Latest from Next TV in Settlement

Charter Doles Out Credits as Part of NY AG Settlement

Mike Farrell — Tue, 19 Mar 2019 21:32:47 +0000

Charter Communications began parsing out $62.5 million in refunds to its customers in New York state on Tuesday, part of a $174.2 million settlement it reached with the New York State Attorney General last year.

Charter agreed to the settlement in December, a record for a consumer internet business, in connection to a suit brought by the state claiming it defrauded customers by delivering less than advertised internet speeds.

Affected consumers throughout the state began receiving credits on their March bills of between $75 and $150, depending on what broadband equipment they were using.

According to the AG’s office, current Charter broadband subscribers that leased a DOCSIS 2.0 modem with 20 Megabits per second service or higher or an 802.11n wireless router on a tier of 200 Mbps or higher, or who subscribed to a legacy Time Warner Cable plan of 100 Mbps or higher (as of Feb. 1, 2017) will receive a credit of $75. Subscribers who leased a DOCSIS 2.0 modem on a tier of 20 Mbps or higher for 24 months or more will receive an additional credit.

Internet only subscribers will receive one month of Charter’s Spectrum TV Choice streaming service, where they can (depending on their location) get access to broadcast TV, a choice of 10 pay TV networks and Showtime for one month.

Customers who subscribe to both Charter internet and video service have the choice of receiving either HBO free for three months or Showtime free for six months. Consumers have until May 30 to select the no extra charge premium services they want.

The settlement was made by former AG Barbara Underwood, who called the deal at the time “a wake-up call” to businesses serving New York customers to either live up to their promises or face the consequences.

Current state Attorney General Letitia James said in a press release that consumers started receiving their payments on Tuesday, March 19.

“Today, New Yorkers will start to receive the tens of millions of dollars and additional services owed to them due to the company’s failure to provide quality services to its customers,” James said in the release. “In issuing the largest-ever consumer payout by an internet service provider, my office is proud to set a higher standard for the way that internet providers accurately market services.”

Charter to Fork Over $174.2M in New York AG Settlement

Mike Farrell — Tue, 18 Dec 2018 15:59:57 +0000

Charter Communications has agreed to a $174.2 million settlement with New York state in connection with a suit that alleged the cable company defrauded consumers by delivering slower than advertised internet speeds.

The suit, filed in 2017, dated back to Charter’s predecessor in New York -- Time Warner Cable -- and claimed both companies delivered deficient cable modems that could not provide as-advertised internet speeds. In some cases, according to the original suit, customers’ premium data speeds were as much as 70% slower than advertised and WiFi speeds were up to 80% slower than promised.

The New York Daily News first broke the story Tuesday.

The settlement includes $62.5 million in direct refunds to customers, a figure the AG’s office believes is the largest-ever payout to consumers by an internet service provider in U.S. history.

“This settlement should serve as a wakeup call to any company serving New York consumers: fulfill your promises, or pay the price,” said New York Attorney General Barbara Underwood in a statement. “Not only is this the largest-ever consumer payout by an internet service provider, returning tens of millions of dollars to New Yorkers who were ripped off and providing additional streaming and premium channels as restitution – but it also sets a new standard for how internet providers should fairly market their services.”

News of the settlement comes just days after the New York Public Service Commission extended the deadline for Charter to submit a six-month plan for its exit from the state. The company and the PSC continue to negotiate to keep the cable operator in New York.

In a statement, Charter stressed that the actions were made by its predecessor company -- it purchased Time Warner Cable in 2016 -- and that it has made several enhancements to service in New York since closing that deal, including increasing minimum data speeds to 100 Mbps, offering 1-Gigabit service throughout the state as well as a low-cost broadband offering -- Internet Assist - to lower income consumers in the state.

“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 has made, and continues to make, substantial investments enhancing internet service across the state of New York since our 2016 merger, as acknowledged by the Attorney General in this settlement. We look forward to continue providing the best TV, Internet, Voice and Mobile products to our customers, and to bringing broadband to more homes and businesses across the state.”

According to the most recent settlement, about 700,000 active Charter subscribers in New York will each receive refunds of between $75 and $150 each. About 2.2 million active customers will receive streaming services and premium channels, valued at about $100 million, at no charge.

Charter will notify subscribers of their eligibility for refunds and disburse them within 120 days.

Additionally, under the settlement, Charter is required to implement a series of marketing and business reforms, including the requirement to describe internet speeds as “wired” and to substantiate them through regular speed testing.

GCI Settles 911 Outage Investigation for $2.4 million

john.eggerton@futurenet.com (John Eggerton) — Wed, 06 Jul 2016 16:52:00 +0000

The FCC's Enforcement Bureau has settled a wireless 911 outage complaint against Alaska telecom and cable company General Communications Inc. (GCI) for $2.4 million.

In addition to the monetary forfeiture, GCI agreed to "strengthen its procedures" for delivering 911 service and to adopt a "robust" compliance regime.

At issue were service outages between 2008 and April of this year. The FCC concluded that all the outages, which affected 911 service, could have been prevented or minimized if GCI had had the "appropriate" safeguards.

The FCC also said GCI did not file timely outage reports with the FCC in four of the five outages.

Related:CenturyLink to Pay Record FCC 911 Outage Fine

FCC Has Collect Call for Phone Companies

john.eggerton@futurenet.com (John Eggerton) — Mon, 26 Jan 2015 21:15:00 +0000

Phone companies were on the hook for millions of dollars Monday as the Federal Communications Commission signaled Verizon had agreed to pay $5 million to settle an agency inquiry into the telco's alleged failure to investigate rural call completion issues, and that the agency is fining Advanced Tel Inc. almost $1.6 million for failing to pay Universal Service Fund fees.

“All phone companies are required to participate in universal access programs so that consumers everywhere have access to critical telecommunications services,” said Travis LeBlanc, Enforcement Bureau chief, of the Advanced Tel fine. “Service providers who flagrantly avoid these responsibilities damage these programs and the public interest, and we demonstrate today that we will hold them accountable.”

Of the Verizon settlement, LeBlanc said: “All Americans, no matter where they are located, have a right to make and receive phone calls. Phone companies are on notice that the FCC will hold them accountable for failures to investigate and ensure that calls go through to the rural heartland of the country.”

LeBlanc has made it clear that under his watch the Enforcement Bureau would be an active arm of the FCC.

Verizon is paying $2 million to the U.S. Treasury and will spend $3 million over the next three years to "address the problem of rural call completion."

"Although the Bureau had significant concerns with Verizon’s failure to investigate," the FCC said in a statement, "it is encouraged by Verizon’s commitment of significant resources over the next three years toward addressing rural call completion and encourages participation by other industry players and the academic community in the workshops and other broader efforts that are required under the consent decree."

Verizon has agreed to do the following:

• "Pay a fine of $2 million to the U.S. Treasury;

• "Commit an additional $3 million over the next three years to address the problem of rural call completion on a company- and industry-wide basis;

• "Appoint a Rural Call Completion Ombudsman within Verizon to centralize analysis of rural call completion problems;

• "Develop a system to automatically identify customer complaints that may be related to rural call completion issues;

• "Limit its use of intermediate providers, i.e., telecommunications providers between the Verizon network and the local rural provider, that are often the source of call completion problems;

• "Monitor its call answer rates to individual rural areas and conduct an investigation when rates to an area fall below a set threshold in any month;

• "Host industry workshops and sponsor an academic study on methods to detect and resolve rural call completion problems;

• "Provide quarterly summaries of its investigations to the FCC and meet periodically with Commission staff to identify lessons learned; and

• "Prepare a report to be publicly filed with the Commission at the end of the three-year compliance period."

FTC Sees Red Over Green Coffee TV Pitches

john.eggerton@futurenet.com (John Eggerton) — Mon, 26 Jan 2015 19:30:00 +0000

Companies controlled by Lindsey Duncan that marketed green coffee bean supplements as weight loss products on The Dr. Oz Show, The View and other TV programs has agreed to pay $9 million in consumer redress and stop making deceptive health claims about the products.

That is according to the Federal Trade Commission, which announced the settlement Monday.

“Lindsey Duncan and his companies made millions by falsely claiming that green coffee bean supplements cause significant and rapid weight loss,” said Jessica Rich, director of the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection, in a statement. “This case shows that the Federal Trade Commission will continue to fight deceptive marketers’ attempts to prey on consumers trying to improve their health.”