FCC’s Comcast-Time Warner Cable Merger Review Halted Again

The FCC today said it has stopped the clock on its informal 180-day Comcast-Time Warner Cable merger review for a third time after TWC said it had discovered 31,000 responsive documents it had not produced for the commission. The cable company cited vendor error and that it would have the docs to the FCC by December 30. After FCC staff in a letter “expressed concern about the delays in production of the missing documents and the privilege log,” TWC said it would produce the docs today.

The FCC said it will restart the clock January 12 so “the Commission staff has had an opportunity to review the documents and the revised privilege log for completeness,” the letter reads. Despite the delay, the pleading cycle and reply comments are still due to be filed by tomorrow.

This marks the third time the FCC stopped its informal clock on the proposed $45 billion merger. The previous shutdown came in October, when programmers including CBS, Scripps Networks, Disney, Time Warner, Fox, Univision and Viacom argued they didn’t want potential critics of the deals to see their “highly confidential carriage agreements.” That issue, which also stopped the clock on the FCC’s AT&T-DirecTV merger, was eventually resolved and the Comcast-TWC clock restarted December 3 at Day 85.