Charter Advances Suit Over Rochester, N.Y., Cable Franchise Fees

A Charter Communications Inc. unit advanced its lawsuit accusing Rochester, N.Y., regulators of charging cable franchise fees above federally mandated limits, after a federal judge said the city’s legal arguments were “underdeveloped” and didn’t justify dismissing the case.

The city’s attempt to dismiss the dispute as unripe because the parties haven’t finalized contract negotiations is based on the “erroneous assumption” that recent federal law changes governing public programming support payments don’t become operative until a formal agreement is reached, Judge Frank P. Geraci Jr. said Tuesday.

And the city’s remaining legal arguments aren’t sufficiently developed or meaningfully supported by legal ...