Charter Communications, Inc., a Delaware Corporation Charter Communications Properties, LLC Paul G. Allen v. County of Santa Cruz
Opinion
Opinion
Hawkins, J.
These cases surround one central issue: did Santa Cruz County reasonably withhold consent to a change in ownership of a cable franchise? Because we determine the County’s denial of consent was reasonable and lawful, we reverse the district court’s decision on the merits, mooting the issue of attorney’s fees in the companion case.
I. FACTUAL BACKGROUND
The core dispute here involves a lengthy set of negotiations between the County and Charter. While time-consuming and intensive, these negotiations boil down to whether the County’s requests for financial and other information from Charter were reasonably related to the exercise of the County’s approval authority. A full version of the negotiations can be found in the district court opinion, Charter Comms. Inc. v. County of Santa Cruz, 133 F.Supp.2d 1184, 1187-1200 (N.D.Cal.2001).
In brief: in 1998, Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen sought acquisition of Charter Communications, Inc. (“CCI”), which owned a subsidiary, Charter Communications LLC (“Charter”). Charter had a cable television franchise with the County of Santa Cruz (“the County”); the franchise was administered by the County Board of Supervisors. The County’s consent to…