Optimum (cable brand)

Optimum is an American internet, cable television, and telephone brand that primarily serves residents in the New York Tri-State area. The brand originated as an internet service from Cablevision Systems Corporation. It was bought out by Altice Netherlands. The Optimum brand is currently owned and operated by Altice USA, a company independent of Altice Netherlands.

Optimum
TypeBrand
IndustryTelecommunications
Founded1970s
Headquarters
Long Island City
Key people
Dexter Goei (Chief Executive Officer, Altice Group / Executive Chairman, Altice USA)
Hakim Boubazine (President and Chief Operating Officer, Altice USA)
Mike Grau (Chief Financial Officer, Altice USA)
ServicesCable Television, High Speed Internet, Telephone, Mobile Phone, Advertising
ParentAltice USA
Websitewww.optimum.net

Overview

Television

Altice One is the company's flagship home entertainment platform. The device combines TV, streaming apps and more into one space-saving design.

Optimum TV offers cable television service in three tiers

Internet

Optimum offers internet speeds up to 940 megabits per second. Currently there are four speed tiers available:

  • "1 Gig", Optimum's flagship speed tier. This speed tier offers 940Mbit/s download speed and is marketed as a "fiber" connection. Fiber connections may also have a 940Mbit/s upload speed. However, fiber is not guaranteed in all locations. Optimum may instead use a coaxial connection for this speed tier, causing service to be 940Mbit/s download and up to only 50Mbit/s upload.[1]
  • 400 Mbit/s
  • 300 Mbit/s
  • 200 Mbit/s

The company also offers a low-cost broadband option, Altice Advantage Internet, for certain eligible customers.

Voice

Optimum offers landline VOIP telephone service branded as Optimum Voice; the service utilizes a telephone cable modem to provide the service, either alone or combined into a household's main cable modem box.

Mobile

On September 5, 2019, Altice USA, entered the wireless industry with the launch of Altice Mobile, a nationwide mobile virtual network operator service. Altice Mobile delivers advanced LTE coverage by combining Altice's own fiber and mobile core infrastructure with two of the best networks in the U.S., giving consumers fast and reliable wireless coverage wherever they are. Optimum customers had the chance to lock in Altice Mobile's limited time offer of $20/month per line with a ‘price for life’ commitment. Altice Mobile is also available to non-Optimum customers.

Business

Optimum provides small and mid-sized businesses with internet, phone, TV, mobile, Smart WiFi and ad services.

History

Optimum began as a "30-channel[2] system was built in the '70s"[3] using "copper cable" technology. Modernizations and expansions of their services included "a fiber optic network" and more channels, with an expanded set of offerings. As of 2020, the name is still used.[4]

The original Optimum pre-digital technology was limited in the number of channels it could carry.[3] The trademark (styled as OPTIMUM) was "first in use in commerce in August 1994".[5]

Optimum logo used from 2004 until 2012

Optimum as a Cablevision offering

Following Optimum being acquired by Cablevision,[6] the brand Optimum TV[7] was used to market a more expensive offering with more channels.[3] By 2004 the name Optimum Voice was used to offer "a new phone service" based on cable-modem technology.[8] Like competing offerings from AT&T, "it stops working altogether if the power goes out".

The Optimum name was also used to offer Cable-based Internet access;[9] Optimum also pioneered in optionally bundling this with TV access, using "streaming" technology. In what was termed "digital service" Interactive Optimum was not first, but was early in steering the introduction of video-on-demand, alternate camera views for sporting events, and VCR-like rewind and replay.[6] Optimum Select was a related offering, "in which viewers could click on their remote controls to receive more information".[10] Similarly, regarding Optimum's branding and HBO Now, writes the New York Times, "Cablevision’s Internet subscribers can order the service on the company’s website, Optimum.net .., or by calling."[11]

Although references such as "Cablevision's Optimum"[12] do not include the Altice name, both names[13] reflect major market share: one study showed Optimum Voice as the eight-largest phone service provider in the U.S.[14] The name's value was used for about two years when an acquisition held June 2010 through February 2013 was named Optimum West.[15][16]

Interactive Optimum (iO)

In late 2001, Interactive Optimum (iO Digital Cable Service)[6] combined "telephone.. Internet.. entertainment" with "60 channels of digital music and 20 channels of .. topics like antique car collecting, vegetarian cooking or wedding planning'. The New York Times described other cable companies in 2002 as having offered "merely a way of improving television reception". By 2004, there were 15 competitors, but the entire subscribing customer base for what others called "Interactive TV" was described as "still rare".[17] Advertising Age reported that "several high-profile ventures that had their plug pulled for troublesome economic or technological reasons".

Even so, by "playing catch-up"[18] iO and the rest of the company's offerings increased customer count from 689,000 (2004)[17] to over 3 million (2016).[19]

Altice USA

Altice acquired the Optimum brand name when it purchased Cablevision for $17.7 billion in June 2016. Cablevision was combined with Suddenlink Communications to create Altice USA, the fourth largest operator in the United States.[20]

Narrowcasting

With the introduction of more than Optimum's original 30 channels, narrowcasting was added to the service's offerings,[6] since it was now economical to provide "programs of much significance to small audiences."

Conflicts

A New Jersey company that named itself "Optimum Networks Inc." was sued by then-owner Cablevision Systems Corporation (CSC) for violation of the OPTIMUM trademark in 2010.[5]

See also

References
  1. "1 Gig Internet on the fastest fiber network". optimum.com. Optimum. Retrieved September 12, 2020.
  2. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) report Federal Register - 1977 - Delegated legislation (Report). 1977. p. 54945. The cable television system has a 30-channel capacity. Subscribers ...
  3. Linda Saslow (April 6, 1997). "New Channels and New Costs for Cable TV". The New York Times. in the older systems we maxed out on channels available.
  4. Denis Slattery (December 23, 2019). "State lawmaker slams Optimum over hidden fee, demands refund for customers". New York Daily News.
  5. "CSC HOLDINGS LLC v. Optimum Networks, Inc., 731 F. Supp. 2d 400 (D.N.J. 2010)". August 17, 2010.
  6. Warren Strugatch (March 3, 2002). "L.I.@WORK: As Cablevision Sees the Future, It's Interactive". The New York Times. instructional programs about bird-watching or fine wines.
  7. (2008: commonly referred to as "Family Basic" or "Family Cable")
  8. David Pogue (April 8, 2004). "Connections; From Cablevision, Another Way to Carry Your Voice". The New York Times.
  9. Richard Sandomir (June 24, 2009). "Watching the Yankees on the Computer". The New York Times.
  10. Andrew Hampp (January 14, 2010). "Interactive Commercials Show Strong Early Results: Cablevision's Optimum Select Pleases Marketers". Advertising Age. After years .. and several false starts .. the first .. to offer the technology
  11. Brian X. Chen (April 8, 2015). "HBO Now Makes 'Game of Thrones' Easier to See, if Not Follow". The New York Times.
  12. David Pogue (April 22, 2010). "A Convenient, Mysterious Service From Cable Companies". The New York Times.
  13. Stewart Ain (December 10, 2000). "Cable Customers to See Price Increase". The New York Times. Cablevision's premium service, called Optimum Gold, will ...
  14. "Research Notes" (PDF). Leichtman Research Group. April 2012. p. 6.
  15. Colorado, Montana, Utah, and Wyoming. Serena Saitto (February 8, 2013). "Charter to Buy Optimum West for $1.63 Billion". Bloomberg L.P. Retrieved 2013-02-08.
  16. "Charter Communications to Buy Optimum West". The Wall Street Journal. February 7, 2013.
  17. Simon Applebaum (March 8, 2004). "Interactive TV shows signs of life". Advertising Age.
  18. Carin Rubenstein (January 5, 2003). "Going Digital". The New York Times.
  19. "Cable Industry Data". January 6, 2016.
  20. Littleton, Cynthia (2016-06-21). "Altice Completes Cablevision Acquisition, Creating No. 4 U.S. Cable Operator". Variety. Retrieved 2020-03-24.
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