Early last year, New York state sued Charter Communications (Spectrum) for nowingly selling broadband speeds company executives knew they couldn't provide. The lawsuit alleged all manner of shady behavior by the cable giant, from admissions that it was actively gaming FCC efforts to measure speeds (via the custom-firmware embedded routers the FCC uses for said purpose), to actively causing congestion at interconnection points to drive up costs for transit and content companies.

To do that, Charter lawyers have tried to claim that states are no longer allowed to try and protect consumers in the wake of the FCC's historically-unpopular net neutrality repeal. ISP lobbyists for Charter, Verizon and Comcast successfully lobbied the FCC to include language in the repeal "pre-empting" states from their ability to hold ISPs accountable for failed promises and substandard service.

And while both the FCC and ISPs have claimed they'll take legal action against any state that tries to do so, legal experts say the claim doesn't hold water. In fact, ironically, some legal scholars argue that when the FCC rolled back the Title II classification of ISPs as common carriers under the Telecom act, they actually shot their own legal authority over states in the foot.

This week, the New York State courts provided Charter with another major setback in its quest to dodge accountability for advertising speeds the lawsuit states executives knew they couldn't deliver. The First Department of the Supreme Court, Appellate Division of the State of New York ruled (pdf) that no, the FCC has not legally preempted states from enforcing laws "that prevent fraud, deception and false advertising" in regards to broadband service.

With the decision, the lawsuit against Charter can now proceed, despite Charter's best efforts to scuttle it.

"This is great news for broadband users in New York, and it bodes well for state efforts to protect broadband users generally," consumer group Public Knowledge said of the ruling. "Such efforts are especially important given the current FCC’s decision to abdicate many of its consumer protection responsibilities with respect to broadband."

State authority will be a bigger issue than ever now that large ISPs like Charter have lobbied the Trump administration to dismantle a wide range of consumer protections governing everything from privacy to net neutrality.

The New York State Public Service Commission this week fined Charter $2 million --and threatened to revoke the company's franchise for failing to meet conditions affixed to its merger with Time Warner Cable and Bright House Networks. Charter had already been fined $13 million for failing to complete some fairly modest broadband deployment conditions attached to the company's $79 billion deal.

Charter Spectrum insists that the death of net neutrality means better, faster broadband. As you might recall, ISP lobbyists repeatedly tried to claim that the FCC's modest net neutrality rules (which were officially killed off on Monday) severly hamstrung their ability to invest in broadband networks.

At the company's WWDC18 conference in San Jose, California this week, Apple said it’s partnering with Charter Communications' Spectrum cable service to give the company's subscribers access to live channels and on-demand programming through Apple TV. Charter, which now serves 50 million homes and businesses after its $86 billion acquisition of Time Warner Cable and Bright House Networks, will be the first US cable company to incorporate its service into Apple TV.

Apple TV has traditionally lagged in popularity in part because the product has been slow to adopt new standards like HDR and 4K, but the company insists it's potential partnerships with other cable operators will bring new life to the product.

Early last year, New York State sued Charter Communications (Spectrum) for knowingly selling broadband speeds company executives knew they couldn't provide. The lawsuit alleged all manner of shady behavior by the cable giant, from admissions that it was actively gaming FCC efforts to measure speeds (via the custom-firmware embedded routers the FCC uses for said purpose), to actively causing congestion at interconnection points to drive up costs for transit and content companies.

Verizon FiOS has been rated the highest in customer satisfaction in a new study, though that may not be much to write home about. According to the latest American Customer Satisfaction Index survey (pdf), Verizon FiOS was the top rated ISP with a score of 70 out of 100.

Charter is trying to claim that states cannot hold the company accountable for sub-standard service or failed promises. That's the overall takeaway from Charter's response last week to New York State regulators, which have been trying to hold the cable giant accountable for repeatedly failing to meet merger promises affixed to its acquisition of Time Warner Cable and Bright House Networks.

A source familiar with Charter's wireless plans tells me that the company will be launching its long-awaited wireless phone service on June 30. That date could change if there's complications, but that's the date the company is aiming for, the source states.

Early last year, New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman sued Charter Communications (Spectrum) for nowingly selling broadband speeds company executives knew they couldn't provide. The lawsuit alleged all manner of shady behavior by the cable giant, from admissions that it was actively gaming FCC efforts to measure speeds (via the custom-firmware embedded routers the FCC uses for said purpose), to actively causing congestion at interconnection points to drive up costs for transit and content companies.

Charter (Spectrum) stock dropped 14% at one point this week after the company's latest earnings report fueled renewed concerns about the rate of cord cutting. According to the company's financials, Charter lost another 122,000 traditional video subscribers last quarter, notably up from the 100,000 TV subscribers the company lost during the first quarter of last year and double what most analysts expected.