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Spectrum kicked out of NY state


ToriElectra

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New York state has gotten fed up with Spectrum, and has revoked their authority to operate within the state: http://abc7ny.com/business/ny-kicks-spectrum-cable-out-of-state-revokes-merger-approval/3834286/

 

As it mentions in the article, not only does it serve the 5 boroughs of NYC, it also serves the main cities in upstate NY too (Buffalo, Syracuse, Albany, Rochester).

 

So who'll fill the void? It's either going to be Comcast or possibly even Altice/Cablevision.

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One can always hope for Cox to make a play. As a cable operator they're really solid.

I doubt Cox will expand into New York State... or at least New York City. I probably would lodge a bet that Altice would take over for Charter. They already have a presence in parts of the state, including the NYC outer boroughs and Long Island, plus Altice operates News 12 Networks, which mainly covers areas of the New York City area outside of Manhattan, which would make NY1 fit with them perfectly if this ruling forces Charter to sell it and the upstate Spectrum News channels.

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They could, Cox have a somewhat sizable presence in Connecticut, but it’s not likely. I think it will be most likely Comcast, because it will probably be the easiest transition.

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As it mentions in the article, not only does it serve the 5 boroughs of NYC, it also serves the main cities in upstate NY too (Buffalo, Syracuse, Albany, Rochester).

 

So who'll fill the void? It's either going to be Comcast or possibly even Altice/Cablevision.

 

Actually it serves Manhattan, parts of Queens and the eastern part of Bergen County. The rest of Queens, Brooklyn, Bronx, and Bergen Country are all Altice so I could see Altice picking it up being continuous. Plus converting NY 1 to News12 would be easy since they are on each other's systems. But this is probably all moot. Charter I'm sure will negotiate with NY State.

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Actually it serves Manhattan, parts of Queens and the eastern part of Bergen County. The rest of Queens, Brooklyn, Bronx, and Bergen Country are all Altice so I could see Altice picking it up being continuous. Plus converting NY 1 to News12 would be easy since they are on each other's systems. But this is probably all moot. Charter I'm sure will negotiate with NY State.

Spectrum serves Staten Island as well.

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In addition to NY1, Charter also operates Spectrum News outlets in upstate New York in addition to 27% of SportsNet New York, would those have to be divested as well? I can see Cox converting the News Channels into YurView outlets with NBC Sports Group taking the SNY share and possibly rebranding as NBC Sports New York.

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Or Spectrum NY may become an independent provider...or maybe not as some companies like to aquire anything and everything.

 

 

 

But for some reason if SpNY became independent from Charter, I would want it to take the Dimension Cable or Dimension name.

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In addition to NY1, Charter also operates Spectrum News outlets in upstate New York in addition to 27% of SportsNet New York, would those have to be divested as well? I can see Cox converting the News Channels into YurView outlets with NBC Sports Group taking the SNY share and possibly rebranding as NBC Sports New York.

That depends on what the Mets want. They still have 65% ownership, so if they want to keep the SNY name, they can.

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Spectrum serves Staten Island as well.

 

You’re all partially right. See the attached map.

 

Charter/Spectrum has all of Manhattan Island, Staten Island, Queens and north and western Brooklyn (specifically Greenpoint to Bay Ridge and points in between).

 

The rest of Brooklyn, and all of the Bronx (including the Co-op City complex, whose system predated Cablevision’s arrival in NYC, and Manhattan's land-locked Marble Hill neighborhood) are Optimum TV.

 

Having cleared that up, I would not want to see Altice/Optimum take over the Spectrum franchise and gain complete control of the city’s cable households. For one, they are horrible at customer service (though TWC was worse from what I heard), and their rates would all but certainly go up. It would also be bad news for NY1 and the upstate Spectrum News channels, which are still recovering from Spectrum’s love-it-or-hate-it makeover. They certainly would be decimated through a merger with News 12, and the cuts that would come with it.

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You’re all partially right. See the attached map.

 

Charter/Spectrum has all of Manhattan Island, Staten Island, Queens and north and western Brooklyn (specifically Greenpoint to Bay Ridge and points in between).

 

The rest of Brooklyn, and all of the Bronx (including the Co-op City complex, whose system predated Cablevision’s arrival in NYC) are Optimum TV.

 

Having cleared that up, I would not want to see Altice/Optimum take over the Spectrum franchise and gain complete control of the city’s cable households. For one, they are horrible at customer service (though TWC was worse from what I heard), and their rates would all but certainly go up. It would also be bad news for NY1 and the upstate Spectrum News channels, which are still recovering from Spectrum’s love-it-or-hate-it makeover. They certainly would be decimated through a merger with News 12, and the cuts that would come with it.

 

 

Fios is available in many areas of NYC. No one provider will gain complete control of the city’s cable households.

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Except that FiOS is not traditional cable. And Verizon's agreement with NYC (and RCN's, for that matter) is distinct from the franchises held by Altice and Charter, and their predecessors.

 

And there are still many pockets of the city where FiOS is unavailable for a variety of places, mostly older, privately-owned multi-unit buildings and co-op/condo complexes who have either: 1) no interest in FiOS from their tenants (they need approval from 60% of residents); or 2) property owners/landlords have refused to open their doors to FiOS due to exclusive deals they have with the cable franchisee.

 

I spent a year working at Verizon doing FiOS installations, so I know this from first-hand experience, though i hope this has changed since l left Verizon a few years ago.

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I doubt Cox will expand into New York State... or at least New York City. I probably would lodge a bet that Altice would take over for Charter. They already have a presence in parts of the state, including the NYC outer boroughs and Long Island, plus Altice operates News 12 Networks, which mainly covers areas of the New York City area outside of Manhattan, which would make NY1 fit with them perfectly if this ruling forces Charter to sell it and the upstate Spectrum News channels.

Well, the News 12 name wouldn't work in the Binghamton area due to WBNG 12.

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If you ask Scott Jones, Cox is selling its affiliates. Not sure if they'd openly do that or not.

 

Cox Cable is often mentioned as a target of Altice USA. Doubt Cox would buy any systems. I also doubt Charter will go away. They will pay a fine and go their merry way. When was the last time a cable franchise was actually stripped and resold?

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This would have consequences outside New York as well. Spectrum's Albany cluster also covers the ex-TWC systems in Massachusetts. This would cause a huge headache in Berkshire County given that:

 

a) the ex-TWC systems would be hard to separate from the Albany cluster given that they have been established for some time, IIRC the Pittsfield headend dates back to the pre-Time Warner era.

 

b) the ex-Charter systems are linked to Charter's Columbia County, NY division which triggered part of this mess to begin with.

 

The other ex-TWC territory in Massachusetts, Athol/Orange, would be easy to deal with as it could be put in with Spectrum's Worcester cluster as it should be.

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