FCC Argues Against Mandamus in Charter Broadband Overbuild Review

Communications Daily profiles CEI’s petition representing individuals taking the Federal Communications Commission to court over the 2016 Charter/Brighthouse/Time Warner cable merger.

FCC inaction on the Competitive Enterprise Institute June 2016 petition for administrative reconsideration (see 1606100043) falls “far short” of an egregious-level delay that would justify a writ of mandamus, the agency said Friday in a docket 17-1261opposition filed with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. It said precedent says mandamus doesn’t necessarily follow from it not meeting the 90-day statutory deadline for responding to that petition. CEI filed a petition for writ of mandamus in December, saying the agency withheld action “for an unreasonable amount of time” on its administrative reconsider¬ation petition about the broadband network overbuild conditions on Charter Communication’s buy of Time Warner Cable and Bright House Networks and said that inaction makes the FCC’s order nonfinal “and hence unreviewable” by the court. CEI General Counsel Sam Kazman said Monday the FCC made errors of fact and logic that the group will point out in its response to be filed in a couple of weeks.

Read the full article at Communications Daily here.