time-warner

Charter CFO paints rosier than real merger schedule for investors

30 September 2015 by Steve Blum
, , , ,

Sure, dude. How fast do you want it?

You gotta love optimists. Christopher Winfrey, the chief financial officer of Charter Communications, is telling investors that the proposed purchase of Time Warner Cable and Bright House Networks will be done and dusted by the end of the year. That jet propelled schedule is fuelled by the assumption that the Federal Communications Commission and the California Public Utilities Commission know everything they need to know already, because it’s the same bunch of companies that were involved in the failed Comcast mega-merger, minus Comcast.… More

No surprises as CPUC begins review of Charter-Time Warner-Bright House deal

29 September 2015 by Steve Blum
, , ,

Charter Communications is asking the California Public Utilities Commission for permission to buy cable systems belonging to Time Warner and Bright House Networks. Yesterday saw the opening round of wrangling over the transaction, with a CPUC administrative law judge hearing from lawyers representing the companies involved on the one side, and representatives from the CPUC’s office of ratepayer advocates, consumer lobbying groups and a couple of cities on the other (full disclosure: one of those representatives was me).… More

Charter takeover of Time Warner would be anticompetitive, protests say

3 September 2015 by Steve Blum
, , ,

Maybe Comcast and Charter will get a junction named after them too.

Charter Communication’s bid to buy two rival cable companies, Time Warner and Bright House, appears headed down the same rhetorical highway that led to the death of Comcast’s similar attempt earlier this year. At least in California.

Three formal protests were filed against Charter’s request for approval of the deal from the California Public Utilities Commission, by the CPUC’s own office of ratepayer advocates (ORA) and various advocacy organisations.… More

Closer look points to more California communities redlined by Charter

10 August 2015 by Steve Blum
, , , ,


Charter offers broadband in the yellow areas, but not the blue. Click for a much bigger version.

A second, more detailed look at map analysis done by the Central Coast Broadband Consortium (full disclosure: I’m part of that effort) shows even more rural areas redlined out of broadband service by Charter Communications in California.

The technique is simple and not completely foolproof, but in the few places where the ground truth has been checked, the results have been borne out.… More

Charter starts California regulatory approval quest by telling CPUC a whopper

14 July 2015 by Steve Blum
, , , ,


Blue indicates 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.

Hoping to get its proposed purchase of Time Warner and Bright House cable systems approved, Charter Communications filed a formal application with the California Public Utilities Commission earlier this month. Technically, it’s a joint filing of all three companies, but in reading through the claims and arguments, it’s clear that it’s primarily a Charter document.… More

Federal regulators will shoot down big cable deals because big is bad, says analyst

11 July 2015 by Steve Blum
, , ,

By its very existence, big cable is a barrier to new broadband infrastructure investment by potential competitors, according to Nancy Rose, a senior administrator at the federal justice department in charge of economic analysis. In a speech she gave to the American Bar Association last month, and posted on the BTIG Research blog, she said that the buying power of big cable companies gives them an advantage in creating video packages that would-be competitors can’t overcome…

There was certainly some suggestion made to us that broadband investments are less attractive, at least at present, if you can’t also get access to low cost video programming and put together a cable-like package…to offer customers.

… More

Charter won't promise to offer broadband in redlined communities

29 June 2015 by Steve Blum
, , , ,

This isn’t where the other 99% live.

If you live in the bottom 1% of Charter Communications service area, you’re not getting broadband access or, indeed, anything other than poor analog video service from the company. The message from Charter is those redlined communities – among the poorest and most isolated in California – won’t be upgraded to 21st century digital systems anytime soon.

Charter tries to weasel its way around that issue in its initial filing with the Federal Communications Commission, as it seeks permission to buy Time Warner Cable and Bright House Networks.… More

Charter bid to buy Time Warner could widen California's digital divide

11 June 2015 by Steve Blum
, , , ,

If Charter Communications is successful in its attempt to buy Time Warner Cable and Bright House Communications, it will control about half of the Californian broadband market, and low income households will make up a disproportionately high share of that expanded customer base.

Comcast’s failed attempt to buy Time Warner (including Time Warner’s ownership interest in Bright House) and swap markets with Charter would have given it control of 84% of the broadband market in California, according to an analysis done by the California Public Utilities Commission’s office of ratepayer advocates (ORA).… More

A new cable mega-deal for Charter and Time Warner

27 May 2015 by Steve Blum
, , ,

I said I’d pull myself back together.

Now it’s Charter Communications’ turn to try to buy Time Warner Cable. The latest mega deal would have Charter hanging onto its deal to buy Bright House, and paying $57 billion for Time Warner’s cable systems and 15 million subscribers. If successful, it would make Charter the second largest cable company in the U.S. and the largest in California.

Federal Communications Commission chairman and lobbyist-in-chief Tom Wheeler wasted no time in reassuring the world that this latest deal won’t necessarily meet the fate of the Comcast-Time Warner-Charter mega-deal that was killed by federal regulators…

The FCC reviews every merger on its merits and determines whether it would be in the public interest.

… More

Death of the Comcast deal isn't the end of broadband consolidation in California

27 April 2015 by Steve Blum
, , , ,

It keeps pulling itself back together.

The end of the Comcast – Time Warner – Charter mega-merger and market swap means the cable television market in California will still be split mostly between the four largest U.S. cable companies, which are those three plus Cox. At least for now.

Conventional wisdom says that Time Warner is still in play, and Charter is likely to be the next company to make a move. Unless Time Warner decides to try to buy Charter first.… More