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US: FCC backs Charter purchase of Time Warner Cable, Bright House: sources

 |  May 5, 2016

A majority of the five-member US Federal Communications Commission has voted to approve Charter Communications Inc’s acquisitions of Time Warner Cable Inc and Bright House Networks, two sources briefed on the matter said on Thursday.

The deals, which would create the second-largest US broadband provider and third-largest video provider, won the backing of FCC Commissioners Jessica Rosenworcel and Michael O’Rielly this week, the sources said on condition of anonymity.

FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler had already voted to approve them. The two other FCC commissioners have yet to vote on the matter.

O’Rielly dissented in part, meaning the final conditions of the agency’s approval could change before the full vote is completed and made public. The US Justice Department gave antitrust approval to the acquisitions with conditions on April 25.

Charter and Time Warner Cable shareholders have approved the companies’ deal. Privately-held Bright House also is in favor of its acquisition.

The only other outstanding approval needed is from California. A state administrative judge last month recommended that California’s public utilities commission approve the deal. The decision could come as early as May 12.

The Justice Department’s approval carried conditions designed to protect competition, coming at a time when the pay television industry faces stagnation due to new competition from over-the-web rivals like Netflix and Hulu.

The Justice Department said Charter agreed to refrain from telling its content providers that they cannot also sell shows online as part of the approval process.

The FCC’s Wheeler said last month that approving the deals “will directly benefit consumers by bringing and protecting competition to the video marketplace and increasing broadband deployment.”

Full Content: Reuters

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