While things looked good for Charter Communications just a couple weeks ago in regards to acquiring Time Warner Cable and Bright House Networks, some reservations were still in place as the FCC had not ruled on whether to allow the acquisition to take place or not. Green-lighting the deal would mean that Charter would officially become the United States' second-largest cable service provider, behind Comcast, which left some room for skepticism over whether the FCC would allow Charter's proposed acquisitions to take place or not. As of yesterday, Charter is good to go.
The FCC confirmed Charter's acquisition of Time Warner Cable and Bright House Networks through an official statement made available to the public:
"WASHINGTON, May 6, 2016 – The Commission yesterday approved — with conditions — the Application filed by Charter Communications, Inc., Time Warner Cable Inc., and Advance/Newhouse Partnership approval to transfer control of certain licenses and authorizations from Time Warner Cable and Bright House Networks to Charter Communications."
With Charter's growth, the company will have a total of 25.4 million customers. By comparison, Comcast currently has 28 million customers nationwide - both figures include business and residential customers. While the news is nothing but good for Charter, the company will have to play ball with federal regulators to ensure that the company meets all expectations set forth via the FCC.
One of the conditions set forth by FCC chairman Tom Wheeler included modern broadband expansion to at least 2 million customers (download speeds of 25 Mbps or greater). Wheeler also says that Charter has agreed to "not impose broadband usage caps on its customers, to not charge interconnection fees to online video providers, to offer a low-cost standalone broadband product". Adhering to these conditions means that Charter customers would have access to affordable, standalone services from Charter and not be forced into buying more expensive bundled services.
The transfer of ownership of Bright House Networks and Time Warner Cable over to Charter Communications should only take a few days to complete.
Source: Ars Technica
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