US: Charter Chief meets FCC Chair

Charter Chief Executive Officer Tom Rutledge met with top U.S. regulators a second time in the past month to discuss terms for his company’s proposed merger with Time Warner Cable Inc., as investors are showing increasing confidence the deal will win U.S. clearance.

Rutledge discussed extending broadband to new customer locations in his April 6 meeting with Federal Communications Commission Chairman Tom Wheeler and an aide, according to a disclosure filed by the company. The leaders also discussed Charter’s commitments to let Web companies such as video provider Netflix Inc. connect to its network without charge, and to refrain from setting limits on data usage.

Rutledge also met with Wheeler on March 16, when topics included expanding the company’s residential network and increasing competition in selling broadband to business customers, according to a filing.

Investors have shown growing confidence the merger will win approval. The narrow spread between Charter’s offering price for Time Warner stock and its current trading range shows the perceived risk of the deal foundering has dropped in recent months.

Full content: Bloomberg

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