Charter Deal With TWC More Likely to Get Approval Than Comcast

A Charter Communications merger with Time Warner Cable stands a better shot at regulatory approval than Comcast’s ill-fated attempt to purchase the cable giant last year, according to cable-industry analysts and executives.

The deal must pass muster with antitrust officials and the Federal Communications Commission, who were prepared to block the Comcast-Time Warner Cable deal on the grounds the combined company would have too much power over the broadband and online video markets. “The reason Comcast-Time Warner Cable was a problem for the government was because they were going to have a dominant share of the national broadband market,” said Jonathan Chaplin, an analyst at New Street Research. One possible advantage for Charter: It doesn’t own marquee national programming assets that it could potentially leverage against other distributors, which was a concern for regulators with Comcast which purchased NBCUniversal several years ago. “The facts here are a lot more favorable to Charter than they were to Comcast,” said Former Justice Department antitrust official Gene Kimmelman, now the head of the advocacy group Public Knowledge. Despite a mood of optimism, some cable-industry observers emphasize caution.