Charter/TWC/BHN Unlikely To Lead to RSN Foreclosure, big Affilliate Fee Hikes, Economists Say
Neither TWC SportsNet nor SportsNet LA -- both owned by Time Warner Cable -- is likely to get significantly higher equilibrium affiliate fees if Charter Communications' buy of Bright House Networks and TWC goes through, Charter said in an FCC…
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filing posted Friday in docket 15-149. The bulk of the filing was an analysis by economists of programming foreclosure issues for the regional sports networks owned by TWC. Also unlikely would be permanent foreclosure of TWC SportsNet, which is carried by numerous multichannel video programming distributors in the Los Angeles area and some outside of it, Charter said. New Charter would profit less by refusing to supply TWC SportsNet to a rival MVPD than it would make from affiliate fees, Charter said. And while the Charter deals could result in higher equilibrium affiliate fees, it said, consumers on balance would be better off because of transaction-specific efficiencies elsewhere. Only Charter, BHN and TWC carry SportsNet LA, so analyzing temporary foreclosure issues is problematic, the analysis said, saying there's no evidence a deal would lead to foreclosure or a significant hike in affiliate fees charged for SportsNet LA.