Calif. to Vet Proposed Charter/TWC Merger Jan. 26

The California Public Utilities Commission will hold a public hearing Jan. 26 on the proposed Charter/Time Warner Cable merger, according to a public notice posted on the Charter web site.

The New York state Public Service Commission, which oversees telecom, has already signed off on the deal.

The hearing will be held at 6 p.m. PT.

An administrative law judge will preside at the public hearing, but no official action will be taken until all the public comments are vetted and the application reviewed.

The deal will be judged on "how the transaction will affect broadband deployment and/or affordability; whether the proposed change of control is in the public interest; and whether there are any implications for public safety from the transaction."

The judge will issue a recommendation to deny, grant or modify the proposal, after which it will be voted on by the CPUC commissioners.

Back in February 2015 a CPUC ALJ proposed approving, with conditions, Comcast's merger with TWC and Bright House, but there was never a vote by the commissioners because the deal was withdrawn from the FCC before that vote could be taken.

John Eggerton

Contributing editor John Eggerton has been an editor and/or writer on media regulation, legislation and policy for over four decades, including covering the FCC, FTC, Congress, the major media trade associations, and the federal courts. In addition to Multichannel News and Broadcasting + Cable, his work has appeared in Radio World, TV Technology, TV Fax, This Week in Consumer Electronics, Variety and the Encyclopedia Britannica.