NY State Says Charter Lied About Meeting Merger Conditions Charter has already been fined $13 million for failing to complete some fairly modest broadband deployment conditions attached to the company's $79 billion acquisition of Time Warner Cable and Bright House Networks. Now Charter's facing additional scrutiny after regulators discovered the company hasn't been entirely truthful about which service addresses were upgraded by the company as required by its agreement with New York State.

A recent New York State Public Service Commission statement (pdf) said the Commission is seeking a possible revocation of Charter Communication’s NYC franchise agreement and a $1 million fine for failing to meet its network buildout obligations agreed to as part of its 2016 merger with Time Warner Cable. The PSC effectively accused Charter of lying to regulators in the company's most recent milestone report, when it asserted it had expanded service to 12,467 addresses in New York City. But when the PSC examined the 490 service addresses Charter claimed to have given service for the first time, they found numerous instances where customers at these locations were already served by Charter. “In a more egregious example, Charter also listed the Reuters Building as countable toward the December 2017 target in Charter’s January 2018 filing, which has a listed address of 3 Times Square,” the PSC wrote. “Staff could not find any photos of the building prior to 2014 beside aerial views, but construction was completed in 2001, well before the effective date of the current franchise agreements." In other words, the PSC is accusing Charter of lying about deployments to pretend that it had met merger conditions. And the PSC says it's contemplating either a major fine or revoking Charter's New York City franchise agreement entirely (something history suggests would never actually happen). "It is critically important that regulated companies strictly adhere to the state’s rules and regulations,” said Commission chair John B. Rhodes. “If a regulated entity like Charter’s cable business decides to violate or ignore the rules, we will take swift action and hold them accountable to the full extent of the law.” That said, state regulators definition of "swift" may not match the dictionary's version. While Charter had asked the NY PSC for 45 days to respond to allegations it misled state regulators, the PSC has told the company it has until May 9 (a 30 day extension) to explain itself. Charter claimed its $79 billion acquisition of Time Warner Cable and Bright House Networks would result in amazing "synergies" for consumers. Instead, most acquired customers received a rate hike and even theatrical in nature. Charter claimed its $79 billion acquisition of Time Warner Cable and Bright House Networks would result in amazing "synergies" for consumers. Instead, most acquired customers received a rate hike and even worse customer service than they'd already grown accustomed to under their previous ISPs. These additional broadband deployments were supposed to counter any potential problems the deal created, and even those appear to be somewhat...in nature.







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Most recommended from 44 comments

fredbisard

join:2018-02-15

united state 20 recommendations fredbisard Member imagine that just imagine that. some big cable isp lying about something like this. who would've thought that was possible?

SuperSpy

join:2012-06-15

Coldwater, MI 1 edit 12 recommendations SuperSpy Member This happens everywhere 10 bux says if they looked at any other ISP with the same scrutiny as they are currently looking at Charter, they would find the same shit going on.



Good on the NY PSC for holding Charter's feet to the fire, but they need to look into other ISPs as well.

Tomek

Premium Member

join:2002-01-30

Valley Stream, NY 6 recommendations Tomek Premium Member Calculated Fee I am pretty sure bean counters at Charter calculated cost of penalty and company still came up significantly on top.

Wouldn't be surprised if there is collusion between regulator and corporation, as fine will be paid and commitments still won't be met

brentos

join:2007-07-19

Monroe, NY 5 recommendations brentos Member C'Mon NY! Hold Charter accountable NY! If you don't then what is the point of regulation? Although I doubt this will happen because you never enforced the Verizon FIOS agreements.

Hall

MVM

join:2000-04-28

Germantown, OH 5 recommendations Hall MVM Franchise agreement ? I've seen this repeated in these stories multiple times, "...the Commission is seeking a possible revocation of Charter Communication’s NYC franchise agreement" but what does it really mean ?

hurfy

Premium Member

join:2002-08-06

Spokane, WA 4 recommendations hurfy Premium Member ROFL... a rounding error .02% of the deal value that'll teach em for sure :O



For Pete's sake...my business tax is .04%.... call me somewhat less than impressed!



That doesn't even register as a cost of doing business at that level.