New York City officials are all set to vote on May 11 to approve Altice NV's $17.7 billion purchase of Cablevision Systems (NYSE: CVC), provide the European telecom conglomerate agrees to conditions mandated by New York state officials, according to the New York Post.
Altice, which wrapped up FCC approval earlier this week, is expected to reach an agreement with New York State's Public Service Commission. The state body is set to vote on the matter on May 20. Altice will agree "to maintain levels of customer facing employees for an appropriate time period," according to the draft resolution.
Altice also agreed to make the Bronx and Brooklyn first in line when it comes to infrastructure upgrades. As the Post noted, Altice had legal doubts that New York City even had the legal authority to block its takeover, but chose to negotiate with the city, anyway.
The pending agreements with New York state and city officials will culminate the regulatory review of the purchase, putting Cablevision in the hands of a European conglomerate which has pledged to trim $900 million in operational costs from the MSO's budget within the first three years of ownership.
These cuts will start with the exit of the MSO's CEO, James Dolan, who made $24.6 million in executive compensation, a Cablevision filing revealed last week.
On Thursday, Cablevision reported revenue growth of 1.6 percent to $1.641 billion in the first quarter, matching analysts' consensus forecasts.
For more:
- read this New York Post story
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