TIME WARNER CABLE TO PAY $18.8M TO SETTLE CALIF. INTERNET CASE

Time Warner Cable will pay $18.8 million to settle a lawsuit that claimed it misled more than 170,000 California customers who paid for highspeed Internet service that they didn’t receive, prosecutors said Thursday.

Eligible customers will receive about $16.9 million in refunds in credits or free service, the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office said.

The district attorneys of Los Angeles, Riverside and San Diego counties accused Time Warner Cable of unfair business practices. Their lawsuit alleged that beginning in 2013, Time Warner Cable

used misleading advertising to lure customers into paying for higher-end Internet service.

“Some customers were issued outdated modems, making it impossible for them to receive the higher bandwidth they purchased. Others paid for higher Internet speeds that Time Warner’s infrastructure could not deliver,” Los Angeles County prosecutors said in a statement.

Internet customers who couldn’t get the service they paid for will receive a onetime credit within 60 days, authorities said. Customers who received outdated modems will get a $90 credit, while those who received the modem and also paid for higher Internet speeds will get a $180 credit, the statement said.

In addition, Time Warner Cable will offer all California Internet customers a choice of two free services. Those who also subscribe to cable TV will be offered three free months of Showtime unless they already subscribe to the channel. Internet-only customers will be offered one free month of an entertainment streaming package called Spectrum Choice.

A Los Angeles Superior Court judge approved the deal on Feb. 14.

Charter Communications, also known as Charter Spectrum, bought Time Warner Cable in 2016.

Under the settlement, Charter agreed to a ban on advertising Internet speeds “it knows or should know it cannot consistently deliver during peak hours,” according to the Los Angeles district attorney’s statement.

Charter Communications settled a similar lawsuit with the New York state attorney general in December 2018 for $174.2 million. It included $62.5 million in refunds to some 700,000 customers. That lawsuit alleged the company delivered Internet speeds that were up to 80 percent slower than advertised.