Cybertelecom Federal Internet Law & Policy An Educational Project

Industry: Charter

NB: This is a stub page which aggregates note and links topics. It is under development.

Internet Interconnection / Backbone

• Peering Policy
• Interconnection Policy
• PeeringDB
• CAIDA AS Rank: Charter
• Network Map
• Written Statement of Dave Schaeffer, Chairman and CEO, Cogent Communications Group, Inc., Before the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on the Judiciary, Subcommittee on Regulatory Reform, Commercial and Antitrust Law, Hearing on Competition in the Video and Broadband Markets: The Proposed Merger of Comcast and Time Warner Cable, May 8, 2014 (indicating that Charter has been willing to turn up interconnection capacity as needed)
• Charter Business Long-Haul Ethernet Extends Customer Reach, Charter Press Release (June 23, 2011) (“Charter Business is among the first cable operators in the country to offer customers long-haul, high-capacity Ethernet transport across its nationwide Multi-Protocol Label Switching (MPLS) network. Charter's national backbone currently transports more than 300 Gbps of traffic and will now leverage that capability to extend the reach of commercial services”)
• Annual Report 2010, p. 7 “Charter has built and activated a national transport backbone inter-connecting 95% of Charter’s local and regional networks. The backbone is highly scalable enabling efficient and timely transport of Internet traffic, voice traffic, and high definition video content distribution.”

Mergers

Charter / TWC Dkt No 15-149

• CITATION: Application of Charter Communications, Inc., Time Warner Cable Inc., and Advance/Newhouse Partnership for Consent to Assign or Transfer Control of Licenses and Authorizations, Memorandum Opinion and Order, FCC 16-59, MB Dkt. 15-149, 64 Comm. Reg. (P&F) 1259 (2016), https://apps.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/FCC-16-59A1.pdf [hereinafter Charter Order].
•  Released:  08/17/2016.  INDEPENDENT COMPLIANCE OFFICER IDENTIFIED IN ACCORDANCE WITH CHARTER-TIME WARNER-BRIGHT HOUSE MERGER CONDITION. (DA No.  16-936). (Dkt No 16-197 ).  WCB  https://apps.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DA-16-936A1.docx
  https://apps.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DA-16-936A1.pdf
• FCC GRANTS APPROVAL OF CHARTER-TWC-BRIGHT HOUSE MERGER.  News Release. MB   
  
  • DOJ Press Release | United States v. Charter et al (Complaint) | Stipulation | Proposed Final Judgment
• "Charter Communications, Time Warner Cable, and Advance/Newhouse Partnership, the parent of Bright House Networks, have filed applications seeking Commission approval to transfer control of their licenses and authorizations in connection with their merger. The proposed transaction would bring together fourth (Time Warner Cable), seventh (Charter), and tenth (Bright House Networks) largest multichannel video programming distributors (MVPDs) in the country to create the third largest provider in the country, serving roughly 17.3 million customers. Additionally, the new company would bring together 19.4 million broadband subscribers, creating the second largest broadband internet provider in the country and would provide services to customers across portions of nearly 40 states." FCC Charter / TWC Transaction Page
• Letter from Samuel L. Feder, Jenner & Block, Counsel for Charter Communications, to Marlene H. Dortch, Secretary, FCC, MB Docket No. 15-149, at 6 (Dec. 11, 2015)
• Released:  12/01/2015.  ERRATUM - MEDIA BUREAU MAKES AVAILABLE BROADBAND SUBSCRIBER DATA RELEVANT TO REVIEW OF PROPOSED CHARTER-TIME WARNER CABLE-ADVANCE/NEWHOUSE TRANSACTIONS. (Dkt No 15-149 )  Issued an Erratum correcting Public Notice, DA 15-1310, released November 13, 2015.  MB
  
• The Charter Transaction: Status Update Blog Sept 11, 2015
• Released:  09/11/2015.  COMMISSION SEEKS COMMENT ON APPLICATIONS OF CHARTER COMMUNICATIONS, INC., TIME WARNER CABLE INC., AND ADVANCE/NEWHOUSE PARTNERSHIP FOR CONSENT TO TRANSFER CONTROL OF LICENSES AND AUTHORIZATIONS. (DA No.  15-1010). (Dkt No 15-149 )  Comments/Petitions Due: 10/13/2015, Responses to Comments/Oppositions to Petitions Due: 11/02/2015, Replies to Responses/Oppositions Due: 11/12/2015. Comments Due:  10/13/2015. Reply Comments Due:  11/02/2015.  MB . https://apps.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DA-15-1010A1.docx
  https://apps.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DA-15-1010A1.pdf
• Released:  07/27/2015.  COMMISSION ACCEPTS FOR FILING APPLICATIONS OF CHARTER COMMUNICATIONS, INC., TIME WARNER CABLE, INC., AND ADVANCE/NEWHOUSE PARTNERSHIP FOR CONSENT TO TRANSFER CONTROL OF LICENSES AND AUTHORIZATIONS. (DA No.  15-856). (Dkt No 15-149 ).  MB . https://apps.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DA-15-856A1.docx
  https://apps.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DA-15-856A1.pdf
• REVIEW TEAM ANNOUNCED FOR PROPOSED CHARTER-TIME WARNER CABLE-BRIGHT HOUSE NETWORKS TRANSACTION.  News Release. News Media MB
• Released:  06/23/2015.  COMMISSION OPENS DOCKET FOR PROPOSED TRANSFER OF CONTROL OF TIME WARNER CABLE, INC. AND CHARTER COMMUNICATIONS INC. AND PROPOSED TRANSFER OF CONTROL OF BRIGHT HOUSE NETWORKS FROM ADVANCE/NEWHOUSE PARTNERSHIP TO CHARTER COMMUNICATIONS INC. (DA No.  15-733). (Dkt No 15-149 ).  MB .
• STATEMENT OF CHAIRMAN TOM WHEELER ON THE CHARTER/TIME WARNER/BRIGHT HOUSE ANNOUNCEMENT.  STMT. News Media Contact:  OCHTW
• News
  • Time Warner Cable Raising Rates In New York After State Okays Merger With Charter, Consumerist Jan 18, 2016
  • FCC Gets, Seeks More Info on Charter-TWC Deal, Broadcasting and Cable (1/14/16) ("The commission has also issued a request to Level 3 related to its interconnection agreement with Bright House, all part of its ongoing review of the proposed Charter-Time Warner Cable-Bright House merger.")
  • Time Warner Raises OTT Issues in Charter Deal, Broadcasting & Cable (1/15/16) ("According to Time Warner, "the discussion focused on certain statements made by representatives of Charter, both in private interactions and in public forums, including analyst calls and television interviews.  Some of these statements raise concerns because they suggest that a combined Charter/Time Warner Cable would be inclined to take action directed at programmers in response to the development of 'over the top,' or 'OTT,' services with the purpose and/or effect of slowing down the development of OTT options to the detriment of consumers."")
  • Charter’s Peering Policy Move Good News for Open Internet, Over-the-Top Growth, Comptel Press Release, July 15, 2015, (“Charter’s offer to maintain this policy as a condition to its merger goes a long way in addressing concerns that the proposed merger would result in a large ISP with the size and capability to harm the development of online content, apps, and services and harm the open Internet”)
  • Letter from Christopher Libertelli, Vice President, Global Public Policy, Netflix, to Marlene Dortch, Secretary, Federal Communications Commission, MB Docket No. 15-149 (July 15, 2015), (“Netflix has reviewed Charter's new peering policy and its commitment to extend this policy to the Time Warner Cable and Bright House footprints… Netflix believes that this new policy and the commitment to apply it across the "New Charter" footprint is a substantial public interest benefit and will support scaling the Internet to meet consumers' growing demand for onl ine services and help foster continued innovation across the Internet ecosystem. Accordingly, Netflix supports the proposed Charter - Time Warner Cable transaction if it incorporates the merger condition proposed by Charter.”)
  • Letter from Robert N. Beury, Jr., Chief Legal Officer, Cogent Communications, to Marlene Dortch, Secretary, Federal Communications Commission, Docket 15-149 (July 15, 2015), (“Charter’s announcement today of a policy to interconnect on a settlement free peering basis with other Internet service and content providers promotes the virtuous circle of innovation that has characterized the Internet since its inception… Given Charter’s history of open interconnection, its willingness to enter into an enforceable merger condition embodying open interconnection, and the example it sets for the Internet community, Cogent supports the merger.”)
  • Netflix Wilmot Reed Hastings on Q2 2015 Results, Earning Call Transcript, SeekingAlpha June 15, 2015 (“ we saw interconnect fees as the potential next (18:33), where it starts off at very low numbers and then constantly escalates through a set of price discovery battles that impact consumers of various shutoffs to see who can take the pain. And then in general, it sets up an ugly industry structure. And then in fact settlement free was a much stronger way to go where broadband was great for what they do. We and our competitors have to be great for what we do and we don't have to pay each other. And so we think that's the right way to go. We're thrilled that Charter is willing to commit to that across the entire portfolio. I think that's a very substantial advantage for the public in terms of the growth of broadband in the U.S. So we're really excited about it and what it does is it freezes up from worrying about getting taxed by an ISP; and instead we get to worry about how do we make our experience better for consumers.”)

VoIP

See Minnesota PUC Decision that Wireline Interconnected VoIP (specifically Charter) is a Telecom Service.

NB This statement in Annual Reports about interconnection

“We face risks inherent in our commercial business. We may encounter unforeseen difficulties as we increase the scale of our service offerings to businesses. We sell Internet access, data networking and fiber connectivity to cellular towers and office buildings, video and business voice services to businesses and have increased our focus on growing this business. In order to grow our commercial business, we expect to increase expenditures on technology, equipment and personnel focused on the commercial business. Commercial business customers often require service level agreements and generally have heightened customer expectations for reliability of services. If our efforts to build the infrastructure to scale the commercial business are not successful, the growth of our commercial services business would be limited. We depend on interconnection and related services provided by certain third parties for the growth of our commercial business. As a result, our ability to implement changes as the services grow may be limited. If we are unable to meet these service level requirements or expectations, our commercial business could be adversely affected. Finally, we expect advances in communications technology, as well as changes in the marketplace and the regulatory and legislative environment. Consequently, we are unable to predict the effect that ongoing or future developments in these areas might have on our voice and commercial businesses and operations.”

Annual Report 2013 p. 20.  See also Annual Report 2013 p. 20; Annual Report 2012 p. 20; Annual Report 2011, p. 21; Annual Report 2010; Annual Report 2009 p. 8 (emphasis added)

Discontinue VoIP

Released:  07/24/2015.  COMMENTS INVITED ON APPLICATION OF CHARTER ADVANCED SERVICES (MO), LLC TO DISCONTINUE INTERCONNECTED VOIP SERVICES. (DA No.  15-859). (Dkt No 15-169 ). Comments Due:  08/10/2015.  WCB .  https://apps.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DA-15-859A1.docx
https://apps.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DA-15-859A1.pdf

Data Caps

• Karl Bode, Charter Confirms New Caps, DSL Reports (Feb. 4, 2009)
• Phillip Dampier, Charter Communications Quietly Eliminates Usage Caps That Were Rarely Enforced Anyway, Stop the Cap! (March 5, 2015),

Papers Presentations

• Kreig DuBose, Principal Engineer, Charter Communications, Content Delivery Summit, May 20, 2013

Financials

• Charter Annual Report 2014
  • Charter Annual Report 2014, p. 4 ("In 2015, we will also introduce our new set-top box, which we call, Worldbox. This smaller, more capable box is interoperable with all of our legacy video platforms and can be sourced from multiple vendors, reducing costs. Worldbox also provides additional flexibility as our network and services evolve. We will also be launching WiFi hot spots (Spectrum WiFi) for our residential customers at Spectrum Business locations in 2015. These hotspots will provide additional value to our Internet customers when they are outside the home and lay the foundation for additional wireless offerings.")
  • Charter Annual Report 2014, 10-K, p. 6 "In 2014, residential Internet services represented approximately 28% of our total revenues.  Approximately 95% of our estimated passings have DOCSIS 3.0 wideband technology, allowing us to offer our residential customers multiple tiers of internet services with download speeds of up to 100 Mbps and up to 120 Mbps in certain markets."
  • Charter Annual Report 2014, p. ii. "the impact of competition from other market participants, including but not limited to incumbent telephone companies, direct broadcast satellite operators, wireless broadband and telephone providers, digital subscriber line ("DSL") providers, video provided over the Internet and providers of advertising over the Internet"
  • Charter Annual Report 2014, 10-K, p. 12 "Internet access facilitates the streaming of video, including movies and television shows, into homes and businesses. Online video services including those offered by Hulu, Netflix, Amazon and Apple.  Increasingly, content owners are using Internet-based delivery of content directly to consumers, some without charging a fee to access the content. Further, due to consumer electronic innovations, consumers are able to watch such Internet-delivered content on televisions, personal computers, tablets, gaming boxes connected to televisions and mobile devices. Recently, HBO and CBS announced plans to sell their programming direct to consumers over the Internet. DISH network has also announced Sling TV which will include ESPN among other programming, and Sony has announced Playstation Vue which is expected to include 75 channels to be included in the first quarter of 2015. We believe some customers have chosen or will choose to receive video over the Internet rather than through our video on demand and subscription video services, thereby reducing our video revenues. We cannot predict the impact that Internet delivered video will have on our revenues and adjusted EBITDA as technologies continue to evolve."
• Nearly 1.2 Million Add Broadband in the First Quarter of 2014, Leichtman Research Group (May 20, 2014), ("In 2014, the top 17 BIAS providers represented 93% of the market.  The top providers were Comcast (21 million subscribers), AT&T (17 m), Time Warner Cable (now part of Charter, 12 m), Verizon (9 m), Centurylink, (6 m), Charter (5 m), and Cablevision (3 m).")
• Annual Report 2013 p. 20 ("We depend on interconnection and related services provided by certain third parties for the growth of our commercial business. As a result, our ability to implement changes as the services grow may be limited.")
  • Annual Report 2013 p. 17 “Our network includes three components: the national backbone, regional/metro networks and the "last-mile" network. Both our national backbone and regional/metro network components utilize or plan to utilize a redundant Internet Protocol ("IP”) ring/mesh architecture with the capability to differentiate quality of service for each residential or commercial product offering. The national backbone provides connectivity from the regional demarcation points to nationally centralized content, connectivity and services. The regional/metro network components provide connectivity between the regional demarcation points and headends within a specific geographic area and enable the delivery of content and services between these network components.”

News

• FCC CHAIRMAN PAI STATEMENT ON CHARTER’S BROADBAND INVESTMENT ANNOUNCEMENT -- WASHINGTON, March 24, 2017 (“I applaud Charter Communications for its announcement today that it intends to spend $25 billion in broadband infrastructure and technology over the next four years. I am optimistic that this massive investment will help to close the digital divide and to strengthen our economy.”)
• Lawsuit filed against Spectrum (Charter) for $9.99 wifi activation fee, Tampa Bay Times Feb. 9 2017 ("Memmer is one of more than a million former Bright House Networks customers Spectrum acquired when Charter bought the company in a deal finalized in May. The suit said Spectrum "illegitimately asserted" that Memmer "had newly enrolled in WiFi service" when she had, in fact, done no such thing.")
• Jon Brodkin, Charter Wrongly Charged Customers $10 Wifi Activation Fee, Gets Sued, Ars Technica Feb. 10, 2017 ("The Wi-Fi activation fee seems to be intended only for new customers or current customers who lease a new wireless router from Charter and want a technician to install it. It's not clear why an additional fee is necessary to connect a router for brand new customers, particularly given that there's a separate fee for equipment installation.")
• Marvin Ammori, Here's How Charter Will Commit to an Open Internet, WIRED (June 25, 2015) ("Charter also posts a laudable no-cost interconnection policy for Internet backbone companies")
• David Lieberman, Charter Chief Considers Adding Netflix and Skinny Bundles - and TWC, DEADLINE Hollywood (May 1, 2015) (4.2 million subscribers)
• Karl Bode, Netflix CDN Partners Soar in Latest Netflix ISP Rankings, DSLReports (Feb. 12, 2013). 
• Kreig DuBose, Principal Engineer, Charter Communications, Content Delivery Summit, May 20, 2013
• Alan Breznick, Akamai Offers CDN Aid to Cable, Light Reading (5/29/2013), ("Akamai has not announced any new cable customers since buying out Verivue six months ago. Verivue, which had Comcast and Arris as two key financial backers, counted Cox Communications and Charter Communications as two of its biggest MSO customers. ")
• Steve Donohue, Charter Integrates Netflix, Amazon, Hulu with TV Everywhere Portal, Fierce Cable November 1, 2011 ("With Charter reporting Tuesday that it lost 64,500 video subscribers during the third quarter, its Charter.net announcement could help its marketing efforts since it can boast that it's offering subscribers something that rivals such as AT&T  and DirecTV  aren't doing through their Web portals")
• Jeff Baumgartner, Charter’s VOD Networks Tastes of CDN, Lightreading November 8, 2010 “Charter is managing its VoD library using a Web-based content management and quality control system from Ascent Media Group LLC , a firm that's pursuing cable deals as MSOs of all sizes seek out ways to expand their VoD vaults using CDN-like architectures.”
• Brian Washburn, Charter Quietly Gets Down to Business with Fiber, Ethernet, and SIP Trunking, IT Connections Blogs (March 7, 2012) ("In 2011, Charter built a new national network infrastructure using Cisco CRS-3 and ASR 9000 gear; while other cable providers have national backbones but keep long-haul services custom, Charter Business offers its long-haul services off-the-shelf, with 300 Gbps of potential long-haul capacity on tap")
• Not Acceptable Behavior by Charter DSLREPORTS 2008 (DNS intercepting and rerouting)
• Charter Screwing with DNS Hackday 2008
• Charter Proxy Preventing Downloads DSLReports 2003