Altice USA (NYSE:ATUS) has reached an agreement to acquire Cheddar, a digital-first news company, for $200 million. The acquisition is intended to broaden Altice's portfolio of news businesses by adding Cheddar's live business, general news and college network focused on young professional and millennial audiences. The transaction is expected to close in the next two months upon receipt of regulatory approval.
The Cheddar networks are available in approximately 40 million pay TV homes through MVPDs, all virtual MVPDS (YouTube TV, Sling, Hulu Live, DIRECTV NOW, etc.), free TV systems (Pluto, Roku Channel, etc.), and a campus network of 1,600 owned and operated screens on 600 campuses. Cheddar recently reached carriage agreements with Comcast, Charter and Altice USA. Cheddar is available on nearly all over-the-top (OTT) subscription pay TV services in the United States and has social distribution across Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, Twitter, LinkedIn, Snapchat and other platforms generating more than 400 million video views a month.
Cheddar Founder and CEO Jon Steinberg will join Altice USA to lead Altice News, including Cheddar, News 12 and i24NEWS.
"Cheddar has demonstrated an innovative approach to live news while building an engaged audience, solid followership and a strong brand," said Altice USA CEO Dexter Goei. "As one of Cheddar's early investors, we have enjoyed our partnership with Jon and admire the entrepreneurial spirit, energy and smart disruptive mentality that he brings to the news business. The Cheddar culture and mindset are the perfect fit for Altice USA, and we're excited to welcome Jon and the Cheddar team to the Altice family. We look forward to seeing our growing news team continue to deliver the best content for our viewers and more opportunities for our advertisers."
"Our goal is to make Altice News a leader in local, business, national, and international news everywhere as we look to build a live news offering for customers in the traditional pay TV ecosystem, as well as those looking to a la carte alternative SVOD services, vMVPDs, and free systems for their non-news entertainment," said Steinberg. "The Altice team and Altice Way are as entrepreneurial as it gets with amazing markets, world-class local and international news, an amazing broadband network, and a soon to launch mobile offering. I can't wait for Cheddar to begin working with Altice's team."