DISH Petitions FCC to Deny Charter-Time Warner Cable Merger -- Update
October 13 2015 - 9:21PM
Dow Jones News
By Shalini Ramachandran
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, which the companies abandoned after facing
stiff regulatory resistance. 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 said that "almost two-thirds" of
households in its footprint won't have access to at least another
alternative high-speed broadband provider.
Dish also said Charter would be in a position to hamper the
service of online video providers, who compete with cable TV
providers, by degrading their traffic at "choke points" on the
Web.
A Charter spokesman didn't respond to a request for comment.
Charter has previously said that it believes this 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 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 22:06 ET (02:06 GMT)
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