USTelecom Requests Conditions on Charter/Time Warner Cable and Bright House Networks Deal

The FCC should impose conditions on the Charter/Time Warner Cable and Bright House Networks deal “to protect against competitive harm,” said USTelecom in comments filed with the FCC and in a statement from USTelecom President Walter McCormick. Since cable companies don’t face the same regulatory constraints as telephone companies do, USTelecom’s member companies are concerned that the deal will concentrate too much control over video programming in the hands of a consolidated cable industry, McCormick said. “Outdated regulations direct telephone company resources and investments away from new broadband services and infrastructure, and into outmoded legacy networks and services, thus inhibiting the ability of these companies to compete,” he said. The FCC should “level the playing field” and “impose conditions that would prohibit the merged entity from giving undue preferences to other cable companies, or to disadvantage competing broadband and video providers,” USTelecom said.