Rep. Anthony Brindisi says he wants to know if Spectrum cable violated a consumer fraud settlement with New York with its move to block some customers from receiving the new ACC Network.

Brindisi, D-Utica, reacted to a report by Syracuse.com | The Post-Standard that found Spectrum won’t provide legacy Time Warner Cable customers with the ACC Network unless they switch to a Spectrum cable package.

The move affects about 18 percent of Spectrum customers in Central New York who are still on old Time Warner Cable pricing plans that typically cost less than comparable Spectrum bundles.

Brindisi said in an interview that it’s clear to him the company is trying to take advantage of consumers who want to watch Syracuse University and ACC sports events.

“All Central New Yorkers want to do is see Orange, however, as usual the only color Spectrum sees is green,” Brindisi said. “It’s another example of Spectrum fleecing the customers of Upstate New York and trying to squeeze every penny out of them.”

Brindisi said he will ask Spectrum and parent company Charter Communications to provide a justification for excluding legacy customers of Time Warner Cable from the new network.

“I want an explanation as to why they’re doing this and if they think it’s consistent with their settlement with New York state,” Brindisi said.

Charter Communications said the settlement with the state and a recent agreement with the Public Service Commission involved internet speeds and broadband, not cable TV service.

But a spokesman defended the decision to withhold free access to the ACC Network, and said most Time Warner legacy customers will receive more for their money by switching to a Spectrum package.

"We believe those customers who still have legacy packages will find Spectrum packages deliver a better value – including lower equipment costs and no modem fees,” said Andrew Russell, Charter’s director for communications in the Northeast.

Charter acquired Time Warner Cable in 2016 for nearly $60 billion, making it the largest cable operator in New York state and second-largest in the nation.

The state charged the company with consumer fraud for not offering internet speeds as advertised after the merger. Spectrum agreed in December to a settlement that included refunds of up to $150 per household for nearly 900,000 customers in New York.

In a letter Tuesday to the New York Public Service Commission, Brindisi requested an investigation into what he called “a new rate increase” from Spectrum and Charter Communications.

He asked PSC Chairman John B. Rhodes to consider whether the price increase for the ACC Network broke the terms of Charter’s January 2016 agreement to acquire Time Warner Cable.

The PSC renegotiated terms of its agreement with Charter this summer after finding that the company failed to adequately expand its high-speed internet service to unserved and underserved parts of New York.

Brindisi, a first-term congressman, has been critical of Spectrum since he served in the state Assembly.

During his 2018 campaign for Congress, Brindisi criticized the company for poor service and increasing fees. He paid for a cable TV campaign ad that blasted the company. Spectrum initially declined to air the commercial.

After winning the 2018 election, Brindisi pushed for greater transparency from cable and internet providers by introducing the Transparency for Cable Consumers Act in the House.

The bill would require cable companies that have been fined by states to disclose more information about their costs and operations to the federal government.

“There’s no transparency around these companies, and customers deserve to know their billing practices and what their internet speeds are,” Brindisi said. “I think if they have been fined by a state, they should have a higher level of oversight at the federal level.”

The legislation has been stuck in the House Energy and Commerce Committee. The bill has one co-sponsor, Rep. Jeff Van Drew, D-N.J.

Brindisi said he has heard consistent complaints about Spectrum service problems and fees at 10 town hall meetings across the 22nd Congressional District. The eight-county district stretches from Lake Ontario to the Pennsylvania border.

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