The Regulatory Mix, TMI’s daily blog of regulatory activities, is a snapshot of PUC, FCC, legislative, and occasionally court issues that our regulatory monitoring team uncovers each day. Depending on their significance, some items may be the subject of a TMI Briefing.
TELECOM
FCC
Charter/TWC/Brighthouse Merger
The FCC announced that it approved, with conditions, the Application filed by Charter Communications, Inc., Time Warner Cable Inc., and Advance/Newhouse Partnership approval to transfer control of certain licenses and authorizations from Time Warner Cable and Bright House Networks to Charter Communications. The FCC said that an Order detailing its reasoning and the conditions will be issued “in the coming days.”
E-Rate Funding Cap
The FCC’s Wireline Competition Bureau announced that the E-rate program funding cap for funding year 2016 is $3,939,000,000. This represents a $39,000,000 increase for the E-rate program funding cap as a whole and a $29,000,000 increase for the category one services funding level and a $10,000,000 increase for the category two services funding level. The funding cap is adjusted each year to reflect annual inflationary changes.
Vermont
The Vermont Public Service Board (Board) seeks comment on a draft procedure regarding implementation of the High-Cost Program established in 2014 and amended in 2015. The Board developed the draft procedure to provide further guidance on the implementation of the High-Cost Program for carriers requesting Vermont Eligible Telecommunications Carrier (VETC) status. Comments on the draft procedure are due by May 16, 2016. TMI Briefing Service subscribers see Briefing dated 5/6/16.
