Cable Operators: No Reason to Stop Clock On Spectrum Deal

Cable operators looking to sell their advanced wireless spectrum to Verizon for just south of $4 billion have told the Federal Communications Commission that there is no reason to stop the clock on its vetting of the deal.

The Communications Workers of America, supported by various deal critics, had sought that break from the action, saying they had trouble with the formats of some documents supplied by the operators and Verizon or did not get documents in a timely fashion. In a response filed April 24, Bright House Networks, Verizon Wireless, Comcast, Cox TMI Wireless, and Time Warner Cable said that CWA's claims were meritless. For one thing, say the companies, the files CWA could not open were in formats -- shapefiles and tables -- specifically requested by the FCC and for which there were free viewers available for CWA to use.