WSJ: FCC Chairman Wheeler Reaches Out To Cable Executives To Allay Deal Concerns

(RTTNews) - Federal Communications Commission Chairman Tom Wheeler allayed fears about the uncertainty related to the regulatory climate for future cable deals, according to a Wall Street Journal report on Thursday.

The move follows recent public statements from cable executives that expressed concerns on how much consolidation the government will actually allow after they nixed the planned mega-media merger between cable television giants Comcast Corp. (CMCSA, CMCSK) and Time Warner Cable, Inc. (TWC). It also saw the end of Comcast's side deal with its smaller rival Charter Communications, Inc. (CHTR).

Wheeler is said to have individually called Time Warner Cable CEO Rob Marcus and Charter Communications CEO Tom Rutledge, as well as other cable executives in recent days to clarify the FCC's stand.

In his conversations, Wheeler reportedly told the executives that any deal would be assessed on its own merits, without actually picking out any particular potential deal.

He clarified to them that just because the FCC's staff wasn't convinced that the Comcast deals were in the public interest, they should not assume the agency is against any and all future cable deals. The move by Wheeler comes on the back of a few potential deals in the pipeline. French cable and telecommunications group Altice S.A. (ATCV.OB) agreed Wednesday to acquire 70 percent of the share capital in the seventh-largest U.S. cable operator Suddenlink Communications. Altice is also reportedly eying an acquisition of Time Warner Cable.

Further, the WSJ had reported in early May that John Malone contacted Marcus to express Charter's interest in pursuing friendly deal talks with Time Warner Cable, immediately after the merger was terminated amid regulatory resistance.

Malone is the chairman of Charter Communications' largest shareholder, Liberty Broadband Corp. (LBRDA, LBRDK).

Meanwhile, the WSJ also reported that Charter and Time Warner Cable are already jockeying for advantage by courting Bright House Networks LLC, a smaller cable operator that serves about two million customers.

However, it is not clear how regulators will view the three-way deal to create another cable giant, after they resisted the Comcast-TWC merger.

Comcast agreed in mid-February to acquire Time Warner Cable for $45.2 billion in an all-stock friendly merger deal. The deal was originally expected to close in early 2015.

However, as expected, regulators dug into them and kept delaying the anti-trust reviews amid intense pressure and insurmountable scrutiny, particularly the Federal Communications Commission or FCC, the antitrust watchdog.

This saw Comcast, Time Warner Cable, and Charter Communications deciding to terminate the deals.

The FCC and the DoJ were against the merger proposal, citing harm to consumer interest and competition. Others against the deal included companies such as Netflix Inc. (NFLX), Discovery Communications Inc. (DISCA, DISCK) and Dish Network Corp. (DISH).

U.S. President Barack Obama's call for the FCC to issue rules to protect net neutrality in mid-November had complicated the issue.