Drilling down into the specifics of the FCC's pending merger approval of Charter Communications (NASDAQ: CHTR), Time Warner Cable (NYSE: TWC) and Bright House Networks, New York Times reporters Cecilia Kang and Emily Steel looked at some of the regulator conditions for the deal.
One thing likely to go away for the newly expanded Charter would be the ability to forge "most favored nation" deals with programmers, Kang said.
"Arrangements to withhold programming, known as 'most favored nation' clauses, are common but secret," Kang said in a Q&A with the reporters. "But the FCC and Department of Justice, which is also reviewing the deal, have made more noise about them in various speeches because they think such deals stifle streaming services by keeping the most popular shows exclusively in the cable bundle."
You can read the full NYT report here.