Fox Tells Altice Customers Ahead Of Big Sports Weekend That Carriage Fight Could Lead To Blackout On Optimum Pay-TV Systems

As the fall sports calendar reaches a peak moment, especially in New York with the Yankees in the playoffs and the Jets finally on a winning path, Fox Corp. has warned Altice customers that a carriage fight could knock sports and other programming off the air.
The current carriage agreement between the companies will expire Friday at midnight ET.
With about 2.6 million subscribers to its Optimum service, Altice is toward the bottom of the top 10 ranking of U.S. pay-TV operators, but it gets an outsized share of the spotlight because most of its customers are in the New York metropolitan area.
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“Fox remains committed to reaching a fair agreement with Altice for Optimum’s continued distribution of our networks,” the company said in a statement. “Despite our best efforts for months, we regret that Altice continues to demand special treatment and reject marketplace terms, compelling us to alert our loyal viewers of a potential blackout of all Fox channels by Optimum.”
The statement went on to note that in addition to NFL games on Fox, college football on several Fox networks and the baseball playoffs, Fox News and top-rated broadcast shows like The Masked Singer and 9-1-1 are also in the balance.
Altice responded with a statement and noted that negotiations are ongoing.
“Optimum is committed to keeping our customers connected to the TV content they love, and we are currently in active negotiations with Fox Networks to continue carrying its suite of channels at a reasonable rate that reflects the best interest of our customers,” the statement said. “Unfortunately, Fox Networks is demanding unprecedented and excessive fee increases that would raise TV bills. We are working hard to reach a fair deal for our customers and to avoid any disruption.”
Executives at Fox have signaled to Wall Street the significant financial opportunity they expect via a series of distribution renewals over the next year or so. About two-thirds of the company’s distribution footprint will get updated pacts, and resulting carriage revenue will push fiscal 2023 results to new records, the company has projected. A recent agreement with Verizon also included carriage for free, ad-supported streaming platform Tubi, which Fox acquired in 2020.