Charter Sues Louisville Over Disparate Video Treatment

Charter Communications has filed suit against the city of Louisville (KY) over what it says are materially more burdensome regulations and franchise obligations it is subject to relative to video competitors Google Fiber and AT&T's U-verse. Wearing its First Amendment hat, Charter said that the government "may not favor one similarly situated member of the press or other speaker over another without special justification," which it said Louisville Metro lacked.

Given that the city refused to lighten Charter subsidiary Insight Kentucky Partners's regulatory load to bring it in line with its competitors, Charter said it had no choice but to head to court. (Charter acquired the Louisville market in 2016 after merging with Time Warner Cable.) The suit was filed in the US District Court for the Western District of Kentucky. Charter's main points are that it is simply asking for the equal treatment state and federal law allows; that consumers will suffer if competitors can move its wires around without telling Charter and that treating competitors differently hurts, rather than promotes, cable competition.