Back in December I expressed my disappointment that Massachusetts was not part of the settlement that the State of New York reached with Charter/Spectrum for deceptive business practices. This record settlement of $172 million resulted in New York subscribers of Spectrum getting monetary settlements of between $75 and $150. Another 2.2 million customers will receive streaming services and premium channels worth over $100 million. Berkshire County Spectrum customers, who are in the Albany market, should have been part of that $172 million settlement. Instead, Spectrum customers in Berkshire County have seen rate increases, lost WCVB and were required to rent encryption boxes to receive their signal. There have also been complaints in regard to the speed of the internet service they purchased. Spectrum told a United States Senator to take a walk after he negotiated a deal for WWLP to broadcast news coverage to Berkshire County residents at no cost to Spectrum. In March 2018 the Berkshire Legislative Delegation asked Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healy to join New York's lawsuit against Charter/Spectrum. Unfortunately, she never replied to our letter and Massachusetts never became part of that suit. I reached out her staff on more than one occasion to open an investigation into Spectrum's business practices. An Assistant Attorney told me that they really hadn't received that many complaints to warrant an investigation. After pursuing every avenue available the time has arrived to petition the Attorney General to open an investigation into Spectrum's business practices. We can no longer wait for the FCC in Washington to take action or wait for passage of legislation at the federal level as that may take years. We need the Attorney General to take action and hold Charter/Spectrum accountable.
