Our Customers Need Affordable, Practical Options, Now.
For this first time in our company’s history, Optimum is engaged in two simultaneous high profile TV programming disputes – MSG Networks and Nexstar.
It’s disruptive, it’s confusing…but it is necessary.
But first, imagine two cable TV customers. One loves watching basketball and hockey games on TV – Knicks, Islanders, Devils and Rangers, for example. The other loves classic movies, home renovation shows and couldn’t tell the difference between a tip off and a face off. Should they both have to pay hefty TV bills for a large bundle of channels to only get access to the few channels they actually want to watch?
That’s the heart of this current moment in time.
It’s no secret: consumer viewing habits have changed dramatically. Some watch a lot of sports and news, while some only want entertainment-related content. Advances in technology have made available hundreds of streaming options, providing consumers with more choices than ever before. Users can curate far more of their own programming experience, choosing to pay for content they want to watch and disregarding that which isn’t of interest. Streaming providers frequently update their content libraries, giving their customers control over viewing options – and yes, even they sunset favorite shows as they update lineups, and customers adjust. Many consumers subscribe to one or more streaming services and often switch between them, adding or canceling subscriptions based on their current interests.
We love this, which is why Optimum recently rolled out new, lower cost video options consumers can opt into anytime. And why we’re asking these media companies — whose fees to Optimum make up most of the cost of cable bills — to stop making Optimum TV customers pay for channels they don’t want to watch in order to get to the channels they do want.
Essentially, Optimum is being handcuffed by media companies who insist we adhere to a broken, outdated model. Media companies demand we make their content available to a large audience, regardless of actual viewer interest. Worse, they often “bundle” their channels, forcing distributors like Optimum to collect fees for less desirable networks in order to carry popular channels that consumers actually want.
The result? An outdated, restrictive, and irrelevant model that places upward pressure on customer bills, forces them to pay for content they don’t watch, and deprives consumers of the choice they expect, and frankly, deserve.
This is why Optimum has decided to push back. The video landscape is forever changed, whether anyone likes it or not. Guess what? We like it. It is an opportunity to offer greater choice and flexibility with Optimum’s suite of modernized video options that break the traditional all-or-nothing cable model, geared toward unique viewing preferences, and are priced accordingly. Never watch sports? We’ve got an affordable video option for you. Reach out to us anytime.
We are simply asking media companies, like MSG Networks and Nexstar, to do the same -evolve with us. Go ahead and offer your own direct-to-consumer options, but also partner with us to develop new, attractive, and most importantly economically viable solutions that allow customers to select and pay for programming options that contain the content they want to watch!
Optimum’s goal is to explain our position and ask for your support to push back on this outdated model –both for the current disputes and those that may arise if this is not addressed. Put simply, we believe in flexibility and choice – why don’t the media companies? We urge them to provide their content to distributors like Optimum without any conditions, allowing consumers to make their own choices.
In the meantime, Optimum will continue to advocate for the freedom and choice that our customers deserve. We recognize our customers are affected by the disputes with MSG Networks and Nexstar and, if this programming is important to them, we don’t want them to miss out. Optimum is leaning in with options to ensure customers get what they want based on their unique preferences. For some customers, that may mean no cable TV at all. So, we help offset and defray costs of streaming services that in the past might have been considered rivals and work to make it simple for customers to explore new video options that offer the content they want, like, and need – even if they are not always “ours.”
It’s time to stop living in the past. If any distributor were starting a successful video distribution platform today, there is simply no way they would agree to these outdated and restrictive terms - and we shouldn’t now. We hope we can count on your support.
Dennis Mathew
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Optimum