FCC Wants Answers — Now — From Comcast, Time Warner, Charter

The letter to Comcast contains 93 questions for which the agency wants answers by September 11. The letter to Time Warner has 75 questions, and the FCC even wants answers to 53 questions from Charter Communications Inc. (NASDAQ: CHTR), which has agreed to facilitate the proposed merger by trading and buying some assets from Time Warner and Comcast.

Here is question number 88 to Comcast:

88. Describe in detail the Company’s plans to migrate subscribers acquired as a result of the proposed TWC transaction and the proposed divestiture transaction, including but not limited to:

a. a projected timeline for the transition of all the acquired customers;

b. any plans for relevant services and devices necessary to access the services to be offered to the acquired subscribers, including but not limited to (1) a detailed description of the Company’s plans to provide these subscribers with devices that may be used on the Company’s network and any associated charges to an acquired customer who is required to acquire such a device, and (2) the service plans, bundled services and pricing to be offered to the acquired customers;

c. any plans for the acquired customers to retain their current service plans and if so, the length of time the acquired customers may remain enrolled under their existing service plans;

d. the features and services accessible from each device that will be offered to acquired customers;

e. any services or features that an acquired subscriber received from its previous provider that it will not be able to obtain from the Company after the consummation of the proposed TWC transaction and the proposed divestiture transactions, and plans to introduce that lost service or otherwise compensate the subscriber; and

f. all documents discussing customer migration and transition of the acquired customers to the Company.

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And question 67 wants the scoop on the deal with Netflix Inc. (NASDAQ: NFLX) related to the payments the video streaming company made to Comcast:

67. Produce all documents relating to:

a. Netflix, Inc.’s Internet traffic;

b. the Company’s interconnection agreement with Netflix, Inc., and the negotiations for that agreement, including but not limited to, discussions regarding traffic volumes, traffic quality, Netflix’s Open Connect [content delivery network], and network capacity; and

c. changes, if any, in policies and procedures for technical methods related to Netflix, Inc.’s traffic on the Company’s Internet access service or Internet backbone services, including but not limited to, methods related to packet classification, admission control and resource reservation, rate control and traffic shaping, congestion management, packet dropping and packet scheduling.

From the look of the letters and the detailed questions from the FCC, this merger looks to be headed the way of the aborted merger between AT&T Inc. (NYSE: T) and T-Mobile US Inc. (NYSE: TMUS). Leading the FCC team in the Comcast-Time Warner review is Hillary Burchuk, a former antitrust lawyer at the U.S. Department of Justice, who was on the team that blocked the proposed merger between AT&T and T-Mobile in 2011.

Burchuk did not send the letter, but the FCC official who did reminded all three recipients that if they have any questions related to the inquiries they should call Burchuk. Her phone probably will not be ringing off the hook in the next three weeks.

The deadline for public comment on the merger is Monday, August 25. The FCC on Friday denied a petition from the mayor of Los Angeles to extend that deadline for two weeks.

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