Altice Technical Services US Corp. ("ATS")
ATS is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Altice Technical Service B.V., a 70% owned subsidiary of Altice N.V. ATS was formed to provide network construction and maintenance services and commercial and residential installations, disconnections, and maintenance.
In the second quarter of 2017, the Company entered into an Independent Contractor Agreement with ATS that governs the terms of the services described above. The Company believes the services it receives from ATS will be of higher quality and at a lower cost than the Company could achieve without ATS, including for the construction of our new FTTH network. The Company also entered into a transition services agreement (“TSA”) for the use of the Company’s resources to provide various overhead functions to ATS, including accounting, legal and human resources and for the use of certain facilities, vehicles and technician tools during a transitional period that generally ends on December 31, 2017, although the term can be extended on a service-by-service basis. The TSA requires ATS to reimburse the Company for its cost to provide such services.
During the second quarter of 2017, a substantial portion of the Company's technical workforce at the Cablevision segment either accepted employment with ATS or became employees of ATS and ATS commenced operations and began to perform services for the Company. It is anticipated that a substantial portion of the Cequel segment technical workforce will become employees of ATS later in 2017.
From the formation of ATS and up until an equity contribution was made by its parent in June 2017, ATS met the definition of a variable interest entity in accordance with ASC 810-10-15-14. The Company evaluated whether its arrangement under the terms of the Independent Contractor Agreement is a variable interest, whether the Company is the primary beneficiary and whether the Company should consolidate ATS. The Company concluded that it is not the primary beneficiary of ATS because ATS is controlled by its parent, which in turn is controlled by Altice N.V. who has the power to direct the most significant activities of ATS.
As of June 30, 2017, the Company had a prepayment balance of $19,780 to ATS for construction services, which is reflected in other assets on the Company's balance sheet.
https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1702780/000170278017000004/alticeusa6-30x17.htm