A new round of objections is emerging to Charter’s proposed merger with Time Warner Cable and Bright House Networks, which would form New Charter.
USTelecom, a lobby representing AT&T and Verizon, is asking the FCC to place limits on New Charter’s ability to coordinate with other cable providers, according to Bloomberg.
The lobby also asked that Charter majority owner John Malone, who also owns stakes in Discovery and Starz, have limited placed on how much he is allowed to influence decisions at New Charter.
While the telcos were suggesting limitations, Dish Network urged the FCC to reject the merger entirely.
Dish says that further cable industry consolidation could endanger internet TV service innovations.
“If the proposed merger is approved, 90 percent of the nation’s high speed broadband homes would be controlled by two companies, and the combined ‘New Charter’ would have every incentive to sabotage OTT services like Sling TV that compete with the old school cable bundle,” Jeffrey Blum, Dish senior vice president and deputy general counsel, said in a statement. “The proposed merger is harmful for consumers, competition and innovation, and should be denied.”
The “duopoly” of New Charter and Comcast could potentially result in higher broadband costs for subscribers, Dish says, and parallel price increases from those two operators could effectively foreclose online video distribution services.
Meanwhile, Charter says it has cooperated with the vetting process, everyone has had their say, and that the company is ready to close, according to FierceCable.