US: Broadcasters tell US FCC Charter-TWC merger ‘not in public interest’

Broadcasters have filed formal paperwork with the Federal Communications Commission requesting that the regulatory agency put its review of the proposed Charter Communications-Time Warner Cable merger on hold.

Variety reports that the National Association of Broadcasters says the FCC should address broadcast ownership rules, which the group feels are outdated, ahead of allowing further consolidation among cable and satellite providers.

“In a filing with the FCC on Thursday, NAB contends that Charter and TW Cable, in their merger petition, ‘failed to address questions of consumer harm stemming from cable system clustering,’ among other things,” Variety reports. “NAB also contends that the merging parties have ‘erroneously asserted that the public would benefit from reduced fees’ that a bigger company would pay for programming.”

The report notes that the FCC’s 2010 and 2014 reviews of broadcast ownership rules have yet to be completed. The agency is supposed to review the rules every four years.

Full content: Variety

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