Charter, Acquistion Foes Continue To Make Cases Before FCC

Charter Communications is pushing back at critics of its proposed takeovers of Bright House Networks and Time Warner Cable, meeting with the FCC to rebut arguments raised against the deals. Separately, it received some ammunition in its arguments from Discovery Communications, which also met with the FCC to say claims that New Charter might try to use its power to keep Discovery content from rival multichannel video programming distributors are off base. In an ex parte filing posted Wednesday in docket 15-149, Charter said executives met with FCC staff including General Counsel Jon Sallet and Media Bureau Chief Bill Lake to address individual filings by such critics as Incompas, Nvidia, TiVo (see 1601220017) and Time Warner Inc. (see 1601140033). Incompas' arguments that cost savings that New Charter would enjoy could hurt broadband competition aren't backed by any evidence and depend "on the questionable assumption that a provider's decision to enter a particular market depends on the incumbent providers' costs," Charter said. It also said there's no basis for conditions requiring New Charter support of CableCARD since it plans "to purchase, distribute and service CableCARDs ... for years to come." And Charter said it "has been transparent and unequivocal" that it backs the rise of over-the-top services like HBO Now since they drive broadband demand, and thus has no motive to harm OTT. It also disputed Nvidia claims Charter has blocked access to TV Everywhere apps to disadvantage Nvidia's Shield TV device. Discovery, in a separate ex parte filing Thursday in the docket, said it told commission staff -- including Lake and Owen Kendler, who's heading the FCC working team overseeing the deals' review -- that it has no incentive to withhold programming from any MVPD and though John Malone and BHN owner Advance/Newhouse own equity stakes in both Discovery and Charter, the programmer "has made many deals with alternative distribution providers" and that it doesn't vary its pricing across regions in a given MVPD contract to target any overlapping Charter areas. Withholding its programming from a rival MVPD to benefit Charter would hurt Discovery's top line and would cause only limited switching to New Charter, it said. Given the decline in linear TV viewing and the growth of OTT platforms, "cutting back on reaching viewers through these platforms would harm [its] ability to evolve with the changing video marketplace," Discovery said. In ex parte filings Thursday in the docket on meetings they had with FCC officials (see here and here), Charter/TWC/BHN foes Stop Mega Cable coalition and the Writers Guild of America, West said the deals would give New Charter too big a hold on the U.S. broadband market and incentive to stifle growth in the online video market.