NEW YORK —Altice USA has sent a letter to the Federal Communications Commission complaining about Nexstar’s handling of retransmission consent negotiations, which recently led to a blackout of 63 Nexstar stations in 42 of the cable operator’s Optimum markets.

Nexstar’s WPIX in New York and NewsNation are among the TV properties that can no longer be seen on cable systems owned by Altice, in the latest carriage dispute to erupt in the industry. Nexstar said Friday that 63 of its local TV stations had gone dark in 42 markets around the U.

Two million subscribers of Optimum pay-TV systems are going without Nexstar Media Group local stations and cable network NewsNation due to a carriage dispute.

WPIX/11 went dark in Optimum cable homes late Friday, when its parent company Altice pulled the station's signal from New York-area cable systems. Dozens of other stations owned by Ch. 11 parent Nexstar were also dropped by Altice, affecting some 4.6 million subscribers in 21 states.

IRVING, Texas— Following failed negotiations for a new retransmission consent agreement, 63 local TV stations in 42 markets owned by Nexstar were blacked out on Altice USA’s Optimum branded cable systems around the country. The blackout began at 5 p.m. January 10 and also included Nexstar’s national cable news network, NewsNation