charter

Charter is first major cable company to apply for California broadband subsidies, but on its own terms

3 May 2019 by Steve Blum
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Silver wheel ranch

Four more broadband infrastructure grant proposals, filed by Charter Communications, surfaced yesterday. That brings the number of pending applications for California Advanced Services Fund (CASF) construction subsidies to 13, which total out to $27.6 million. Cruzio and Frontier Communications also submitted applications on Wednesday, and the Plumas-Sierra Rural Electric Cooperative filed last Saturday.

Charter is asking for $1.7 million to build out to the 467 homes in the four project areas. Per household costs range from a $1,500 to $14,000.… More

CPUC orders Charter to prove its broadband upgrade claims

3 April 2019 by Steve Blum
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Charter Communications was given ten days to deliver granular broadband deployment data to the California Public Utilities Commission yesterday. Administrative law judge Karl Bemesderfer granted a motion by the CPUC’s public advocate office (PAO) to force Charter to hand over information to support its claim that it is meeting the conditions imposed by the commission when its purchase of Time Warner and Bright House cable systems in California was approved in 2016.

Among other things, the commission required Charter to upgrade all of its Californian systems – new and old – to 300 Mbps download capability by the end of this year.… More

Charter’s vague compliance claims should be publicly verified by CPUC

29 January 2019 by Steve Blum
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Charter Communications claims it’s providing near-gigabit level broadband service in virtually all of its Californian territory. Well, some of its Californian territory: in a filing with the California Public Utilities Commission, in opposition to a formal vetting of its claims that it is complying with service upgrade conditions imposed by the CPUC when it received approval to buy Time Warner cable systems, Charter says “it is already making service available at 940 Mbps to over 99% of the relevant households passed as of the end of year 2018”.… More

Charter’s credibility and rural upgrade claims challenged by California regulators

24 December 2018 by Steve Blum
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Charter Communications is facing another inquiry into whether or not it’s telling the truth about obligations it accepted when it bought cable systems owned by Time Warner and Bright House Communications in 2016. The California Public Utilities Commission was asked on Friday by its in-house watch dog – the public advocates office (PAO) – to re-open the case.

The PAO says that there’s reason to think that Charter is fiddling the books when it claims to be meeting broadband system upgrade requirements that were attached to the CPUC’s approval of the purchase.… More

CPUC should follow New York’s lead, hold Charter to obligations

17 August 2018 by Steve Blum
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The California Public Utilities Commission imposed a long list of obligations on Charter Communications, when it granted permission for the purchase of Californian cable systems belonging to Time Warner and Bright House in 2016. Some of those requirements mirror the conditions that the New York Public Services Commission attached to its approval of the deal.

Unlike the NYPSC, however, the CPUC has not demanded public accountability from Charter. New York regulators nipped at Charter’s heels since the acquisition closed, and then revoked permission and ordered Charter to reverse the sale and give up its New York markets because “the company was not interested in being a good corporate citizen”.… More

New York says Charter is “just lining its pockets”, revokes Time Warner purchase

13 August 2018 by Steve Blum
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The New York state public service commission started the process of unwinding Charter Communications’ purchase of Time Warner Cable systems, in a decision issued on 27 July 2018. The NYPSC says Charter is evading its responsibility to extend its infrastructure and upgrade its service, particularly in rural areas. Those obligations were imposed when the NYPSC gave its blessing to the acquisition.

According to the NYPSC, Charter’s sins include…

  • The company’s repeated failures to meet deadlines;
  • Charter’s attempts to skirt obligations to serve rural communities;
  • Unsafe practices in the field;
  • Its failure to fully commit to its obligations under the 2016 merger agreement; and
  • The company’s purposeful obfuscation of its performance and compliance obligations to the Commission and its customers.
… More

Consumers say they’re paying too much for poor Internet service

4 August 2018 by Steve Blum
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Big Internet service providers hit all time low in customer satisfaction ratings, according to the latest American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI) telecommunications company rankings. The survey ranks telecoms companies and service offerings on a 100-point scale. ISPs dropped from an overall industry average of 64 out of 100 in 2017 to 62 this year, and overall the broadband industry is making people very unhappy.

According to ACSI, it’s a case of the bad just getting worse…

Internet service providers (ISPs) are down 3.1% to 62—an all-time low for the industry that along with subscription TV already had the poorest customer satisfaction among all industries tracked by the ACSI.

… More

Cable, telcos hit rock bottom in consumer satisfaction rankings

28 July 2018 by Steve Blum
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The broadband industry is pissing off its customers. According to the latest American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI) telecommunications company rankings, the consumer businesses at the very bottom of the list are subscription television service (a rating of 62 out of 100), Internet service (also 62), video-on-demand service (68) and fixed line telephone service (70).

In other words, the misery caused by your local telco is only exceeded by the pain inflicted by your cable company.… More

Charter’s franchise “should be revoked”, New York state says

6 May 2018 by Steve Blum
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Charter Communications is one step closer to losing its license to operate in New York City, if not New York state as a whole. Earlier this year, the state of New York’s Public Service Commission – its equivalent to the California Public Utilities Commission – slapped a $1 million fine on Charter and said it would “investigate Charter’s compliance with its New York City franchise agreements”.

That investigation seems to have led to legal action.… More

Charter's numbers don't add up, so New York adds a $1 million fine

27 March 2018 by Steve Blum
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Charter Communications is playing numbers games with its build out obligations and the State of New York’s Public Service Commission is blowing the whistle. Not just stopping the game, but also assessing a $1 million penalty.

As in California, conditions were attached to New York’s approval of Charter’s purchase of Time Warner Cable. Those obligations include “the extension of Charter’s network to pass an additional 145,000 homes and businesses across the State”. Charter has four years to complete that build out and must steadily complete 25% of the job each year.… More