US cableco Charter Communications has won clearance from New York City for its proposed takeover of rival Time Warner Cable (TWC). Asked earlier this week when Charter expects the deal to close, CFO Chris Winfrey said “the public record is actually pretty deep and complete…In terms of California, we were able to bring in the final review date by a month to 12 May and right now that looks to be our best case scenario even if the FCC and DoJ were done sooner”.
US cableco Charter Communications (NASDAQ:CHTR) has won clearance from New York City for its proposed takeover of rival Time Warner Cable (TWC) (NYSE:TWC).
The approval by New York’s Franchise and Concession Review Committee, at a meeting yesterday, follows clearance by the New York State Public Service Commission (NYSPSC) in January.
The NYSPSC approved the deal after Charter made additional commitments, including to provide broadband speeds of between 60 Mbps and 300 Mbps throughout the state, extend its networks to unserved residential and commercial areas within its footprint, and invest in customer service.
“We are pleased that this merger between Charter and TWC is moving forward in a way that ensures they will meet all franchise obligations, and as well as the conditions set forth by the NYSPSC – and advocated for by the city – with respect to broadband speed, cost and availability and job projections,” Bloomberg cited Maya Wiley (pictured), counsel to New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, saying.
To help secure New York City approval, Charter has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with several multicultural leadership organisations aimed at improving diversity and inclusion. As part of the MoU, Charter has agreed to appoint one African American, one Asian American/Pacific Islander and one Latino American to the board of the enlarged company, New Charter, within two years of the deal’s closing. It has also committed to appointing a chief diversity officer.
John Malone-backed Charter agreed to buy TWC and smaller cableco Bright House Networks for US$56bn and US$10.4bn respectively in May 2015. The deal, which would create the country’s second largest cableco behind Comcast, received the approval of the State of New Jersey Board of Public Utilities last month. It still requires approvals from California, the Department of Justice (DoJ) and Federal Communications Commission (FCC).
Asked at the Deutsche Bank Media, Internet & Telecom Conference earlier this week when Charter expects to close the deal, CFO Chris Winfrey said “the good news is that the public record is actually pretty deep and complete…In terms of California, we were able to bring in the final review date by a month to 12 May and right now that looks to be our best case scenario even if the FCC and DoJ were done sooner”.
The FCC is on day 166 of its 180-day review of the deal.
