Optimum began as a "30-channel system built in the 1970s" 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.
Optimum as a Cablevision offering Following Optimum being acquired by
Cablevision, was used to market a more expensive offering with more channels. Like competing offerings from
AT&T, "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-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, 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)
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)
Altice USA Altice bought Cablevision, the Optimum brand included, for $17.7 billion in June 2016. Cablevision was combined with
Suddenlink Communications 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 predecessor, Cablevision, in which Optimum had systems outside of the New York area. In April 2022, Altice USA announced that SuddenLink was to 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. == Conflicts ==