FCC Opens Docket on Charter/TWC/Bright House Deal
The FCC's Media Bureau has opened a docket (15-149) on the proposed merger of Charter and Time Warner Cable (valued at $78.7 billion), and the associated acquisition of Bright House by Charter ($10.4 billion).
The companies have not yet filed their applications for transfer of control. The deal was announced May 26.
Opening a docket means that commenters now have an official place to start commenting for and against the deals. It is also where parties meeting with the FCC about the deals must provide ex parte notices of those meetings. The FCC reminded those parties in the public notice announcing the docket that they have to provide a summary of the substance of those meetings, saying just a list of subjects covered or a "one-or-two sentence description of the views" likely wasn't going to cut it.
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Contributing editor John Eggerton has been an editor and/or writer on media regulation, legislation and policy for over four decades, including covering the FCC, FTC, Congress, the major media trade associations, and the federal courts. In addition to Multichannel News and Broadcasting + Cable, his work has appeared in Radio World, TV Technology, TV Fax, This Week in Consumer Electronics, Variety and the Encyclopedia Britannica.