John Malone Avoids FCC Conditions With Charter, Unlike Comcast-NBCU

Federal regulators opted to place no conditions related to John Malone’s sprawling media and telecom holdings in approving Charter Communication’s acquisitions of Time Warner Cable and Bright House Networks. Consumer group Public Knowledge, the American Cable Association and others asked the Federal Communications Commission to look into Malone’s holdings as part of the Charter review. Dish Network (waged the biggest fight against the TWC deal, while Netflix stayed on the sidelines.

Malone controls Liberty Broadband, which will own about 18% of the new Charter and has rights to name three board members. Privately held media firm Advance/Newhouse will own about 13.5% of Charter. Malone holds a 28.7% voting interest in Discovery; a 31.8% voting interest in Starz; a 37.7% voting interest in the QVC Group, and a 3.3% voting interest in Lions Gate Entertainment, which holds a stake in Epix, according to the FCC. While much of Malone’s media holdings will now constitute Charter’s “affiliated programming,” the FCC says it already has rules in place to govern those companies’ relationships with other pay-TV providers.