DISH Asks FCC to Deny Charter-Time Warner Cable Merger
October 13 2015 - 10:20PM
Dow Jones News
Satellite provider Dish Network Corp. petitioned the Federal
Communications Commission on Tuesday to deny the proposed merger
between Charter Communications Inc. and Time Warner Cable Inc.,
citing the combined company's market power in broadband and what it
said was an ability to harm online video services.
In a statement, Dish said the merger "would be no better for the
public interest" than the prior proposed deal between Comcast Corp.
and Time Warner Cable that the companies abandoned after facing
stiff resistance from regulators. Dish had joined other companies
such as Netflix Inc. in drumming up opposition to that deal.
Dish, which offers the $20-a-month streaming service Sling TV,
said the proposed Charter-TWC merger has the potential to
"significantly damage competitive development of over-the-top
video." The satellite provider enumerated the ways it said "New
Charter" could foreclose online video services on its broadband
network and said that "almost two-thirds" of households in its
footprint won't have access to at least another alternative
high-speed broadband provider.
A Charter spokesman didn't respond to a request for comment.
Charter has previously said that it believes its merger is in the
public interest and has sought to distance itself from Comcast's
failed attempt to acquire TWC, noting that Charter's new subscriber
total will still be less than that of Comcast's today if its deals
get approved.
Dish may find itself in a thinner crowd in the opposition ranks
on this merger, however. While there are some companies raising
alarms about Charter-TWC, the deal hasn't attracted the same number
of big-name enemies as the previous Comcast deal. Charter headed
off opposition from the likes of Netflix Inc. and Cogent
Communications Inc. by taking a favorable stance regarding Web
traffic handoffs into Charter's broadband network. Both those
companies, which opposed the Comcast deal, have since spoken out in
favor of Charter's merger with TWC.
Write to Shalini Ramachandran at
shalini.ramachandran@wsj.com
Subscribe to WSJ: http://online.wsj.com?mod=djnwires
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
October 13, 2015 22:05 ET (02:05 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2015 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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