Saying it was responding to Charter "dropping" Univision, Public Knowledge weighed in Wednesday on the current carriage fight between Charter and Univision, one it said impacts millions of subs.
“The blackout of Univision on Charter Spectrum cable—which includes millions of former Time Warner Cable customers—is an unfortunate development that shows how disparities in bargaining power between programmers and distributors can leave customers in the lurch," said John Bergmayer, senior counsel at Public Knowledge.
“As we argued in recent comments to the FCC [on independent access to programming] these imbalances can distort competition and harm consumers. We hope that Charter and Univision resolve their dispute in a way that ensures the continued vibrancy of independent programming, particularly programming that serves diverse audiences, while keeping costs low for consumers.”
Charter has said of the blackout that it still has a carriage contract with Univision and expects it to honor it.
