FCC Chairman Reached Out to Time Warner Cable, Charter CEOs

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Tom Wheeler has a message for cable chiefs: Just because regulators leaned against the Comcast- Time Warner Cable merger doesn’t mean all future cable deals are doomed.

Chairman Wheeler individually called Time Warner Cable Chief Executive Rob Marcus and Charter Communications CEO Tom Rutledge, as well as other cable executives, to convey that they shouldn’t assume the agency is against any and all future cable deals just because the FCC’s staff wasn’t convinced the Comcast deal was in the public interest. Chairman Wheeler didn’t raise any particular potential deal, and neither did the cable CEOs. Chairman Wheeler told them that any deal would be assessed on its own merits. The calls were intended to clear the air in response to recent public statements from cable executives, including from Time Warner Cable’s Marcus who recently expressed uncertainty about the regulatory climate for future cable deals.