Universal service might be the one good reason for the CPUC to replace Charter with Comcast

23 March 2015 by Steve Blum
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Blue indicate likely communities redlined by Charter, although analysis is still in progress. Yellow is where Charter offers broadband. Click for a bigger – 8.5 MB – version.

One condition could make all the difference for the proposed decision in front of the California Public Utilities Commission that would formally approve the pending mega merger and market swap between Comcast, Time-Warner and Charter. The way the decision reads now, it would impose 25 different conditions on the deal, ranging from rates that can be charged for particular telephone and broadband services, to budgets for marketing to low income households, to requirements for battery backups.… More

CPUC commissioners say no back room deals for Comcast

18 March 2015 by Steve Blum
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Don’t even think about going there.

Responding to fears that the CPUC would grant Comcast its wish and cut a deal in private to approve its proposed mega merger and market swap with Time-Warner and Charter, several commissioners publicly said no way at their meeting in San Francisco last week.

Carla Peterman is the commissioner assigned to manage the merger review process. She said she’s following the commission’s ex parte rules which strictly limit one-on-one discussions…

Someone expressed some concern that some parties might have unique access through the ex parte process to kind of negotiate or influence decisions and particularly there was a mention of the Comcast Time-Warner proceeding.

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Let's settle this behind closed doors Comcast tells CPUC

12 March 2015 by Steve Blum
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If it was good enough for PG&E, it should be swell for Comcast.

Comcast, and its would-be merger and market swap partners, don’t like any of the conditions that would be imposed on the deal, if a proposed decision by a California Public Utilities Commission administrative law judge is approved. Not surprisingly, in a 60 page objection, the so-called Joint Applicants – Comcast and friends might be a better description – run through the 25 conditions proposed conditions and find fault with every one.… More

Debate continues over whether proposed Comcast merger benefits outweigh the damage

11 March 2015 by Steve Blum
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Not expecting time off for good behavior.

Ten organisations filed comments about a California Public Utilities Commission administrative law judge’s proposed decision regarding the Comcast/Time-Warner/Charter Communications mega-merger and market swap. Seven want the deal killed altogether, and argue that the mostly temporary conditions proposed would not offset the damage done to broadband service in California. The Greenlining Institute, a consumer advocacy group, detailed Comcast’s obstreperous response to the draft decision and said

While the proposed conditions are well-intended, they simply cannot rehabilitate a merger which would hand Comcast a potentially permanent monopoly in virtually all of the largest markets in both California and the United States, giving Comcast unprecedented power to raise prices, decrease service quality, and harm consumers.

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Deny the Comcast merger, don't try to fix it with conditions urges CPUC ratepayer advocates

10 March 2015 by Steve Blum
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If it’s that broke, trash it.

Comments are coming thick and fast regarding the proposed decision by a California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) administrative law judge to approve, with conditions, the mega-merger and market swap between Comcast, Time-Warner and Charter Communications. I’m still working my way through the stack – the CPUC posted the documents yesterday – but one of the filings, from the CPUC’s office of ratepayer advocates (ORA) jumps out.

As it has all along, ORA is urging outright rejection of the transactions…

As the [proposed decision (PD)] correctly concludes, the Joint Applicants [i.e.

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Temporary conditions will make Comcast's Californian monopoly permanent

23 February 2015 by Steve Blum
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It won’t get any better when the referee leaves the ring.

One of the more fascinating aspects of a proposed California Public Utilities Commission decision approving the Comcast/Time-Warner/Charter mega merger and market swap is an analysis of the resulting broadband market in the state. Prepared for the CPUC’s office of ratepayer advocates by Lee Selwyn, a telecommunications analyst, the study reaches the bottom line conclusion that if Comcast swallows up all of Time-Warner and Charter subscribers in California (except for Charter’s subs in the Lake Tahoe area), Comcast would have monopoly control of the broadband market in 78% of its expanded service area.… More

Oops, Charter proves it can't serve public housing residents

20 February 2015 by Steve Blum
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Okay, people, you have to tell me these things, alright? I’ve been frozen for 30 years, okay?

In a self-defeating gesture, Charter Communications is challenging four public housing broadband grant applications made to the California Advanced Services Fund (CASF).

Charter claims residents at four complexes – two in Long Beach and two in San Bernardino – can buy Internet service at speeds in the 100 Mbps download and 5 Mbps upload range.

Unfortunately for Charter, it doesn’t really matter.… More

Comcast has to clean up its act if it wants to merge in California

19 February 2015 by Steve Blum
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How about starting with some botox and a manicure?

If Comcast wants approval for its mega merger and market swap with Time-Warner and Charter, it’s going to have to meet some stiff, if mostly temporary, conditions. That’s the preliminary determination of a California Public Utilities Commission administrative law judge in his review of the deal.

The proposed decision – there’s still some back and forth to come, and final approval is subject to a vote by the five commissioners – reaffirms that the CPUC has authority under federal law to assess the impact of the merger on broadband, as well as telephone, service in California.… More

Charter plans to strengthen its broadband business by trading away redlined communities

3 August 2014 by Steve Blum
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Click for the bigger picture.

Charter Communications will get a 2% bump in its Internet service market share, if the massive restructuring of the U.S. cable industry proposed by it, Comcast and Time-Warner is approved by federal and state regulators. By unloading systems that perform relatively badly on Comcast and a newly formed cable company – currently with the placeholder name of SpinCo – and, in return, adding systems from Time-Warner and Comcast, Charter will see its Internet subscriber base rise from 35% of homes passed to 37%.… More

On the whole, it's broadband market failure


What’s a snowball’s chance in Washington?

Telecoms mega-deals (or have we upgraded to giga-deals?) are snowballing: four in four months. First Comcast and Time-Warner, then Comcast and Charter, AT&T and DirecTv and now Sprint and T-Mobile. Each new merger – of companies or markets – looks to the previous ones for justification. If Comcast is bulking up, AT&T needs to as well. A bigger AT&T, in turn, requires that Sprint and T-Mobile combine forces, or so they say.… More