charter

FCC leaning toward allowing Charter to buy Time Warner

17 March 2016 by Steve Blum
, , , ,

Word is beginning to leak out of the Federal Communications Commission that Charter Communications’ pending purchase of Time Warner and Bright House cable systems will get a green light from regulators. According to Politico, there are serious discussions going on regarding conditions that would be attached to federal approvals…

The latest development shows the Charter deal is further along the path than Comcast’s failed $45 billion bid for Time Warner Cable, which never reached the point where regulators seriously considered conditions, the sources said.

… More

Charter agrees to digital upgrade for Salinas Valley

8 March 2016 by Steve Blum
, ,

Work in progress.

More than 100,000 people living in and around the Salinas Valley are on track for a digital upgrade from Charter Communications within the next three years. If Charter is allowed to buy Time Warner and Bright House cable systems in California and elsewhere.

Charter is the incumbent cable company in most of the Salinas Valley – the major exception is the City of Salinas, which is Comcast territory. Its Monterey County video franchise areas are stuck in the analog era, with 36 channels of old school, standard definition television that costs an eye-watering $106 per month.… More

Charter and Comcast could control 70% of U.S. broadband market

31 January 2016 by Steve Blum
, , ,

More consolidation.

Ars Technica has crunched the numbers, and reached the conclusion that if Charter Communications is allowed to buy cable systems owned by Time Warner and Bright House, it will end up with monopoly control of 25 Mbps down/3 Mbps up broadband service for about a quarter of U.S. households, and that when combined with Comcast’s footprint, service to the majority of homes will be controlled by one of two companies…

Charter said in November that it would serve 23 percent of the nation’s 25Mbps-and-up broadband subscribers if it can buy TWC and BHN.

… More

DISH hops in late to California's Charter party

21 January 2016 by Steve Blum
, , , ,

DISH, the only independent direct broadcast satellite company in the U.S., has been trying to scuttle Charter Communications’ purchase of Time Warner’s and Bright House’s cable systems. Up until today, it’s focused its efforts on the Federal Communications Commission’s review of the deal. Now, though, in kind of a daddy’s not sure, go ask mommy move, it’s asking the California Public Utilities Commission for permission to get into the proceeding here.

In its filing, DISH says it fears Charter will use its control of the high speed broadband market to kill off competition…

This transaction would permit and motivate the combined company (“New Charter”) to hurt or destroy online video rivals, including the Sling TV over-the- top video service [owned by DISH], through its control over the broadband pipe…

This transaction will create a duopoly in the market for high-speed broadband service (defined as 25 Mbps and above), as it will result in two broadband providers – New Charter and Comcast – controlling about 90 percent of the nation’s high-speed broadband homes between them.

… More

New York orders Charter to upgrade analog to digital

12 January 2016 by Steve Blum
, , ,

The New York state public service commission approved Charter Communications’ purchase of Time Warner cable systems, but added a list of conditions that included digital upgrades and speed increases. According to the decision, Charter…

…must convert their existing New York footprint to an all-digital network (including upgrading the Columbia County Charter cable systems to enable broadband communications) capable of delivering faster broadband speeds. The Petitioners will be required to offer all customers broadband speeds of up to 100 Mbps by the end of 2018 and 300 Mbps by the end of 2019.

… More

Broadband is on CPUC's short list for review of Charter deal

16 November 2015 by Steve Blum
, , , ,

Charter bundles broadband. Why shouldn’t the CPUC?

The cost and availability of broadband in California will be a key factor in determining whether Charter Communications is allowed to buy Time Warner’s and Bright House Networks’ cable systems. That was the decision on Friday by the president of the California Public Utilities Commission, Michael Picker, as he set out the criteria and the schedule for deciding if the transaction will be approved.

On the surface, it is a far less ambitious review than the CPUC undertook of the now dead Comcast mega-merger and market swap with Time Warner and Charter.… More

Telecoms lobbyists tell Calfornia lawmakers which side of the digital divide they're on

2 November 2015 by Steve Blum
, , , , ,

Lobbyists for AT&T and the California cable industry gave state assembly members clear insight into why rural broadband development is such an intractable challenge. It wasn’t exactly the insight they were planning to deliver – that consisted mostly of platitudes about the wonderful work they’re doing and the evils of subsidising independent companies that would dare to compete against them. The insight came from the way they tried to divert attention away from the rural questions that the assembly’s select committee on the digital divide in California is tasked with answering, and toward the investment they’re indisputably making in more lucrative urban areas.… More

Charter charges Salinas Valley high price for 1980s TV

20 October 2015 by Steve Blum
, , , ,

Gonzales gets the facts of life.

If you live in Watsonville, California, you can go to Charter Communications’ website and find a triple play package that gives you 60 Mbps download speeds, more than 200 channels of television, HD included, a digital video recorder and unlimited long distance calling for as little as $70 a month. There are strings attached at that price point, but it’s still a pretty good deal.
If you live in the Salinas Valley, 40 miles to the south in Gonzales, it’s a different story.… More

Charter tells New York regulators it'll upgrade redlined residents if it's allow to buy Time Warner

6 October 2015 by Steve Blum
, , ,

As in California, Charter Communications is asking New York state regulators for permission to buy Time Warner cable systems. New York Public Service Commission staff have identified markets where both companies operate, but have not fully built out digital systems, and are recommending, among other things, that Charter be required to upgrade all of its customers – old and new – if the deal is allowed to go through…

New Charter should be required to develop a strategic implementation plan to build-out its all-digital network to the remaining unserved or under-served Charter and Time Warner franchise areas in New York.

… More

Charter CFO paints rosier than real merger schedule for investors

30 September 2015 by Steve Blum
, , , ,

Sure, dude. How fast do you want it?

You gotta love optimists. Christopher Winfrey, the chief financial officer of Charter Communications, is telling investors that the proposed purchase of Time Warner Cable and Bright House Networks will be done and dusted by the end of the year. That jet propelled schedule is fuelled by the assumption that the Federal Communications Commission and the California Public Utilities Commission know everything they need to know already, because it’s the same bunch of companies that were involved in the failed Comcast mega-merger, minus Comcast.… More