The Federal Communications Commission has recently announced that it approved the acquisition of Time Warner Cable and Bright House Network by Charter Communications. This merger will increase the size of Charter almost four times.
The Connecticut-based company is facing conditions which are designed to increase broadband competition and discourage harms to online video service providers that compete against the TV services of cable companies.
The proposition of the FCC chairman Tom Wheeler was approved over the objections of Republican commissioners. However, Charter still has to tie some lose ends of the deal before the merger is finalized.
The Department of Justice has suggested a settlement which will enable the merger to continue in which approval from state regulators in California could be given in a vote on May 12. Last year, when the merger was announced, its overall estimated value was approximately $67.1 billion.
Both shareholders of Time Warner Cable and Charter Communications have approved the merger, along with the privately-held Bright House which also favors the acquisition.
There is only one outstanding approval that is required from California. Last month, a state administrative judge advised that the public utilities commission of the state should also approve the deal.
The approval of the Justice Department was given at a time when the pay TV industry is faced with stagnation due to the competition being given by over-the-web rivals such as Hulu and Netflix.
Charter currently has 6.8 million customers who have signed in to at least one of its TV, Internet and phone services. Meanwhile, Time Warner has 16.1 million subscribers and Bright House has around 2.5 million customers.
Overall, the merger will have approximately 25.4 million residential and business customers, which makes it second only to the 28 million subscribers of Comcast. The latter's business is largely made up of residential customers.
