U.S. FCC Approves Altice's Acquisition Of Cablevision Systems

(RTTNews) - The U.S. Federal Communications Commission said Tuesday that it approved European telecommunications group Altice's (ATCV.OB) acquisition of U.S. telecommunications and media company Cablevision Systems Corp. (CVC) in a $17.7 billion deal, including debt.

The FCC said, "We find that approval of the applications will serve the public interest, convenience, and necessity and hereby grant the applications subject to the condition requested by the Executive Branch Agencies... we find the transaction is unlikely to have adverse competitive effects.... We find that Altice's commitment to the NY PSC to "upgrade the Cablevision network so that all existing customer locations are able to receive broadband service of up to 300 Mbps."

The companies stated that proceedings at the New York State Department of Public Service Commission and New Jersey Board of Public Utilities are pending.

The Commission noted that the Executive Branch Agencies including the U.S. Department of Justice, U.S. Department of Homeland Security And the U.S. Department of Defense, informed the FCC on April 20 that they "have no objection to grant of the applications" based on the commitments made.

In September 2015, Altice said it agreed to buy Cablevision Systems Corp. for $34.90 per share in an all-cash deal valued about $17.7 billion, including debt.