Ajit Pai votes against Charter/TWC merger, objects to Wheeler’s conditions

FCC Commissioner Ajit Pai. (credit: FCC)

Charter Communications is close to winning approval of its acquisition of Time Warner Cable (TWC), but Federal Communications Commission member Ajit Pai is voting against the deal.

Pai, a Republican, isn't opposed to the cable merger itself, which will make Charter the nation's second largest broadband provider after Comcast. Instead, Pai objects to the conditions that FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler has proposed imposing on the deal. Charter should be able to buy TWC without facing onerous requirements, Pai says.

"The FCC's merger review process is badly broken," a Pai spokesperson said, according to an article in The Hill. "Chairman Wheeler's order isn't about competition, competition, competition; it's about regulation, regulation, regulation. It's about imposing conditions that have nothing to do with the merits of this transaction. It's about the government micromanaging the Internet economy."

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