Sallet to Oversee Charter-TWC Deal Vetting

WASHINGTON — Federal Communications Commission chairman Tom Wheeler has picked the team that will vet the latest media mega-merger, the combination of cable operators Charter Communications and Time Warner Cable.

FCC general counsel Jonathan Sallet will lead the merger review of the proposed transaction.

Sallet will chair the steering committee for the transaction team. Others on the committee include Media Bureau chief Bill Lake, International Bureau chief Mindel De La Torre, Wireline Competition Bureau chief Matthew DelNero, and Wireless Telecommunications Bureau chief Roger Sherman.

Justice Department attorney Owen Kendler is joining the office of general counsel to head the transaction review team. Kendler had been assistant chief of the Antitrust Division's Telecommunications and Media Enforcement Section at the DOJ.

Betsy McIntyre of the Wireline Competition Bureau will be deputy lead on the transaction team.

The senior FCC economist on the deal will be William Rogerson, the same official who worked on the Comcast-Time Warner Cable deal, which the FCC opposed, and the AT&T-DirecTV merger, which the FCC is expected to approve with conditions.

John Eggerton

Contributing editor John Eggerton has been an editor and/or writer on media regulation, legislation and policy for over four decades, including covering the FCC, FTC, Congress, the major media trade associations, and the federal courts. In addition to Multichannel News and Broadcasting + Cable, his work has appeared in Radio World, TV Technology, TV Fax, This Week in Consumer Electronics, Variety and the Encyclopedia Britannica.