Charter Sees Support, Criticism for TWC/BHN Deals Based on Programming Diversity
Diverse programming is both a reason to back Charter/TWC/BHN and a cause for concern about the deals, the National Diversity Coalition (NDC) and Herring Networks told FCC commissioners and representatives, according to a pair of ex parte filings (see here…
Sign up for a free preview to unlock the rest of this article
Timely, relevant coverage of court proceedings and agency rulings involving tariffs, classification, valuation, origin and antidumping and countervailing duties. Each day, Trade Law Daily subscribers receive a daily headline email, in-depth PDF edition and access to all relevant documents via our trade law source document library and website.
and here) Tuesday in docket 15-149. NDC, in meetings with Commissioners Ajit Pai and Mike O'Rielly, and with Gigi Sohn, aide to Chairman Tom Wheeler, said Time Warner Cable's "relatively poor record ... on diverse programming," along with Charter Communications' "far stronger commitment to diversity of programming" were a central reason for NDC's support of Charter's planned buys of Bright House Networks and TWC. The group also said it believes Charter would likely "go well beyond" its pledges for New Charter board and employment diversity (see 1601150017), and its planned low-income broadband offering would be notable progress in narrowing the digital divide. Conversely, Herring CEO Robert Herring and President Charles Herring met with Commissioner Mignon Clyburn about its proposals that Charter/TWC/BHN be conditioned on New Charter's carrying independent, unaffiliated news services and on carrying any independent programmer that can show it previously had an affiliation agreement with Charter with an over-the-top prohibitive exhibition clause. Such an alternative distribution method-centric clause would correct "past harms and minimize the concerns of discriminatory, anticompetitive, and retaliatory behavior," Herring said. It has pushed for a Charter/TWC/BHN condition requiring it to carry any independent network that already has a national footprint and carriage on some rival multichannel video programming distributors (see 1602220061). In a statement Wednesday, Charter said, “As evidenced by the overwhelming support of independent programmers like The Blaze, Entrevision, TV One, Baby First, RFD-TV, One World Sports, Fuse Media, Ovation, Inspire, AXS TV, Condista, Bounce TV, Crown Media, and Reelz, Charter is and will remain committed to offering our customers the best possible array of programming.”