Dish Again Raises Red Flags About Comcast/New Charter Broadband Duopoly

New broadband subscriber data reinforces the danger Charter Communications' buying Bright House Networks and Time Warner Cable poses to the growing online video distribution marketplace, Dish Network said in an FCC filing posted Monday in docket 15-149. Pointing to Media Bureau-released broadband subscriber data made available earlier this month to signers of the confidential information protective order, Dish said the combined Charter/TWC/BHN subscribers to its 25-plus Mbps downstream services, alongside Comcast's similar subscribers, would give Comcast and New Charter combined a sizable -- though redacted -- portion of the high-speed Internet market. "The Department of Justice has disapproved of mergers that would have resulted in the duopolists' combined market share below the figure at issue here," Dish said, pointing to DOJ's 2013 antitrust lawsuit aimed at blocking Anheuser-Busch InBev's proposed acquisition of Mexican beer company Grupo Modelo. "Such market concentration between two firms would allow for coordinated action even without active collusion between the players." Dish also renewed its call for the FCC to deny the transactions (see 1511130021). In a statement Monday, Charter said it "would only have 23 percent of broadband subscribers receiving 25 Mbps and above. There is no more OVD friendly provider ... [we] have a minimum broadband speed of 60 Mbps with no data caps, no usage based billing and a generous interconnection policy.” Earlier this month in reply to opposition comments regarding the possible Comcast duopoly, Charter said its business approach in such areas as OVD and broadband are markedly different and that it is no significant programming interests to protect.