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Charter's tying of premium services to set-top box rental

The case as filed in March of 2009 alleges that Charter illegally ties its premium cable services to the set-top boxes required to stream and watch the service customers pay for. To require their customers to rent a product only their company provides to enjoy the full range of content that the customer is already paying for is a violation of antitrust acts and is the basis for this litigation. Anyone who has been or is a customer of Charter cable may join this class action and is encouraged to contact our offices immediately. To read the pleading filed in court by our attorneys, please click below (file is in PDF format and may either be opened within a browser or downloaded directly from the link by right-clicking and choosing 'Save As').

Click here to download the pleading


What is illegal tying?
  • Charter does not allow customers to provide their own "cable box" or "set-top box" in order to view premium cable.
  • Charter clients have no choice but to contract with Charter for their box, amassing unfair rental costs.
  • Charter tying its services to a device or tool that only they provide is a violation of trade regulations
  • Trade regulations were created by the government to encourage competition and protect the people from unfair practices.


                                                              Berniard Law Firm
                                                      * 643 Magazine Street, Suite 402 * New Orleans, LA * USA * 70130 *
                                                                   Phone: (504) 527-6225 Fax: (504) 617-6300