DISH Petitions FCC to Deny Charter-Time Warner Cable Merger

Interestingly, DISH’s recent filing states how the planned Charter-Time Warner Cable merger would not be favorable for the public, similar to the one proposed between Comcast-Time Warner Cable.

Choke Points on the Charter/TWC Broadband Network: New Charter would have a panoply of foreclosure techniques at its disposal. “AT&T has firsthand experience of this kind of exclusion”.

Satellite TV operator DISH Network Corp. Officials from both agencies have explained in recent speeches that Comcast’s proposal didn’t meet expectations because the merger not only affected other cable companies but also over-the-top services that were indirectly linked to the industry. “Ultimately, the Commission cannot grant this merger unless it can be assured that a post-merger Charter cannot detrimentally affect the programming market, or use its clout as a video distributor to impose contractual prohibitions that would inhibit online video’s access to programming in ways that are less visible than the blunt instrument of data caps, Open Internet violations, and congested interconnection points”, they argue. By way of this deal, Charter will be able to almost quadruple its cable subscription numbers, winning subscribers in far flung areas as well as major cities including Dallas, Los Angeles, and New York. In addition, Charter said it won’t charge content companies like Netflix extra fees to interconnect directly with Charter’s servers.

Consumer rights groups Public Knowledge, Common Cause and Consumers Union on Tuesday filed a joint petition with the FCC opposing Charter’s deals. This is unrelated to the security of Charter’s network and therefore violates Sections 201, 202 and 629 of the Communications Act, Section 706 of the Telecommunications Act of 1996, the public interest standard and FCC rules promulgated thereunder.

This is the second time the FCC has asked questions related to the merger’s effect on broadband service. “Subscribers in the markets served by any of the merging entities will have exactly the same number of choices of providers after the merger as before if it is approved”, the group said. The radio and television trade association petitioned the FCC on Monday that the regulator should not approve Charter’s deals before it conducts a review of media ownership rules – a process which is mandated by Congress every four years.

Charter said in May that it would buy TWC in a cash-and-stock deal that would make it the No. 2 US Internet and cable company after Comcast.