The city of Los Angeles is suing Time Warner Cable for allegedly cheating on its franchise fees to the city, according to a lawsuit filed Friday.

The city is seeking $9.7 million in payments after Time Warner Cable “blatantly refused to live up to its obligations to the city” said the suit, even as the company received $500 million a year from customers in the city for providing cable network services, the LA Times reports.

The suit claims that Time Warner Cable owed $2.5 million in franchise fees and public, education and governmental channel fees in 2008 and 2009, and $7.2 million in 2010 and 2011.

Time Warner Cable denied the allegations, calling them “without merit.”

The city charges cable companies franchise fees that amount to 5% of a cable operators’ revenues, instead of charging rent for the public right-of-way to install and maintain the company’s wires and cable boxes.

[LA Times]

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