Fox Networks Group has become the latest to challenge the nation’s No. 2 cable company over its carriage fees. The division that includes FX Networks, National Geographic, Fox Sports and 19 regional sports networks fired a shot across the bow Thursday night, warning it could cut off access to Charter’s 16 million Spectrum subscribers as early as Saturday.
For many New Yorkers, the cable news channel NY1 has been a steady, scrappy and sometimes quirky companion for a quarter century with its no-nonsense coverage of exclusively local news and issues, 24 hours a day. But change landed hard on NY1 and its viewers this week, in the form of layoffs for about a dozen employees, part of a shift in direction that employees said has been underway since Charter took over in May 2016.
Charter Communications and Univision are pushing pause on any potential station blackouts until a judge rules on motions for summary judgment in the ongoing retrans lawsuit between the cable provider and the network.
Dodgers’ TV Blackout Enters Fourth Season
For the fourth consecutive year, the Dodgers’ television broadcasts could go unseen by a majority of fans in the Los Angeles area. Charter Communications said Monday it does not anticipate reaching agreements with DirecTV or any other cable or satellite provider to carry the Dodgers-owned SportsNet LA channel by the time the regular season starts April 3.
Cable MSO Charter Communications has added a $4.47 “local broadcast TV surcharge” line item to customer bills beginning this month.
Exclusives
A judge temporarily assigned to the Univision-Charter Communications retrans case said Thursday that she will issue an order that Univision’s networks and stations had to be restored on Charter Spectrum for seven days, expiring on Feb. 9, when the judge permanently assigned to the litigation is back in court. For those seven days that it is carrying Univision, Charter will be required to post a bond covering the actual market value of Univision’s programming, rather than the rates that Charter had been paying under its recently expired retrans contract. Univision said it “remains ready and willing to meet at any time with Charter Spectrum to engage in comprehensive, good-faith negotiations for the long-term carriage of our stations and networks.”
Univision Communications’ tense standoff over carriage fees paid by cable operator Charter Communications shifted into high gear late Tuesday when several million homes in the U.S. with Charter-Spectrum service abruptly lost access to Univision’s popular Spanish-language television channels.
Univision’s long-running battle over carriage terms with Charter Communications is about to affect the No. 2 cable company’s customers, the Spanish language broadcaster is preparing to warn subscribers.
Rumors are swirling around about a merger between the communications giant and the cable provider.
Charter has sent a memo to employees that says it has reached a new carriage agreement with NBCUniversal. No official announcement yet.
Programming will go uninterrupted for NBCUniversal programming, including Telemundo, Bravo, E!, Syfy, USA, MSNBC, CNBC and Oxygen.
NBCUniversal and Charter Communications are in a carriage-negotiation standoff that could see millions of customers lose access to NBCU-owned channels beginning Jan. 1. With both parties at an impasse, Comcast-owned NBCU has prepped a marketing campaign designed to appeal to Charter customers to pressure the cable provider into taking a more flexible negotiating stance.
Once charged by the NAB with throwing the communications equivalent of molotov cocktails at the cable industry, Robert Kenny has switched sides for a new regulatory communications role at Charter Communications. Former TV Freedom flamethrower Kenny has been hired by Charter, along with former Fox government affairs executive Maureen O’Connell, to work on and in Washington on behalf of the MSO.
A federal judge on Monday rejected a bid by Charter Communications to toss out a $10 billion racial discrimination lawsuit filed by Byron Allen’s Entertainment Studios and the National Association of African-American Owned Media for “racial discrimination in contracting for television channel carriage.”
Charter Communications CEO Tom Rutledge is unimpressed with all of the hoopla surrounding planned virtual pay TV services — including ones planned from Hulu and AT&T’s DirecTV Now that promise to offer superior value vs. cable.
Ex-WGGB Owner Sues Charter For Fraud
John Gormally, the former owner of ABC affiliate WGGB Springfield-Holyoke, Mass., got out of the television industry two years ago, is suing Charter Communications for allegedly underpaying him for retransmitting his broadcasts in 2013, according to a legal complaint being heard in U.S. District Court in Springfield.
John Bickham, COO of Charter Communications, was appointed the company’s new president today. Bickham joined Charter in 2012 and will now serve a dual role as president and COO of Charter, the second largest cable operator in the U.S.
It accuses the cable operator of using its recent merger with Time Warner Cable to force Univision to accept lower rates.
As expected, the FCC on Thursday approved — with conditions — Charter Communications’ purchase of Time Warner Cable for $55.1 billion. The commission said an order detailing its reasoning and the conditions will be issued in the coming days.
It took a week, but Comcast has response to the FCC about the Byron Allen’s Entertainment Studios calling for a probe of the conglomerate’s minority programming efforts. “This is not the first time (or second, or third) that Petitioners have accused a programming distributor of instituting racist practices,” Comcast wrote in opposing Allen’s filing
Time Warner began offering HBO’s streaming video service last year, letting consumers watch Game of Thrones or comedian John Oliver over the Internet without a cable subscription. Now the entertainment programmer wants to make sure online video competition isn’t squelched if its former cable unit is purchased by Charter Communications.
Less than a month after Byron Allen got AT&T and DirecTV carriage deals after charging them with racial discrimination in a $10 billion lawsuit, he’s got some new targets. On Wednesday, both the FCC and Charter Communications were sued for $10 billion in federal court by Allan’s Entertainment Studios and the National Association of African American-Owned Media for “racial discrimination in contracting for television channel carriage.”
Regulators reviewing Charter’s proposed $55.1 billion acquisition of Time Warner Cable want to know more about how the cable company has reacted to competition from streaming video providers like Netflix and Amazon.The questions show the FCC’s concern about whether cable companies that provide access to the Internet may squelch streaming video that competes with their traditional channel lineup.
Television viewership soared for Tuesday’s Los Angeles Dodgers baseball game in the inaugural telecast for the team-owned SportsNet LA channel on Charter Communications cable systems.
Charter To Offer Dodgers Network To Subs
Charter Communications intends to make SportsNet LA, the regional sports network that offers Los Angeles Dodgers baseball games, to its subscribers in a few weeks’ time, potentially ending a year-long showdown that has left nearly 70% of Los Angeles-vicinity TV subscribers without access to the team.
The $56.7 billion deal is the latest in the sector as companies struggle to keep pace with the changing habits of how Americans watch and pay for television.
Time Warner Cable, blocked from merging with Comcast this week by federal officials, may have a new suitor: Charter Communications. Charter, the nation’s fourth largest cable company, has begun exploring a bid for Time Warner Cable, an industry official familiar with the matter said Friday.
TV One announced today a multi-year distribution agreement with Charter Communications that includes broad carriage of the network which offers a wide range of real-life and entertainment focused original programming, […]
The companies said Tuesday that the deal would create the second-largest U.S. cable operator. Charter, based in Stamford, Conn., is currently the fourth-largest cable operator in the U.S., with 4.3 million video customers, mostly in the Midwest, West and South. Bright House is the sixth-biggest with 2 million customers, mostly in Tampa and Orlando, Fla., but also in Alabama, Indiana, Michigan and California.
Cable MSO Charter Communications, which was outbid in an effort to buy Time Warner Cable last year, is in talks to acquire billionaire Si Newhouse Jr.’s Bright House Networks, people with knowledge of the matter say. The discussions have been ongoing for months and both sides have agreed on the outline of a potential all-stock deal, the sources add.
One major media analyst says its time to pull back on cable stocks — with the advent of a big broadband regulatory push and a continued fleeing of customers. “With stocks having largely achieved our target prices, with cord-cutting risks mounting, and regulation clouding the path forward in broadband, it seems to us to be time to reduce exposure,” says Craig Moffett of MoffettNathanson Research. He downgraded the big three cable stocks — Comcast, Time Warner Cable and Charter — to “neutral.”
Nexstar Broadcasting Group announced Thursday that it signed a new distribution agreement with Charter Communications before the expiration of the prior contract at 11:59 p.m. ET on Dec. 31, enabling Charter subscribers in 15 markets to enjoy uninterrupted access to network, local news and other programming.
The FCC has released its schedule for the public and the media industry to weigh in on Comcast’s proposed purchase of Time Warner Cable and its complex deal to trade some cable systems with Charter Communications. Comments and petitions seeking to block Comcast’s deals are due on Aug. 25. Comcast will then have until Sept. 23 to respond to those comments. Subsequent replies to Comcast’s response are due on Oct. 8.
The subscriber swaps are designed to help clear the way for regulatory approval of Comcast’s acquisition of Time Warner Cable. As part of the deal, the company will sell 1.4 million subscribers to Charter Communications for $7.3 billion in cash and spin off another 2.5 million subscribers into a company in which Charter will take a one-third stake.
