Charter Communications

This April 1 photo shows signage at an entrance to Charter Communications' headquarters in Town and Country, Mo. Charter is trying to convince the government that consumers will benefit if it is allowed to create a cable giant through its proposed acquisition of Time Warner Cable and Bright House.

(AP Photo | Jeff Roberson)

Syracuse, N.Y. — Time Warner Cable and Bright House Networks customers can expect much faster broadband speeds if the companies' acquisition by Charter Communications goes through, according to Charter.

In a document seeking the FCC's approval of license transfers related to the proposed acquisitions, Charter said this week it would offer a minimum download speed of 60 Mbps to Time Warner Cable and Bright House customers. That's four times faster than the 15 Mbps download speed Time Warner Cable and Bright House provide in their standard Internet service.

The faster speed of 60 Mbps is the slowest speed that Charter currently offers its customers. The fastest speed offered by Time Warner Cable to residential customers is 50 Mbps for its "Ultimate" service, according to its website. Bright House, which mostly serves central Florida, offers Internet tiers of up to 300 Mbps.

Charter said its fast, minimum broadband speed enhances the ability of several people in the same house to watch streaming high-definition video at the same time.

The company said it would price its 60 Mbps entry level speeds based on Charter's current pricing model, which it said is less expensive for consumers than Time Warner Cable's and Bright House Networks' comparable offerings.

Comparing cable company fees is not easy, since many customers buy bundled packages that combine Internet, television and phone service, often at discounted or promotional rates.

Currently, Charter is advertising a monthly rate of $40 for its stand-alone Internet service with 60 Mbps download speed. Time Warner is advertising a rate of $35 a month for its stand-alone, 15 Mbps service and $65 a month for its stand-alone, 50 Mbps tier.

Charter also pledged not to impose data caps, usage-based pricing, modem fees or early termination fees. It said it also will not pass on federal or state Universal Service Fund fees to customers.

In May, Charter proposed buying Time Warner Cable for $55.33 billion and Bright House for $10.4 billion. If approved by government regulators, the combined companies would be the second biggest cable company in the country, with nearly 24 million customers in 41 states, including New York.

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