Cablevision/Optimum to be Sold to European Company for $17B

Cablevision/Optimum office in Seaside Heights. (Credit: Google)

Cablevision Systems, the cable provider for Ocean County’s northern barrier island south of Brick Township, is being sold to a European telecommunications conglomerate for $17.7 billion, it was reported Thursday.

The Long Island-based company will be acquired by Altice, based in The Netherlands. The move will instantly make Altice the fourth-largest cable provider in the United States, according to a report in the Financial Times.

The company’s fouder, French-Israeli mogul Patrick Drahi, said he intends of slashing costs in order to increase margins, telling an audience of Goldman Sachs employees Thursday that “no one is making more than $200,000 a year” at Altice, the Journal reported. The deal also includes the Newsday daily newspaper in Long Island and amNewYork, a free newspaper distributed in New York City, according to USA Today.

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Cablevision operates two systems in Ocean County: the barrier island system and a system covering Lakewood Township. The remainder of the county – and the barrier island from Brick Township northward – is serviced by Comcast. Verizon offers its FiOS service in Toms River, a small portion of Brick and select locations in Seaside Heights.