Optimum Rejects TEGNA's 30% Fee Hike Demands
Written by Emily J. Thompson, Senior Investment Analyst
Updated: Dec 17 2025
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Source: Businesswire
- Fee Hike Rejection: Optimum forcefully rejects TEGNA's demands for a 30% increase for major networks and a 50% increase for the CW, arguing that such demands are disconnected from market realities and could significantly inflate customer bills, impacting consumer choice.
- Merger Warning: The fee hike demands from TEGNA are closely linked to the impending merger with Nexstar, with Optimum highlighting that this consolidation will reduce consumer choices and exacerbate the broadcasting industry's move towards a duopoly.
- Customer Rights Defense: Optimum asserts its commitment to fighting for reasonable fees and choices for customers, refusing to accept unjustified price increases while emphasizing the desire to collaborate with broadcasters to develop attractive and affordable viewing solutions.
- Call for Market Reform: Optimum urges policymakers to scrutinize the anti-competitive behaviors of broadcasters, asserting that the current pricing model is outdated and must evolve to align with consumer demands and economic realities.
Analyst Views on OPTU
About OPTU
Optimum Communications, Inc., formerly Altice USA, Inc., is a broadband communications and video services provider in the United States, delivering broadband, video, mobile, proprietary content and advertising services to residential and business customers across approximately 21 states through its Optimum brand. The Company operates Optimum Media, an advanced advertising and data business, which provides audience-based, multiscreen advertising solutions to local, regional and national businesses and advertising clients. Its footprint extends across various states (primarily in the New York metropolitan area and various markets in the south-central United States) through a fiber-rich hybrid-fiber coaxial (HFC) broadband network and a fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) network. The Company also operates News 12, which is focused on delivering hyperlocal news content, covering communities throughout Long Island, the Bronx, Brooklyn, Westchester, Hudson Valley, Connecticut and New Jersey.
About the author
Emily J. Thompson
Emily J. Thompson, a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) with 12 years in investment research, graduated with honors from the Wharton School. Specializing in industrial and technology stocks, she provides in-depth analysis for Intellectia’s earnings and market brief reports.
