Senate to Vet Cable Spectrum Deal

By John Eggerton -- Multichannel News, 2/6/2012 12:01:00 AM

Washington — Senate Antitrust Subcommittee chairman Herb Kohl (D-Wisc.) said that plans are “well underway” on a hearing on Verizon Wireless’ deal to buy spectrum from cable operators, a spokesperson for the senator confirmed.

Kohl did not characterize the hearing, suggesting it was simply a matter of the committee doing its oversight job. “The subcommittee carefully examines questions about competition in the wireless and video markets, with the ultimate goal of protecting consumers and reducing their cable and cell phone bills, and these deals are no exception,” he said in a statement.

No date has been set, but a Kohl aide said the hearing would likely come after the February recess. No witness list has been finalized either.

Following a hearing on the proposed merger of cellphone providers AT&T and TMobile USA, which was also billed as a spectrum deal, Kohl asked Justice and the FCC to block the merger. They ultimately did so.

Verizon has struck a deal to buy the spectrum assets of SpectrumCo, the cable- operator consortium, and from Cox Communications, a former member of SpectrumCo.

SpectrumCo is a consortium owned by Comcast (63%), Time Warner Cable (31.2%) and Bright House Networks (5.3%), which bought the spectrum in the FCC’s 2006 advanced wireless services auction along with Sprint Nextel, which was bought out by the other consortium members in 2007.

Cox left the consortium in 2009, taking its spectrum with it. Verizon is offering $3.6 billion for the SpectrumCo holdings and $325 million for Cox’s spectrum, subject to FCC approval.