an advertising campaign against the proposed construction of a stadium on the west side of manhattan supported by the mayor of new york city michael bloomberg . the stadium would have principally served the new york jets and was an essential part of new york city s failed bid for the 2012 olympics . cablevision had offered a competitive bid that far exceeded the bid of the jets for property owned by the metropolitan transportation authority where the new stadium would have been located . the plans to build the stadium were abandoned in june 2005 when the new york state assembly under the leadership of speaker sheldon silver refused to provide state subsidies for the project . philanthropy edit in 1998 cablevision helped found the lustgarten foundation which has become the largest private foundation dedicated solely to funding pancreatic cancer research in america . 16 the foundation was named after former cablevision chairman marc lustgarten and has raised over 16 million . cablevision currently underwrites the foundation covering all administrative and fundraising costs allowing 100 % of all donations to go directly to research programs and grants to help cure pancreatic cancer as well as sponsoring dozens of walks runs across the country . 17 the foundation is a 4 star charity on charity navigator ranking at this level for its organizational and financial transparency low administrative costs board and growth . 18 carriage disputes edit msg network edit from september 1988 through july 1989 cablevision did not carry msg network at the time owned by gulf western which later became paramount communications over the question of whether msg should be offered as a basic service or a premium service . this move also occurred as new york yankees games on cable moved to msg from cablevision owned sportschannel . 19 20 the cablevision position was that those who wished to pay for sports programming should shoulder the burden not every consumer . this dispute ended with cablevision offering msg as a premium subscription service just like sportschannel . yes network edit cablevision did not carry most of the games of the new york yankees in 2002 because they would not accept the price asked during the inaugural season of yes network . again at the root of the argument was who was to pay for sports programming . cablevision wanted to offer yes as a premium service like msg and fox sports ny where yes ownership wanted the channel on the family cable tier . after a long standoff a deal was made the following year . as a result yes along with msg and fox sports ny moved to the family cable tier . nfl network edit until 2012 cablevision never carried the nfl network as the company stated that it would like to be able to carry nfl sunday ticket which is by contract exclusive to directv until the completion of the 2022 season 21 before it carries nfl network . this has been criticized by new jersey legislators . 22 recently however cablevision purchased bresnan communications a company headquartered in purchase new york but which did all of its business in the rocky mountain region . because of this the nfl network is carried on the former bresnan now optimum west systems but not on optimum systems in greater new york . finally on august 16 2012 cablevision announced that they have reached an agreement with the nfl to carry the network on all its systems effective august 17 . 23 tennis channel edit cablevision also carried the tennis channel for a brief period of time from october