Service regulations

Little is known about negotiations to settle dispute with state PSC

Group calls for more transparency in talks between Charter, state.

An upstate consumer-rights group that advocates for expanded affordable high-speed Internet service is urging the state Public Service Commission to make public more details about its ongoing negotiations with Charter Communications over the future of its Spectrum cable TV and internet service.

“We remain concerned that these ongoing negotiations have remained secret for over half a year, with little ability for public interest groups, consumers, and others to provide informed input in those discussions or track their progress,” Phillip Dampier, president of the consumer watchdog group Stop the Cap, wrote in the letter filed on Tuesday with the PSC.

The PSC voted to revoke Charter’s license to operate in New York state back in July after a months-long dispute over Charter’s failure to extend highspeed internet service to 145,000 new addresses. The $300 million project was a key condition of the PSC’S approval of Charter’s 2016 acquisition of Time Warner Cable.

Charter was given just 60 days to file an exit plan with the PSC that would detail how it would sell off its operations to another provider without any service interruptions.

But virtually since the vote, staff at the PSC and Charter have been involved in settlement talks that would allow Charter

to remain in the state. PSC Chair John Rhodes has granted Charter several extensions, pushing back its deadline to file an exit plan with the PSC so that the two sides can keep talking.

But Dampier’s group, which is based out of Rochester and provided the PSC with input on its approval of the Charter-time Warner Cable deal, says the public had grown increasingly frustrated over the secrecy and length of the talks. Dozens of complaints over the extensions have been filed with the PSC this month by members of the public.

“We believe it is long past time for the commission to publicly disclose the nature of the ongoing negotiations, specific details about the progress that has been made, and the ultimate goal of these discussions,” Dampier wrote. “The commission’s July 2018 revocation order provoked shock headlines in the media across the state, and consumers have the expectation Charter will be leaving the state. If that ultimately does not happen, the commission should be prepared to explain why.”

Back on Feb. 4, Rhodes revealed in another extension approval that the two sides were just two weeks from a preliminary settlement document and a month away from a “full written agreement’ that would avert the sale of Spectrum. Rhodes said in

Dampier’s group, which is based out of Rochester and provided the PSC with input on its approval of the Charter-time Warner Cable deal, says the public had grown increasingly frustrated over the secrecy and length of the talks. Dozens of complaints over the extensions have been filed with the PSC this month by members of the public.

the document that the agreement would not only cover Charter’s expansion plan but would also include an additional agreement on a “penalty and/or funding” to expand its network beyond the 145,000 addresses required under the 2016 deal.

“The commission and its staff have informed the public about the ongoing negotiations with Charter every step of the way, within the bounds of the law,” PSC spokesman James Denn said Wednesday. “In its last order extending the negotiation deadlines, the commission said any settlement must include an expansion of broadband access beyond what was initially required and a schedule to complete the remaining buildout. At the end of the day, the commission will hold Charter accountable for failing to live up to its commitments to New Yorkers, be it in a settlement agreement or a court room.”

Charter declined to comment. ▶ lrulison@timesunion.com 518454-5504 @larryrulison