Time Warner Cable was approved to merge with Charter Communications by Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairman Tom Wheeler on April 25.
The deal, that values Time Warner Cable at $78.7 billion, also includes Charter’s purchase of Bright House Networks for $10.4 billion.
The resulting company, New Charter, will serve almost 24 million customers in the U.S., placing it in close competition with the biggest players like Comcast, AT&T, and Verizon.
The approval comes with some conditions. Wheeler put an order to the other FCC commissioners recommending the deal with three caveats:
- New Charter will not be permitted to charge usage-based prices or impose data caps.
- It will also be prohibited from charging fees for connecting internet content providers with their customers. That also includes online video providers (OVDs).
- Additionally, the Department of Justice’s settlement with Charter outlaws video programming terms that could harm OVDs and protects OVDs from retaliation.
The conditions are to be in place for 7 years.
“The cumulative impact of these conditions will be to provide additional protection for new forms of video programming services offered over the Internet,” Wheeler stated in an April 25 release.
