Charter Communications

HOAs and Apartments Lock Residents into Cable Subscriptions

Mandatory or bundled cable subscriptions negotiated by homeowners associations (HOAs) and multifamily property owners are sustaining traditional pay-TV providers by converting optional services into unavoidable housing costs. In Q1 2026 Comcast reported a net loss of 322,000 domestic video customers (about 11 million remaining) and lost 65,000 domestic residential broadband customers, while Spectrum shed 51,000 residential video customers, 60,000 video customers overall (about 12.5 million remaining) and 120,000 internet subscribers (Spectrum internet total ~29.6 million). The U.S. has roughly 370,000 HOAs covering ~40 million housing units; conservatively, ~25% maintain bulk cable partnerships (~10 million locked subscribers), and combined HOA/multifamily bundles likely account for 15 million+ subscribers who cannot easily opt out. Cable operators are partly offsetting video declines with wireless line growth, but housing-linked bulk deals remain a material buffer for linear TV revenues and subscriber counts.

SCOTUS rulings, Dow tops 52,000, Medicare covers obesity drugs

A June 30, 2026 podcast/transcript (Paul Krugman interviewing Lisa Graves) discusses the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in the Slaughter case, which effectively overruled the long-standing Humphrey’s Executor precedent restricting presidential removal of independent-agency commissioners. The ruling allowed President Trump’s removal of a Democratic FTC commissioner to stand and signalled that presidents can remove commissioners of many independent agencies (apparently excluding the Federal Reserve), undermining statutory protections Congress put in place. Lisa Graves warns the decision centralizes executive power under a unitary-executive theory, risks politicizing enforcement at agencies such as the Federal Trade Commission, and may enable favoritism or corruption in merger reviews and regulatory actions affecting large tech and other companies. The piece outlines broader implications for administrative expertise, democratic checks and potential paths for congressional and court reform.

Spectrum Hit with Class Action After 40M Data Breach

Charter Communications, doing business as Spectrum, is facing a class action lawsuit filed in early June in federal court in Connecticut after a data breach in early April allegedly exposed personal information for more than 40 million customers and employees. Plaintiffs say attackers from the ShinyHunters group used voice phishing (vishing) to obtain login credentials for the company's Microsoft Entra system, then moved laterally to access Salesforce CRM where sensitive customer and employee records were stored. Allegedly exposed data includes names, emails, physical addresses, phone numbers, service-plan details, support tickets, and network usage/call-history records. The suit seeks damages and injunctive relief, alleges preventable security failures (insufficient training, lack of robust safeguards), and could influence regulatory and remediation expectations for large telecommunications providers.