Charter and Fox News settle carriage fee dispute

Litigation over a carriage fee dispute between Charter Communications and Fox News appears to have been settled. 

Court documents obtained by media outlets including The Hollywood Reporter revealed the year-old case to be “dismissed with prejudice”—an outcome that usually signals a settlement. 

Neither Charter nor Fox News's 21st Century Fox operating arm, Fox Networks, is commenting. 

RELATED: Fox News is latest programmer to sue Charter for leveraging TWC contracts

The far-right cable news channel filed its suit a year ago in Manhattan, claiming that Charter was misrepresenting the structure of its takeover of Time Warner Cable in order to take advantage of TWC’s superior program licensing leverage. 

Charter, Fox News claimed, was purporting to have been taken over by TWC, not the other way around, and it had begun paying for carriage of Fox News and Fox Business Network off the more advantageous TWC rate card. 

RELATED: Charter and Fox Networks Group close to agreement

Speaking at an advertiser event in New York on April, which was attended by Multichannel News, Fox Networks President and COO Randy Freer said, “We’re working out the issues.” 

RELATED: Charter and Univision enter into mediation, source says

Similar breach of contract suits against Charter have been filed by Univision and Showtime. The latter dispute appears to have been resolved in May, according to court papers, but the Univision case is still pending. 

Both sides are set to file summary judgment papers by the end of the the month, with an escalation of the conflict leading to a temporary blackout of the Spanish language network on Charter back in February.