Cablevision Reaches New Content Agreement With CBS

By Angela Chen 

Cablevision Systems Corp. and CBS Corp. have reached a new content agreement that covers retransmission consent for CBS-owned stations.

Financial terms of the multiyear agreement weren't disclosed.

Cablevision will continue to carry Showtime, CBS Sports Network and Smithsonian Channel. It will also distribute CBS All Access and Showtime Internet services to its Optimum Online customers. This makes it the first distributor to provide CBS's new Internet services, the companies said in a news release.

Recently, Cablevision posted its first quarter of total customer growth in more than two years. In the latest quarter, revenue increased 1.6% to $1.65 billion, but profit fell nearly 20% as higher programming costs and product and marketing investments offset rate increases.

Cablevision Chief Executive James Dolan has assured investors that a "landslide" of cord-cutting likely won't happen in the near term, though he projected declines over the next several years.

Shares of Cablevision were recently up 1.6%.

Write to Angela Chen at [e-mail]

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(END) Dow Jones Newswires

August 25, 2015 10:58 ET (14:58 GMT)

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