The deals, which would create the second-largest US broadband provider and third-largest video provider, now need approval from regulators in California.
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The Federal Communications Commission just announced that it approved Charter’s acquisitions of Time Warner Cable (TWC) and Bright House Networks, allowing Charter to almost quadruple in size.
Chairman Tom Wheeler earlier proposed approval with conditions to prevent Charter from interfering with online video distribution that competes with cable channel entertainment packages.
In a brief statement, the agency said it would issue an order with more details in the coming days.
Critics of the deal say the merger would further decrease competition in a national broadband market already dominated by a small handful of giant corporations that exercise effective monopoly power in many regions of the country.
The respective shareholders of the companies have also approved the deal.
The FCC’s vote, which was expected, comes almost two weeks after the Justice Department gave the merger its own green light. Combined with Time Warner Cable’s existing debt, the new company will emerge carrying more than
The deal is now pending approval from the California Public Utilities Commission, which will vote on the transaction May 12.
FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler was previously in favor of the merger.
Overall, the combined customer relationships of the companies in the merger would be ~$25.1 million at the end of 4Q15, according to Charter. Cablevision has 3.1 million subscribers, mostly in New York, New Jersey and CT.
“These efforts to protect consumers and emerging competition should be viewed in the context of an FCC and an Administration that is working to promote the public interest in broadband and video competition, programming diversity, and consumer choice in a number of ways”, said John Bergmayer, senior staff attorney for the group, in a statement.
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The Justice Department said Charter agreed to refrain from telling its content providers that they can not also sell shows online as part of the approval process. The new company faces a seven-year prohibition on usage-based pricing and data caps, and over that time will not be permitted to charge companies like Netflix so-called interconnection fees to ensure smooth traffic.
