WASHINGTON — The Communications Workers of America has told the New York State Public Service Commission that the proposed merger of Altice and Cablevision Systems is not in the public interest and should be rejected.

The 700,000-member union, which represents 300 Cablevision employees, made its argument in initial comments to the New York PSC. The union has already urged the Federal Communications Commission to block the deal, and plans to take the same tack with the New York City Franchise Concession Review Committee and the Connecticut Public Utilities Regulatory Authority.  

Cablevision in February of last year reached agreement on a new contract with the CWA, but only after years of contentious negotiations.

The union is concerned about job losses, and about the amount of assumed debt involved in European telco Altice’s $17.7 billion all-cash purchase of Bethpage, N.Y.-based Cablevision. The CWA has argued that the deal’s heavy debt burden could put jobs at risk, so it has been pushing back on a number of regulatory fronts.

The CWA has weighed in at hearings in Peekskill, N.Y. (Jan. 26); in New York State Supreme Court in the Bronx (Jan. 27); and in Long Island, N.Y.’s Nassau and Suffolk counties (both Jan. 2).  

Altice and Cablevision have dismissed the CWA opposition, saying it "relies on selective press accounts, mischaracterization and surmise to impugn the transaction and advance its own narrow interests."

The deal partners called the structuring of their transaction sound, with demonstrable consumer benefits including network investment. They also noted that some of the deal’s debt load is the restructuring of existing Cablevision debt.

An online report in the Wall Street Journal late Wednesday that claims Federal Communications Commission staff members are recommending the Comcast-Time Warner Cable merger be heard before an administrative law judge has at least one analyst calling the time of death for the $67 billion deal.

According to the Journal report citing people familiar with the matter, FCC staff are recommending that the FCC hold a hearing on the matter, which the paper said would send a clear signal that the agency does not believe the transaction would be in the public interest.

The WSJ report came days after talk that the Department of Justice was looking closely at Comcast’s role in the 2013 decision by online video pioneer Hulu to take itself off the auction block.  As part of the regulatory concessions it made as a result of the purchase of NBC Universal, Comcast, a partner in Hulu, agreed to not have any say or involvement in Hulu corporate matters.

An industry source speaking on background said he had conversations with senior FCC staffers who had suggested the ALJ route was likely, but had not said so explicitly. Other industry sources concurred that was their sense as well. A source inside the FCC confirmed thecommision's deal-vetters had signaled they would recommend adjudication

In a note to clients, BTIG media analyst Richard Greenfield wrote that the FCC recommendation, on top of the threat of a DOJ lawsuit “would appear to be a death sentence for the transaction.”

Comcast was scheduled to meet with DOJ attorneys today (April 22). In a statement the company acknowledged that meeting as well as talks with the FCC, but declined further comment.

 “We had one in a series of meetings with the Department of Justice today, as well as another meeting with the FCC,” Comcast said in a statement. “As with all of our DOJ discussions in the past and going forward, we do not believe it is appropriate to share the content of those meetings publicly, and we, therefore, have no comment.  Similarly, our only comment on FCC meetings will be our filed ex parte communication."

Public policy groups, who have been outspoken opponents of the merger, were cautiously optimistic that the latest devleopment could mean the deal will be scuttled.

"If the news from the FCC is true, it would mean that Internet users can breathe a sigh of relief.," Free Press policy director Matt Wood said in a statement. "Designating the deal for a hearing would make Comcast and Time Warner Cable go through a lengthy evidentiary procedure. That's a very high hurdle to clear in its own right, and a huge barrier to overcome for a disastrous deal like this one, which has no real public interest benefits to show.

"The FCC seems to have heard the nearly one million Americans who have told Washington that the proposed merger helps only the people in the executive suites of Comcast and Time Warner Cable," Wood continued. "These executives failed to see the reality that was plain to all of the deal's many opponents. Giving so much control over our communications system to one company — especially one with a track record of spiraling prices, terrible customer service and blocking Internet content — would be a terrible mistake."

Multichannel News Washington bureau chief John Eggerton also contributed to this story.

The Stop Mega Comcast Coalition, a group of 15 organizations hell-bent on halting the merger between Comcast and Time Warner Cable, said the time is right to step up efforts to block the deal, just as regulators are getting serious in their scrutiny of the transaction.

The coalition, whose members range from the large (Dish Network), to the not-so large (cable channels TheBlaze and WeatherNation TV) – and several public interest and industry groups in between, launched what they hope will be an intense and effective lobbying effort to block the deal.

In a conference call with reporters after the launch, coalition member Gene Kimmelman, CEO of Washington watchdog Public Knowledge, said the time was right for a combined effort.

“We think this is a critical moment,” Kimmelman said. “We think now we are in a serious review with the Dept. of Justice and the FCC. We understand that Comcast has doubled down with its lobbying efforts and its push and its advertising and we think it’s time for us to do the best we can. We don’t have their resources; we’re not big and powerful like they are, but we think that by combining all these voices and all of these analytics that these companies and groups have submitted to the enforcement agencies, we enhance our power by coming together.”

Kimmelman may be right. Shortly after the Coalition was officially unveiled on Dec. 3, the Federal Communications Commission restarted the 180-day shot clock on the Comcast-TWC merger review.

Most of the companies in the coalition have already made their opposition to the deal known in individual filings with the FCC. But Dish Network senior vice president and deputy general counsel Jeff Blum said the coalition allows the members to pool their resources and put forth a more concise and hopefully more effective message.

Just how that message will be sent is still a question. Blum said that while the companies do intend to place ads in print and TV media to get its point across, it won’t be on a massive level.

“We don’t need to run ads in Comm Daily every day like Comcast is doing,” Blum said. “We think it’s more conducive to meet with policy makers to explain the concerns on behalf of the coalition. There may be advertising opportunities, but it’s not a PR effort, it’s substantive.”

He added that the effort will be centered instead on getting the message to key decision makers on Capitol Hill, at the FCC and to consumers.

What also sets the coalition apart from other opponents to the deal is that it doesn’t seem to be pushing for a compromise. While other groups have lobbied for conditions to the deal centered around an open Internet, Blum said there is no room for compromise.

“This is not about net neutrality, this is about whether the public is served by having Comcast and Time Warner [Cable] merge,” Blum said. “We don’t think conditions can work.”

While the coalition is new, its message is one that has been shouted by countless opponents of the deal since it was first announced in February – that a combined Comcast-TWC, with nearly 30 million video subscribers and controlling huge chunk of the high-speed Internet customers in the country is just too big. But just how big is somewhat in the eye of the beholder. While the coalition claims that Comcast-TWC would control 50% of the broadband market, others say that reach is more like 35%. And while there have been vocal critics of the deal, there have also been cheerleaders , including state and local officials, public policy and advocacy groups, and some programmers and advertisers.

“Hundreds of community organizations, programmers, lawmakers and diversity groups have praised the pro-consumer benefits of this transaction,” Comcast said in a statement. “It is no secret that some companies that want billions of dollars in higher fees for consumers are paying lobbying firms to organize against this transaction. This minority of self-interested opponents has used the same tactics in our past deals, and their claims were not found to be credible by the expert agencies. We believe the same will be true here."

If you were wondering how Comcast really feels about the coalition, here's a blog post that maps out the company's position in greater detail.