Charter, New York reach $174.2M deal over internet quality

Spectrum didn’t provide customers the reliable, fast service it had promised

Charter Communications Inc. will pay more than $174 million (U.S.) as part of a settlement following a probe by the New York state attorney general into the quality of service provided to customers.

The settlement with Charter, which is the state’s largest internet service provider, will include $62.5 million in refunds to current subscribers, New York Attorney General Barbara Underwood’s office said in a press release Tuesday. Ms. Underwood said her office believes Charter’s direct payment to consumers is the biggest of its kind from an internet-service firm in the country’s history. Charter’s Spectrum service, formerly known as Time Warner Cable, didn’t give customers the reliable and fast internet service it had promised, the New York attorney general’s office said.

The New York attorney gen- eral’s office in 2015, then led by Eric Schneiderman, opened an investigation into how Time Warner Cable advertised its internet speeds and other internet products. The office then filed a complaint against Charter in 2017.

More than 700,000 current subscribers will receive payments between $75 and $150 and about 2.2 million current subscribers will get certain streaming services and premium channels for free as part of the settlement. Customers receiving a $75 refund include those who were leased insufficient modems or Wifi routers. About 150,000 customers will be eligible for double that refund if they had an insufficient modem for at least two years.

The company is going to tell subscribers if they will be able to receive refunds and give them out within 120 days, the New York attorney general’s office said. Charter will also have to make changes to its business and marketing as part of the settlement, the attorney general’s office said. That includes testing its internet speeds. “We are pleased to have reached a settlement with the Attorney General on the issue of certain Time Warner Cable advertising practices in New York prior to our merger, and to have put this litigation behind us,” Charter said in an emailed statement.

Charter closed its acquisition of Time Warner Cable in 2016.