cpuc

Comcast deal started, but didn't finish, the job of defining the CPUC's broadband regulatory role

29 April 2015 by Steve Blum
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Reintroduce, reuse, recycle.

A lot of energy and angst was expended over the defunct Comcast – Time Warner – Charter mega-merger and market swap, much of it involving the California Public Utilities Commission’s review of the deal. With the abrupt end to the transaction, there’s nothing much left to do about it until the next dealmaker comes along to pick up the pieces. But it wasn’t all wasted work.

The process set the CPUC on the path to overseeing broadband infrastructure, services and markets in California.… More

More trouble for Sierra Nevada broadband grant proposals

28 April 2015 by Steve Blum
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Click and see for yourself.

Another challenge has been filed against the applications submitted by Cal.net for broadband infrastructure grants from the California Advanced Services Fund (CASF). Conifer Communications – another wireless Internet service provider in the Sierra Nevada and San Joaquin Valley – served notice yesterday that it objected, at least in part, to Cal.net’s plans to serve Calaveras, Tuolumne and Mariposa counties. It’s the second formal objection to the projects made public; a group of rural telcos filed the first last week.… More

Death of the Comcast deal isn't the end of broadband consolidation in California

27 April 2015 by Steve Blum
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It keeps pulling itself back together.

The end of the Comcast – Time Warner – Charter mega-merger and market swap means the cable television market in California will still be split mostly between the four largest U.S. cable companies, which are those three plus Cox. At least for now.

Conventional wisdom says that Time Warner is still in play, and Charter is likely to be the next company to make a move. Unless Time Warner decides to try to buy Charter first.… More

Rural telcos challenge Sierra wireless broadband proposals

26 April 2015 by Steve Blum
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Click for the complete challenge letter.

Three rural telephone companies are challenging wireless broadband projects in the Sierra Nevada proposed by Cal.net for construction grants from the California Advanced Services Fund (CASF).

Volcano Telephone Company, Calaveras Telephone Company and Sierra Telephone Company jointly sent a letter to the California Public Utilities Commission on Friday saying they provide adequate broadband service – at least 6 Mbps download and 1.5 Mbps upload speeds – to some of the areas targeted by Cal.net… More

No tears at the Comcast-Time Warner-Charter mega-deal funeral

25 April 2015 by Steve Blum
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Whoops. Missed the ruby slippers again.

FCC chairman Tom Wheeler and U.S. attorney general Eric Holder both took a victory lap yesterday, proclaiming that the death of the Comcast-Time Warner-Charter deal was, respectively, “in the best interests” and the “best outcome” for U.S. consumers.

And so it is. And doubly so for California, where Comcast would have been left with control – monopoly or duopoly – of at least 86% of the broadband market.… More

Comcast-Time Warner-Charter mega deal is dead

24 April 2015 by Steve Blum
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Comcast’s “merger agreement with Time Warner Cable and its transactions agreement with Charter Communications, Inc. have been terminated”, according to a company statement this morning. CEO Brian Roberts was quoted as saying “today, we move on. Of course, we would have liked to bring our great products to new cities, but we structured this deal so that if the government didn’t agree, we could walk away”.

And walk away they did.

So far, no official statement from Charter.… More

Comcast deal shuddering to a halt in Washington

24 April 2015 by Steve Blum
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Hard to guarantee good predatory behavior.

UPDATE 24 April 2015: Comcast and Time Warner have officially called it off.

The mega-merger and market swap involving Comcast, Time Warner and Charter is either dead or dying, according to news reports. Bloomberg reported that Comcast isn’t happy with FCC and federal department of justice plans to send the deal into a hearing process, which is usually a prelude to killing proposed mergers, although it’s possible to mount a defence.… More

Harder push for faster broadband speeds in California

23 April 2015 by Steve Blum
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California should raise its minimum standard for broadband, CPUC commissioner Catherine Sandoval said during yesterday’s meeting of the California Broadband Council in Sacramento. The goal “is to the increase the minimum speed that counts as served in California to mirror the FCC’s speed of 25 mbps down and 3 up”, she said. “I think it’s imperative that the state amend its definition”. Sandoval said she’ll be working to do that via existing California Public Utilities Commission processes, and also pointed to a bill sponsored by Santa Cruz legislator Mark Stone – assembly bill 238 – that would do the same thing.… More

Feds figure out that the Comcast deal looks the same from Washington as it does from California

21 April 2015 by Steve Blum
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Looks the same from either side.

The federal justice department might save the California Public Utilities Commission the trouble of killing the Comcast/Time Warner/Charter deal.

First Bloomberg reported that the justice department is about to send the matter into a proceeding – an administrative hearing – that would, in all likelihood, end with the mega-merger and market swap being tanked on anti-trust grounds. Then, the Wall Street Journal followed up with an article saying that Comcast and Time Warner execs were planning to meet with the justice department on Wednesday to try to negotiate their way out of that dead end process.… More

Comcast offers California a few crumbs

19 April 2015 by Steve Blum
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Not what the CPUC was thinking of ordering.

It’s almost certainly too little, too late, but Comcast has offered a few concessions to the California Public Utilities Commission, in the hopes of gaining approval for its proposed mega-merger and market swap with Time Warner and Charter. According to an article in the Los Angeles Times, Comcast came to a public meeting in LA last week with a much lighter alternative to the long list of conditions proposed by a CPUC hearing officer…

On Tuesday the company submitted a list of voluntary commitments that it said would be acceptable.

… More