The Regulatory Mix, TMI’s daily blog of regulatory activities, is a snapshot of PUC, FCC, legislative, and occasionally court issues that our regulatory monitoring team uncovers each day. Depending on their significance, some items may be the subject of a TMI Briefing.
TELECOM
California
The application for transfer of control of Time Warner Cable Information Services and Bright House Networks Information Services (both CLECs) to Charter Communications was filed with the PUC in July 2015. Through the transaction, the companies will merge into “New Charter.” Time Warner and Brighthouse will both be indirect subsidiaries of New Charter. The PUC will hold a public participation hearing on the proposed transaction in Los Angeles on January 26, 2016. Charter and Time Warner must send notice of the hearing to their customers.
New York
The PSC will hold a technical conference to address Commission oversight of the telecommunications industry to promote core public interests in light of the continuing evolution of the market and changing consumer demands. The conference will take place on February 24 and 25, 2016. This conference is open to the public and will be webcast. Among other things to be discussed are the
- status and adequacy of legacy systems including the status of core customers, basic service requirements, reliability and service quality, long and short term challenges, customer migration trends, and economic and physical viability;
- status and adequacy of advanced broadband including the scope and adequacy of broadband currently, costs and financing, legal landscape, broadband as a basic service, technological changes and challenges, policies that could promote broadband deployment, affordability and adoption; and
- legal and regulatory issues such as PSC oversight, affordability, carrier of last resort, competition, success and failure of markets, modernizing consumer protections, and network reliability.
Click here for link to the 1/20/16 Notice of Technical Conference for more information about the conference and the agenda.