FTC OKs Charter $1.625M Purchase of Optimum West

By John Eggerton
( Broadcasting & Cable )
published

The Federal Trade Commission has said it is OK with Charter's
purchase of Optimum West (the former Bresnan Communications systems) for $1.625
million.

That came in an early termination notice on Monday. That
means that the FTC found no antitrust issues with the deal and has closed its
Hart-Scott-Rodino investigation early.

The move clears the way for the planned third-quarter close
of the deal.

An FTC (or DOJ) review for potential competition
issues, and the requirement that companies alert the government to the deal, is
triggered by deals valued at $70.9 million or more.

In other FTC news, the agency Monday also cleared the $70 million additional investment by Oak Investment Partners in MobiTV, the mobile entertainment platform.

John Eggerton
John Eggerton

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.