Yes. The previous 8 cables were high speed HDMI 1.3, and the new ones HDMI 1.4. Wikipedia says "High Speed HDMI 1.3 cables can support all HDMI 1.4 features except for the HDMI Ethernet Channel". To my knowledge, the receiver doesn't support that particular feature and neither does the Optimum STB.

In any cases, whatever caused this issue, I agree with the body of the article that not all HDMI cables are the same. The headline does a disservice.