Latest in Charter

Charter CEO Tom Rutledge sports makes up more than half of the wholesale price of its cable bundle and while the company would like customers to be made whole while sports is dark, “Now we have a structure where its all bundled together and tied together contractually and we have very little control over it.” “We…

After an increasingly fractious carriage dispute went past the contract deadline, 33 Tribune Broadcasting TV stations in 24 markets have gone dark on Charter Spectrum cable systems, affecting some 6 million viewers. (See the full list of affiliates below.) The companies on Monday extended the New Year’s Eve deadline…

Tribune Media and Charter’s Spectrum cable systems have agreed to extend the deadline for their carriage contract to 5 PM ET Wednesday, averting a blackout of 33 local TV stations that would have taken effect at 12:01 AM ET tonight. The ongoing dispute has affected some 6 million Charter subscribers, with programming…

While the major stock market indices recovered early losses amid jitters over the U.S. pulling out of the Iran nuclear deal, media companies had a rough trading day, especially those with exposure to the traditional pay-TV bundle. Dish Network was by far the biggest laggard. Its shares tanked 12% to end at $29.81…

As the third week of the Department of Justice-AT&T antitrust trial wound to a close, Time Warner stock posted an eighth straight day of gains, rising half a percentage point to finish the day at $96.39. Many investors appear to have an optimistic takeaway from the trial thus far, pushing Time Warner stock to its…

After several weeks of talks of a deal, Charter Communications has rejected a possible merger with Sprint, The Wall St. Journal reported Sunday. The merger would have created a new entity controlled by SoftBank, Sprint’s owner. Charter said that it would stay with existing wireless reseller agreement with Verizon…

Updated: The Wall Street Journal had the media and telecom worlds buzzing tonight with a report  that Sprint Corp proposed a full merger with Charter Communications, But don’t get too excited yet. Charter’s not interested in the plan to create a new public company controlled by Sprint’s owner, Japan’s SoftBank…

UPDATE with Eric Garcetti statement: Charter Communications said it has pacted with KTLA Los Angeles to air six of the Los Angeles Dodgers’ final regular-season games — including Vin Scully Appreciation Day on September 23, celebrating the Hall of Fame broadcaster who is wrapping his 67th and final season with the…

Hulu’s plan to create a skinny bundle collection of channels may have looked like a potential declaration of war on cable and satellite companies. But Charter CEO Tom Rutledge — who now controls Time Warner Cable’s former systems — says he’s unfazed. Indeed, he’d like to make it easy for subscribers to add Hulu as…

FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler is planning to circulate a draft order soon approving Charter Communications’ $55 billion takeover of Time Warner Cable, The Wall Street Journal reported. The move could happen this week. The report says the federal greenlight would come with a number of conditions, notably targeting efforts…

Today was the deadline for opponents of Charter’s plans to buy Time Warner Cable and Bright House Networks to weigh in at the FCC. And regulators will have plenty of arguments to assess when they look at the $67 billion transactions: The Writers Guild of America, West, Dish Network, and consumer groups urged them to…

Investors either love or hate Cablevision, but its fans are running the show today: Company shares touched a four-year high, and are up 7.6% in afternoon trading, after billionaire Patrick Drahi told the Wall Street Journal that his Luxembourg-based telecom company, Altice, has its eye on the Long Island-based cable…