Commission calls for investigation of Spectrum parent
The New York Public Service Commission is asking the state Attorney General’s Office to investigate the parent company of cable TV and internet provider Spectrum over failing to meet goals and misstating some accomplishments in a statewide build-out of new communications infrastructure.
The commission’s request for a probe of Charter Communications comes in the wake of Charter being fined $2 million for falling short of goals in its effort to add 145,000 addresses to areas of broadband service availability by May 2020.
“Charter has ... continued to make the false claim in advertisements and other public statements that it is exceeding its obligations to New York state,” the Public Service Commission said in a press release. “... The commission has previously directed Charter to cease its misleading campaign and has referred the matter to the New York attorney general for appropriate action.
“Charter’s claims are simply false, and the commission will not stand idly by while Charter deceives the public and its shareholders,” the statement continues. “Charter’s own data shows a gaping hole between its commitments and its performance. New York will not tolerate Charter’s gaslighting its own customers into believing it is meeting its promises.”
Spectrum provides cable TV, internet and phone service to a wide swath of the Mid-Hudson Valley. Charter attorney Ekin Senlet declined to comment when contacted by the Freeman.
The commission’s January 2016 approval of Charter and Time Warner (now Spectrum) merging was contingent on the new company bringing broadband internet service to 36,250 new addresses per year for four years.
Since then, there have been ongoing disputes about how many new accounts have been opened. In one of the first reports on progress of the buildout, in 2017, the commission found 6,850 addresses were improperly added from an area that actually was covered by a different agreement.
“The inclusion of these addresses violates both the letter and the spirit of the commission’s order approving Charter’s acquisition of Time Warner Cable,” commission officials wrote at the time.
As recently as March 2018, the commission still was disputing Charter’s filings, telling the company that 14,522 addresses in a Jan. 8 report were “disqualified” from a report that 42,889 premises had begun service. That report included a claim that Ulster County had about 800 new service locations in the towns of Rochester, Ulster and Wawarsing, though information was not available about whether any of those addresses were disqualified by the commission.
This past June, the commission said that of the claimed new service locations, there were 3,044 addresses in “upstate New York cities that are presumed to have Charter network already available” and another 6,612 addresses that, under and agreement, were not to be included in the build-out.
Missed targets for the build-out have resulted in two $1 million fines, which were taken out of a $12 million letter of credit submitted by Charter to cover commission fees, costs and fines.
Charter appears to be making an effort to with-
hold from the public any information about where service is lagging. It has made only redacted information about service available to the public.
Charter’s justification for this has been it doesn’t want to allow competitors to take away potential customers, even though the Public Service Commission has allowed Charter to be the only company that provides service in designated area.
“Access to this data would enable incumbent providers to better prevent competitive entry, as it would inform them of areas where TWC (Time Warner Cable) and Charter are actively looking to expand their footprint,” Charter officials wrote. “Conversely, armed with that cost and effort free information, new competitors could avoid building their own networks in all but the most lucrative and low-risk markets, reducing consumer choice for communications services.”