Los Angeles Sues Time Warner Cable Over Unpaid Fees

The city of Los Angeles is suing Time Warner Cable for allegedly cheating on its franchise fees to the city, according to a lawsuit filed Friday.

The city is seeking $9.7 million in payments after Time Warner Cable “blatantly refused to live up to its obligations to the city” said the suit, even as the company received $500 million a year from customers in the city for providing cable network services, the LA Times reports.

The suit claims that Time Warner Cable owed $2.5 million in franchise fees and public, education and governmental channel fees in 2008 and 2009, and $7.2 million in 2010 and 2011.

Time Warner Cable denied the allegations, calling them “without merit.”

The city charges cable companies franchise fees that amount to 5% of a cable operators’ revenues, instead of charging rent for the public right-of-way to install and maintain the company’s wires and cable boxes.

[LA Times]