charter

No surprises as CPUC begins review of Charter-Time Warner-Bright House deal

29 September 2015 by Steve Blum
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Charter Communications is asking the California Public Utilities Commission for permission to buy cable systems belonging to Time Warner and Bright House Networks. Yesterday saw the opening round of wrangling over the transaction, with a CPUC administrative law judge hearing from lawyers representing the companies involved on the one side, and representatives from the CPUC’s office of ratepayer advocates, consumer lobbying groups and a couple of cities on the other (full disclosure: one of those representatives was me).… More

Charter takeover of Time Warner would be anticompetitive, protests say

3 September 2015 by Steve Blum
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Maybe Comcast and Charter will get a junction named after them too.

Charter Communication’s bid to buy two rival cable companies, Time Warner and Bright House, appears headed down the same rhetorical highway that led to the death of Comcast’s similar attempt earlier this year. At least in California.

Three formal protests were filed against Charter’s request for approval of the deal from the California Public Utilities Commission, by the CPUC’s own office of ratepayer advocates (ORA) and various advocacy organisations.… More

Californian towns redlined by Charter targeted for broadband construction subsidies

12 August 2015 by Steve Blum
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Blue indicates Charter’s state cable franchise areas where it hasn’t upgraded to DOCSIS 3 capability, as it has in the yellow areas.

Race Telecommunications has zeroed in on a big and densely populated area of the San Bernardino County desert that’s been redlined by Charter Communications, and neglected by Verizon. Wireline broadband service in the area generally fails to meet the California Public Utilities Commission’s minimum standard of 6 Mbps down and 1.5 Mbps up.… More

Closer look points to more California communities redlined by Charter

10 August 2015 by Steve Blum
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Charter offers broadband in the yellow areas, but not the blue. Click for a much bigger version.

A second, more detailed look at map analysis done by the Central Coast Broadband Consortium (full disclosure: I’m part of that effort) shows even more rural areas redlined out of broadband service by Charter Communications in California.

The technique is simple and not completely foolproof, but in the few places where the ground truth has been checked, the results have been borne out.… More

Cable operators see broadband pulling away from video

5 August 2015 by Steve Blum
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Click for more.

Charter Communications is gaining broadband subscribers, while Suddenlink is losing them. Both companies are shedding television customers, although Suddenlink is dropping them at a much faster rate. That’s the top line from the companies’ financial reports for the second quarter of this year.

On the whole, Charter reported a net gain, with pickups in broadband and voice accounts more than compensating for the declining video subscription numbers. It ended the quarter with about 5 million broadband and 4.1 million televisions subs, a gain of 70,000 and a loss of 33,000 respectively.… More

CPUC leaves a hard decision on its broadband authority for another time

24 July 2015 by Steve Blum
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Some games go on forever, and reach no result.

The California Public Utilities Commission passed on the opportunity to officially assert its jurisdiction over broadband infrastructure and service yesterday. By a unanimous vote, commissioners allowed Comcast to simply withdraw its now moot application for permission to take over Charter and Time Warner cable systems in California.
The mega-merger died in April, after federal regulators insisted on deal killing conditions. The CPUC had also spent about a year reviewing it, amassing a huge amount of data and documents, in addition to the even bigger stash developed by the Federal Communications Commission.… More

Charter starts California regulatory approval quest by telling CPUC a whopper

14 July 2015 by Steve Blum
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Blue indicates likely communities redlined by Charter, although analysis is still in progress. Yellow is where Charter offers broadband. Click for a bigger – 8.5 MB – version.

Hoping to get its proposed purchase of Time Warner and Bright House cable systems approved, Charter Communications filed a formal application with the California Public Utilities Commission earlier this month. Technically, it’s a joint filing of all three companies, but in reading through the claims and arguments, it’s clear that it’s primarily a Charter document.… More

Federal regulators will shoot down big cable deals because big is bad, says analyst

11 July 2015 by Steve Blum
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By its very existence, big cable is a barrier to new broadband infrastructure investment by potential competitors, according to Nancy Rose, a senior administrator at the federal justice department in charge of economic analysis. In a speech she gave to the American Bar Association last month, and posted on the BTIG Research blog, she said that the buying power of big cable companies gives them an advantage in creating video packages that would-be competitors can’t overcome…

There was certainly some suggestion made to us that broadband investments are less attractive, at least at present, if you can’t also get access to low cost video programming and put together a cable-like package…to offer customers.

… More

Charter won't promise to offer broadband in redlined communities

29 June 2015 by Steve Blum
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This isn’t where the other 99% live.

If you live in the bottom 1% of Charter Communications service area, you’re not getting broadband access or, indeed, anything other than poor analog video service from the company. The message from Charter is those redlined communities – among the poorest and most isolated in California – won’t be upgraded to 21st century digital systems anytime soon.

Charter tries to weasel its way around that issue in its initial filing with the Federal Communications Commission, as it seeks permission to buy Time Warner Cable and Bright House Networks.… More

CPUC offered opportunity to duck broadband responsibilities

18 June 2015 by Steve Blum
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The third way.

The California Public Utilities Commission has a third option for closing out the failed Comcast-Time Warner-Charter mega mash up. In response to a request from the companies involved, a CPUC administrative law judge has drafted yet another proposed decision that basically calls it all off, with a couple of housekeeping conditions.

Chief among those conditions is a requirement that the companies turn over digital copies of documents they previously provided to the Federal Communications Commission.… More