Senate Judiciary Leaders ID Key Charter-TWC Issues

In a letter to the Federal Communications Commission and the Department of Justice, Senate Judiciary Committee Antitrust Subcommittee Chairman Mike Lee (R-UT) and Ranking Member Amy Klobuchar identify key issues the regulators should look at as they review the Charter/Time Warner Cable deal.

The senators said that if the FCC has issues with a combined company interfering with competing online video services, it should "require conditions that would alleviate the potential competitive harms." They cited HBO specifically as a former exclusively cable supplier now offering an over-the-top version that did not require a cable subscription. HBO parent Time Warner (not to be confused with Time Warner Cable) has raised over-the-top OTT issues with the deal at the FCC. They also said that the FCC should make sure that independent programmers are viable. It advised the FCC to take those into account as it reviews the deal--for public interest harms and benefits. Recognizing that the DOJ's is a strict antitrust review, they said any decision must be fact-specific and any "intervention" must be based on evidence.