Netflix Endorses Charter Acquisition Of Time Warner Cable

This could be important: A lot of Washington watchers believe that Netflix helped to sink Comcast’s effort to buy Time Warner Cable by telling federal regulators that a deal would hurt competition.

But the streaming video power sent the FCC a different message today about Charter Communication’s deal to acquire TWC and Bright House Networks. The cable company’s agreement not to charge for so-called “peering” connections until the end of 2018 “is a substantial public interest benefit” that will “help foster continued innovation across the Internet ecosystem,” Netflix Global Public Policy VP Christopher Libertelli told regulators.

The letter calls Charter’s plan “a welcome and significant departure from the efforts of some ISPs to collect access tolls on the Internet.” If the FCC makes Charter’s promise “an enforceable merger condition” then it will “ensure that consumers will receive the fast connection speeds they expect.”

Investors like the message. Charter shares are up 1.4% and TWC’s are up 1.2% following the letter.