ACA: Charter-TWC Deal Needs Strong Conditions

The American Cable Association has asked the Federal Communications Commission to apply various conditions on the Charter-Time Warner Cable-Bright House merger, saying without "significant, effective and long-lasting remedial conditions," the deal is not in the public interest and should not be approved.

As have other potential competitors to the merged company—Dish, COMPTEL—ACA points to the alleged new programming clout of a New Charter with ties to Discovery and Starz and says current program access and arbitration remedies are not sufficient to remedy the potential harms posed by those ties. ACA says must-have remedies include a non-discriminatory access condition and a commercial arbitration condition for New Charter-affiliated programming, and that the FCC has to "significantly bolster" enforcement of that nondiscriminatory access condition so its smaller MVPD members are protected from the combined company's increased bargaining position, and make sure the arbitration condition is a viable option for smaller carriers.