This Privacy Policy (“Privacy Policy”) is between you and Altice USA News, Inc. f/k/a Cheddar Inc., (“Cheddar”, “we”, or “us”). This Privacy Policy explains our information practices and the choices you can make about the way your information is collected and used when you access our service (the “Cheddar Service”), which allows consumers to have access to and view certain on-demand content and live-streaming content (“Cheddar Content”). The Cheddar Service includes the www.Cheddar.com (the “Site”), the Cheddar Content and our mobile apps (the “Cheddar Apps”, each a “Cheddar App”). You can access Cheddar Content either by signing up for the Cheddar Service directly and creating a Subscriber Account (see Section 2.a below), or by streaming Cheddar Content via a Third Party Platform as a Platform Subscriber (see Section 1.m below).
Any capitalized term not defined herein shall have the meaning given to them in the associated Terms of Service available at https://cheddar.com/terms.
1.DEFINITIONS
2.INFORMATION WE COLLECT AND HOW WE COLLECT IT
3.HOW WE USE INFORMATION
4.WHEN AND WITH WHOM WE MAY SHARE INFORMATION
5.THIRD PARTY DATA COLLECTION
6.CHOICES YOU HAVE TO LIMIT USE AND SHARING OF INFORMATION
7.HOW WE SECURE YOUR INFORMATION
8.YOUR CALIFORNIA PRIVACY RIGHTS
9.USING OUR SERVICES OUTSIDE OF THE UNITED STATES
10.CHANGES TO THIS PRIVACY POLICY
11.HOW TO CONTACT US
1. DEFINITIONS.This is what we mean when we use the following terms in this Privacy Policy:
a. “Altice” refers to Altice USA, Inc. Cheddar is a subsidiary of Altice. Other Altice subsidiaries and brands include Optimum, Suddenlink, Optimum Mobile, News12, ServiceElectric, Broadband Cable, i24News and a4. You can learn more about Altice by visiting http://www.alticeusa.com/ .
b.“a4” refers to a4 Media & Data Solutions, LLC, which is an affiliate of Altice and Cheddar. You can learn more about a4 by visiting http://www.a4media.com.
c. “Third Party Platform”is a third party platform or service (e.g., Hulu, YouTubeTV, Roku) through which authorized users can access and stream Cheddar Content via a channel and/or platform-specific version of a Cheddar App.
d. “Platform Subscriber” means a consumer who has access to Cheddar Content as a result of the consumer’s subscription to a Third Party Platform.
e. “Information” means the information we collect about you and your use of the Cheddar Service. It includes information you provide to us, information we collect when you use the Cheddar Service, and information provided to us by third parties. Depending on how it is used or shared, some Information can be PII or De-identified Information, as those terms are defined below.
f. “Personally Identifiable Information” or “PII” means information that directly identifies or can reasonably be used to identify a particular individual (for example, email address). PII does not include De-identified Information.
g. “De-identified Information” or “Anonymous Information” is information that does not directly identify and cannot be reasonably linked to a particular individual. We treat IP addresses and other unique identifiers – such as cookie IDs, advertising IDs, device IDs and household IDs – as De-identified Information when they cannot reasonably be used to identify a particular individual. We also consider aggregated information and Device Identifiable Information to be De-identified Information.
h. “Device Identifiable Information” or “DII” is a type of De-identified Information that directly identifies or can reasonably be used to identify a specific browser, device, or group of devices, but doesn’t directly identify and cannot reasonably be used to identify a specific individual.
i. “Usage and Device Information” means information about your use of the Cheddar Service, including your accessing, viewing, and downloading of Cheddar Content, which includes information about your use of our Site and the Cheddar App. This includes your activities, your IP address, your browser type, your Internet service provider (ISP), referring_exit pages, your operating system or device type, date_time stamps, and related metadata. It also means information about your mobile device collected when the device interacts with the Cheddar Service, including unique device ID (including MAC ID and other identifiers), device type, device status, device serial number, and information about the settings, configurations, and software on your device.
j. “Service Provider(s)” means third party vendor(s) that perform services on our behalf in connection with the offering, operation and provision of the Cheddar Service or other legitimate business activities, for example, authentication, fraud prevention, customer service, analytics, and advertising and marketing services.
k. “First Party Advertising” is advertising or marketing communications for Cheddar or Altice products and services, including those offered under the i24News, Optimum Mobile, Optimum and Suddenlink brands.
l. “Third Party Advertising” is advertising or marketing communications for a third party (including, for example, for non-Altice products and services).
2. INFORMATION WE COLLECT AND HOW WE COLLECT IT. We collect Information about you and your associated devices when you provide it to us, when you use the Cheddar Service, and when it is provided to us by a Third Party Platform or other third parties.
a. Information You Provide To Us: When you communicate with us, we collect the Information you provide to us, which may include PII, such as your email address.
b. Information We Collect When Subscribers Use the Cheddar Service: When you use the Cheddar Service, Cheddar and our Service Providers automatically collect Usage and Device Information.
c. Information Collected via Cookies, Web Beacons and Similar Technologies: We and our Service Providers use web tracking technologies known as “cookies”, and “Clear GIFs” (also known as “web beacons,” “Internet tags,” “pixels” or “pixel tags”) to collect additional information about yourinteraction with the Cheddar Site. A cookie is a small encrypted computer code added to a file on your computer as a record of your visit. It does not collect or provide your name or any other personal information about you, but can be used to recognize your device or computer when you return as a repeat visitor to our Site. Clear GIFs are lines of code that allow websites to summarize overall visitor usage patterns and to provide personalized services. When we post videos, we and our Service Providers may use local shared objects, known as “Flash Cookies,” to store your preferences for volume control or to personalize certain video features.
d. Information Provided by Third Party Platforms.When you stream Cheddar Content via a Third Party Platform the provider of that platform may collect PII and Usage and Device Information about you and your interaction with the Cheddar Content (see Section 5 below). We obtain Platform Subscribers’ Usage and Device Information, such as IP address and device ID, from certain Third Party Platform providers (SamsungTV+, DirecTV Now, Sling and Pluto) for advertising or marketing uses.
e. Information Provided by Other Third Parties. For Platform Subscribers, we obtain an authentication token from our Service Provider when you attempt to access the Cheddar Content which confirms that you are an authorized subscriber of the relevant Third Party Platform.
f. Information collected from Children. We do not knowingly solicit children to purchase or use our services or products and do not knowingly collect PII from anyone under the age of 13. If you believe that we might have any Personal Data from a child under 13, please contact us at support@cheddar.com .
3. HOW WE USE INFORMATION. We use the Information we collect for legitimate business activities, including: 1) to provide and improve the Cheddar Service, 2) to communicate with you, and 3) for advertising and marketing.
a. To Provide and Improve the Services.We use the Information we collect to conduct business activities related to providing you with the Cheddar Service, including: 1) service delivery; 2) maintenance and operations, including management of the network and devices supporting our service and our systems; 3) technical support; 4) hardware and software upgrades for devices and systems; 5) understanding the use of the Cheddar Service; 6) improving our services and identifying and developing new features, products and services; 7) internal analytics and reporting; 8) detecting the unauthorized reception, use, or abuse of the Cheddar Service and to protect our subscribers from fraudulent, abusive, or unlawful use of, or subscription to, the Cheddar Service; 9) protecting our rights, our personnel, and our property; and 10) complying with applicable law.
b. To Communicate with You.We also use the Information we collect to deliver and personalize our communications with you. For example, we may use the information you provide us to inform you of Cheddar Service updates or in connection with other activities related to the Cheddar Service.
c. For Advertising and Marketing. We also use the Information we collect to send you promotional communications for the Cheddar Service and to enable the delivery of First Party Advertising and Third Party Advertising we think may be of interest to you. You may opt-out of some marketing communications from us as outlined in Section 6 below.
d. Use of De-identified Information. Our collection, use, and disclosure of De-identified Information is subject to our discretion and is not subject to any of the restrictions in this Privacy Policy.
4. WHEN AND WITH WHOM WE MAY SHARE INFORMATION. We only disclose PII as described in this Privacy Policy. We may share your Information with the following types of parties:
a. Authorized Parties With Your Consent. We may disclose PII about you to third parties with your consent. We may obtain your consent online or through other channels, for example, when you agree to terms of service relating to the Cheddar Service, or implicitly, for example, when you login to a Cheddar App, thereby consenting to our disclosure of your Information to the relevant Third Party Platform in order to provision the Cheddar Service.
b. Service Providers. We may share your PII with our Service Providers. For example, we may use third party analytics services to collect data about usage of our services. We also use a third party authentication service to ensure that individuals seeking to access Cheddar Content via Third Party Platforms are authorized to do so. Our Service Providers are authorized to use your PII only as necessary to provide these services on our behalf.
c. Altice Affiliated Businesses. We may share Information, including PII, with our employees, agents, and affiliates within the family of Altice companies, brands and businesses (including Optimum, Suddenlink, Service Electric, Broadband Cable, Optimum Mobile, News12, i24News and a4) in connection with the provision of the Cheddar Service or the products or services of these affiliates, or for First Party Advertising or Third Party Advertising purposes. We may also share Information, including PII, in the event of a merger, acquisition or sale or all, or components of, our business. When we do this, those employees, agents and affiliates will use and protect your Information in a manner that is consistent with this Privacy Policy.
d. Lawful Disclosures. You acknowledge and agree that we may disclose your PII if we are required to do so by law or if we have a good faith belief that such disclosure is reasonably necessary: 1) to comply with applicable law, a subpoena, court order or other legal process; 2) to investigate violations of this Privacy Policy, or other contracts we have with you; 3) to respond to claims that any content violates the rights of third parties; 4) to respond to your requests for customer service; and 5) to protect the rights, property, or personal safety of the public, Cheddar, Altice, their respective agents and subscribers, or the Cheddar Service. We may also disclose PII to law enforcement agencies in emergency circumstances, where the disclosure of such information is consistent with the types of emergency disclosures permitted or required by law.
e. Advertising Partners. We share the Platform Subscriber Usage and Device Information that we receive from certain Third Party Platforms (see Section 2.e) with our ad server and Supply Side Platform (SSP) partners for the delivery of Third Party Advertising to you on the Third Party Platforms.
5. THIRD PARTY DATA COLLECTION.
a. Third Party Platforms. When you use an application that runs on a Third Party Platform (e.g., iOS, Roku, Samsung, etc.), the provider of that Third Party Platform may collect PII and Usage and Device Information about you and your use of our Cheddar App. We refer you to privacy policies of these platforms for information on their privacy practices.
b. Links.We may provide links to third party websites and applications. Please be aware that the terms of this Privacy Policy do not apply to these outside websites or applications, or to any collection of your PII after you click on links to such outside websites. We have no control over such services and therefore refer you to their privacy policies for information on their respective privacy practices. The links to third party websites or locations are for your convenience and do not signify our endorsement of such third parties or their products, content or websites.
6. CHOICES YOU HAVE TO LIMIT USE AND SHARING OF INFORMATION.
a. Third Party Platforms. If you are Platform Subscriber who accesses Cheddar content via a Third Party Platform that provides us with Usage and Device Information for marketing and advertising purposes (see Section 2.e above) we encourage you to review the privacy policy for that platform and understand the choices provided to you with respect to the sharing of this information with Cheddar.
b. Emails.We may send you newsletters and other emails about new or upcoming Cheddar products, services, or offers. If you decide you no longer wish to receive these emails, you may opt-out as instructed in each email
c. Interest Based First Party Advertising. Some advertising that you see on the internet or in mobile applications on your devices are tailored to your interests and based on your activity online or in mobile applications. If you do not wish to receive interest based ads for Cheddar or Altice products and services on other websites or mobile applications, you may opt-out of most such advertising by going to the following websites operated by industry trade and self-regulatory organizations: http://networkadvertising.org/choices (operated by the Network Advertising Initiative) or http://www.aboutads.info (operated by the Digital Advertising Alliance).
Please note, your opt-out preferences may not take effect immediately and do not retroactively apply to existing advertising/promotional messages or campaigns.
7. HOW WE SECURE YOUR INFORMATION.We employ physical, electronic, administrative and procedural safeguards to protect your Information, including PII. Despite these measures, we do not guarantee the security of Information stored in our database or that unauthorized parties will not intercept Information you send or receive over the internet. As a shared resource, the internet subjects our services and you to the risk of unauthorized access to files and data, even when security measures are implemented.
8. YOUR CALIFORNIA PRIVACY RIGHTS. The California Consumer Protection Act (CCPA), Cal. Civ. Code §§ 1798.100-1798.199, requires that “Businesses” (as defined in the CCPA) provide CA Residents with information regarding the personal information collected, disclosed and sold about them. The CCPA definition of personal information (“CA Personal Information”) is broader than the definition of PII in Section 1.g above and includes Usage and Device Information, such as IP addresses, cookie IDs, and device IDs, to the extent such information is reasonably capable of being associated with or linked to a particular consumer or household. We consider ourselves to be a Business with respect to the CA Personal Information we collect from visitors who access the Cheddar Content via the Site or a Cheddar App.
The CCPA provides CA Residents the right to know about the CA Personal Information collected, disclosed or sold about them by us as a Business, the right to request that we delete the CA Personal Information we collect from them (subject to certain exceptions), the right to opt-out of our sale of their CA Personal Information, and the right not to receive discriminatory treatment by us for exercising any of these privacy rights.
a. Collection of CA Personal Information.Cal. Civ. Code § 1798.140(o) contains a list of categories of CA Personal Information. The table below lists the categories of CA Personal Information we have collected about Subscribers who are CA Residents in the preceding 12 months, the categories of sources of that information, the business or commercial purposes for which the information was collected, and the categories of third parties with whom it was shared.
Category of CA Personal InformationInformation Collected and Categories of SourcesBusiness or Commercial Purpose for CollectionCategories of Third Parties With Whom CA Personal Information Was SharedIdentifiers,Usage and Device Information collected when you use Service or visit Site (see §§ 2.b and 2.c)Provide,Service and Communicate with you (see §§ 3.a and 3.b),Advertising,and Marketing (see § 3.c)Service Providers (see § 4.b),Altice Affiliated Businesses (see § 4.c)Internet/Electronic Network Activity InformationUsage,and Device Information collected when you use Service or visit Site (see §§ 2.b,and 2.c)Provide Service and Communicate with you (see §§ 3.a and 3.b),Advertising and Marketing (see § 3.c)Service Providers (see §,4.b),Altice Affiliated Businesses (see § 4.c)
b. Disclosure and Sale of CA Personal Information. The CCPA distinguishes between the disclosure of CA Personal Information for business or commercial purposes (a “CA Disclosure”) and the “sale” of CA Personal Information (a “CA Sale”), which is broadly defined to include making such information available to a third party for monetary or other valuable consideration. For purposes of this policy, we consider our sharing of Usage and Device Information as indicated above to be a CA Disclosure for our operational business purposes. We do not sell CA Residents’ CA Personal Information and will not do so without proper notice and choice (e.g., opt-out rights) as required under the CCPA.
c. Right to Know and Deletion Requests.CA Residents have the right to request that we disclose the categories and/or specific information of CA Personal Information we have collected about them. For all Subscribers, the categories of information we collect, the categories of sources of that information, the business or commercial purposes for which the information was collected, and the categories of third parties with whom it was shared are described above. CA Residents also have the right to request that we delete the CA Personal Information we collected from them, subject to certain exceptions (such maintaining the information to continue to provide our services).
CA Residents may submit requests to know the specific pieces of CA Personal Information collected about them or to have their personal information deleted by emailing us at CCPA@cheddar.com or via the request forms available here (for right to know specific pieces of CA Personal Information collected) and here (for deletion). We will only be able to honor such requests for CA Residents whose identities we can verify.
For CA Residents, the CA Personal Information we collect as a Business is limited to Usage and Device Information we collect when you visit the Site (see Section 2.c). We do not have any reasonable way to verify the identity of a CA Resident making a right to know specific pieces of information or deletion request with respect to this information.
d. Platform Subscribers’ CA Personal Information,We consider the Third Party Platform to be the Business with respect to Platform Subscriber Usage and Device Information provided to us by Third Party Platforms for marketing and advertising purposes. This may be considered the CA Sale of this information to us by the Third Party Platform. CA Residents who stream Cheddar Content via one of the Third Party Platforms listed in Section 2.d above should review the privacy policy for that platform to understand the notice and opt-out choices it provides with respect to the sale of this information to Cheddar. We will not further sell this information unless the Third Party Platform provided notice and an opt-out right with respect to the sale of their CA Personal Information. We will act as a “Service Provider” (as defined in the CCPA) for the Third Party Platform with respect to the delivery of advertising to any CA Resident who opt-outs of the Third Party Platform’s sale of this information to Cheddar.
e. Authorized Agents.CA Residents may use an authorized agent to submit an opt out, right to know or delete request on their behalf provided that the CA Resident gives the authorized agent written permission to do so, the authorized agent submits verifiable proof of such written permission and their identity to us, and the CA Resident subsequently verifies to us that permission has been provided. CA Residents or their authorized agents can contact us at CCPA@cheddar.com for instructions and identity verification requirements for authorized agent requests.
f. Shine the Light Law (Cal. Civ. Code § 1798.83).A separate California law requires that we provide CA Residents with notice and choice with respect to the disclosure of their personal information to third parties for marketing purposes. We provide this notice and choice in Sections 4.e, 6.b and 6.c above. This satisfies our obligation to otherwise maintain or furnish users with a list of the names and addresses of third parties who receive Personal Information from us for marketing purposes.
g. CA Privacy Questions. If you are a CA Resident and have additional questions regarding our collection, use or sharing of your CA Personal Information, or your CCPA or Shine the Light law rights as described in this Section, you may send us your questions by email to the Privacy Administrator at privacy@cheddar.com . All requests should be labeled “Your California Privacy Rights” on the email subject line. For all requests, please clearly state that the request is related to “Your California Privacy Rights”.
9. USING OUR SERVICES OUTSIDE OF THE UNITED STATES.This Privacy Policy is intended to cover collection of information on or via our Cheddar Service from residents of the United States. If you are using our Cheddar Service from outside the United States, please be aware that your information may be transferred to, stored, and processed in the United States where our servers are located and our central database is operated. The data privacy and protection laws of the United States might not be as comprehensive as those in your country. By using our Cheddar Service, you understand that your information may be transferred to our facilities and those third parties with whom we share it as described in this Privacy Policy, and you consent to such transfer.
10. CHANGES TO THIS PRIVACY POLICY.We may change this Privacy Policy at any time. We will notify you of material changes by posting the revised Privacy Policy on the Site. We encourage you to periodically review the Privacy Policy to inform yourself of any changes. The revised Privacy Policy will be effective on the date it is posted unless the revised notice states otherwise. You understand and agree that, if you use the Cheddar Service after the effective date of the updated Privacy Policy, Cheddar will consider your use as acceptance of the updated Privacy Policy. If we make material changes that will result in a new use, disclosure, or permission of access to PII previously collected, we will obtain your appropriate consent before implementing such change as required by applicable law.
11. HOW TO CONTACT US.Please contact us if you have any questions about this Privacy Policy: Altice USA News, Inc. 1 Court Square, 45th Floor Long Island City, New York 11101 Attn: Legal Dept. support@Cheddar.com
Effective: July 23, 2021
