CEI Petitions FCC to Reconsider Conditions Imposed on Charter-Time Warner Cable Merger

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The Competitive Enterprise Institute, John France, Daniel Frank, Jean-Claude Gruffat, and Charles Haywood seek reconsideration of the FCC’s Memorandum Opinion and Order in which the FCC approved, subject to conditions, the applications of Charter Communications, Inc., Time Warner Cable Inc., and Advance/Newhouse Partnership (Bright House) to transfer various FCC licenses and other authorizations from Charter, Time Warner Cable, and Bright House to a new company, known as “New Charter.”

We do not object to FCC’s decision to approve these applications. However, we urge the FCC to reconsider its decision to impose various conditions on New Charter, because the conditions (1) are contrary to the public interest, as they “will result in increases in the cost of cable and broadband service for every current cable subscriber,” in the words of Commissioner O’Rielly; (2) exceed the FCC’s statutory authority under the Communications Act of 1934, as amended; and (3) were issued by the FCC without affording the public notice and a meaningful opportunity to comment. Therefore, the FCC should amend the Order so that it grants the applications of the three merging companies free from any FCC-imposed conditions.