Optimum (cable Brand)
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Optimum is an American Internet, television, mobile and home phone company serving Arizona, Arkansas, California, Connecticut, Idaho, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Texas, and West Virginia. It is the 4th largest cable provider in the United States and a Fortune 500 telecommunications company. The Optimum brand is owned and operated by Altice USA, a company independent of Altice. :simple:Optimum (cable brand)


Overview

Altice One is the company's flagship home entertainment platform, and combines TV, and streaming apps.


Television

Optimum TV offers cable television service in three tiers: * Core: 220+ Channels * Select: 340+ Channels (includes
Starz Encore Starz Encore is an American premium television channel owned by Starz Inc. a subsidiary of Lions Gate Entertainment and headquartered at the Meridian International Business Center complex in Meridian, Colorado, United States. Launched as Encore ...
) * Premier: 420+ Channels (includes
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,
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, and
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)


Internet

Optimum offers internet speeds up to 940
megabits The megabit is a multiple of the unit bit for digital information. The prefix mega (symbol M) is defined in the International System of Units (SI) as a multiplier of 106 (1 million), and therefore :1 megabit = = = 1000 kilobits. The megabit h ...
per second, with four 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. * 500 Mbit/s * 300 Mbit/s The company also offers a low-cost broadband option, Altice Advantage Internet, for certain eligible customers.


Voice

Optimum offers landline
VOIP Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP), also called IP telephony, is a method and group of technologies for the delivery of voice communications and multimedia sessions over Internet Protocol (IP) networks, such as the Internet. The terms Internet t ...
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 Wireless communication (or just wireless, when the context allows) is the transfer of information between two or more points without the use of an electrical conductor, optical fiber or other continuous guided medium for the transfer. The most ...
industry with the launch of Optimum Mobile, a nationwide
mobile virtual network operator A mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) is a wireless communications services provider that does not own the wireless network infrastructure over which it provides services to its customers. An MVNO enters into a business agreement with a mobil ...
service. Optimum Mobile delivers advanced
LTE LTE may refer to: Science and technology * LTE (telecommunication) (Long-Term Evolution), a telephone and mobile broadband standard ** LTE Advanced, an enhancement *** LTE Advanced Pro * Compaq LTE, a line of laptop computers produced by Compaq * ...
coverage by combining Optimum'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 Optimum Mobile's limited time offer of $20/month per line with a ‘price for life’ commitment. Optimum 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 system built in the '70s" 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. The original ''Optimum'' pre-digital technology was limited in the number of channels it could carry. The
trademark A trademark (also written trade mark or trade-mark) is a type of intellectual property consisting of a recognizable sign, design, or expression that identifies products or services from a particular source and distinguishes them from others ...
(styled as ''OPTIMUM'') was "first in use in commerce in August 1994".


Optimum as a Cablevision offering

Following Optimum being acquired by
Cablevision Cablevision Systems Corporation was an American cable television company with systems serving areas surrounding New York City. It was the fifth-largest cable provider and ninth-largest television provider in the United States. Throughout its ex ...
, the brand Optimum TV was used to market a more expensive offering with more channels. By 2004 the name ''Optimum Voice'' was used to offer "a new phone service" based on cable-modem technology. Like competing offerings from
AT&T AT&T Inc. is an American multinational telecommunications holding company headquartered at Whitacre Tower in Downtown Dallas, Texas. It is the world's largest telecommunications company by revenue and the third largest provider of mobile tel ...
, "it stops working altogether if the power goes out". The ''Optimum'' name was also used to offer Cable-based Internet access; 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 A videocassette recorder (VCR) or video recorder is an electromechanical device that records analog audio and analog video from broadcast television or other source on a removable, magnetic tape videocassette, and can play back the recording. ...
-like rewind and replay. ''Optimum Select'' was a related offering, "in which viewers could click on their remote controls to receive more information". Similarly, regarding Optimum's branding and
HBO Now HBO Now (formally named HBO from July 2020) was an American subscription video on demand streaming service for premium television network HBO owned by WarnerMedia subsidiary Home Box Office, Inc. Officially unveiled on March 9 and launched on ...
, writes ''the New York Times'', "Cablevision’s Internet subscribers can order the service on the company’s website, ''Optimum.net'' .., or by calling." Although references such as "Cablevision's Optimum" do not include the ''Altice'' name, both names reflect major market share: one study showed ''Optimum Voice'' as the eight-largest phone service provider in the U.S. The name's value was used for about two years when an acquisition held June 2010 through February 2013 was named ''Optimum West''.


Interactive Optimum (iO)

In late 2001, Interactive Optimum (iO Digital Cable Service) 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". ''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" ''iO'' and the rest of the company's offerings increased customer count from 689,000 (2004) to over 3 million (2016).


Altice USA

Altice bought the Optimum brand and Cablevision for $17.7 billion in June 2016. Cablevision was combined with
Suddenlink Communications Suddenlink was an American telecommunications subsidiary of Altice USA trading in cable television, broadband, IP telephony, home security, and advertising. Prior to its acquisition by Altice, the company was the seventh largest cable operator wi ...
to create Altice USA, the fourth largest operator in the United States. On March 1, 2021, Altice USA announced that it would acquire Morris Broadband in North Carolina for $310 million which was later closed on April 6, 2021. Altice later announced that Morris Broadband would be rebranded into the Optimum name, making it the first time since 2011 when under its processor, Cablevision, in which Optimum had systems outside of the New York area. In April 2022, Altice USA announced that SuddenLink will be rebranded into Optimum. Because of this, Optimum will automatically expand its footprint to eleven additional states, in addition to expanding in North Carolina with its previous acquisition with Morris Broadband. The rebranding was later completed by August 1, 2022.


Narrowcasting

With the introduction of more than Optimum's original 30 channels,
narrowcasting Narrowcasting is the dissemination of information (usually via Internet, radio, newspaper, or television) to a narrow audience, rather than to the broader public at-large. Related to niche marketing or target marketing, narrowcasting involves aim ...
was added to the service's offerings, 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.


See also

*
List of multiple-system operators A multiple-system operator (MSO) is an operator of multiple cable or direct-broadcast satellite television systems. A cable system in the United States, by Federal Communications Commission (FCC) definition, is a facility serving a single communi ...
*
List of United States telephone companies This is a list of United States telephone companies. Regional Bell Operating Companies The Regional Bell Operating Companies (RBOCs) are the result of the break-up of the Bell System in 1984. After numerous mergers, asset sales, and renamings s ...


References

{{CATV USA Cable television companies of the United States Altice USA VoIP companies of the United States Telecommunications companies of the United States Internet service providers of the United States