Charter Communications was a frequent suitor for Time Warner Cable before Comcast seemingly trumped it, making acquisition offers three separate times between July 2013 and January 2014, and being rejected each time by TWC's board as being inadequate. That's according to the background of Charter's buying Bright House Networks and TWC included in the preliminary Charter and TWC shareholder proxy vote materials filed Friday with the SEC. Starting in early 2014, Charter began separate negotiations on the acquisition of BHN that ran through the year and into spring 2015, while the Comcast/TWC acquisition was falling apart in the face of FCC concerns about the deal, the proxy materials said. After TWC and Comcast mutually agreed to terminate the deal, Charter CEO Tom Rutledge talked with TWC CEO Robert Marcus about once again looking at a sale, with the two meeting days later at NCTA's annual INTX: the Internet and Television Expo, with Rutledge presenting an offer approved by Charter's board a day earlier of roughly $172.50 per share. That day, an unidentified company also contacted TWC about a possible offer of $180 to $200 per share. That company ultimately told TWC it wouldn't be able to make a formal bid within the time frame TWC specified. The next day, Charter increased its cash-and-stock offer to roughly $195.71 per TWC share. Two days later, May 23, TWC's board unanimously approved the Charter deal.

Scripps Networks Interactive will provide content from 45 different cable series for Verizon's mobile-first video offering to be made available to Verizon Wireless customers later this year, the programmer said in a Thursday news release. The multiyear content licensing agreement the two announced will see such Scripps Networks series as Bizarre Foods, House Hunters and Rehab Addict streaming on Verizon's mobile video offering.

Streaming Showtime content will be available to Hulu subscribers starting in early July, the two companies said Tuesday. A Showtime subscription will be available for Hulu users for $8.99 a month atop the $7.99 a month they currently pay for their Hulu subscriptions. The Hulu move comes as Showtime and rival HBO have made stand-alone subscriptions available in recent weeks through a number of over-the-top channels, including Apple TV, PlayStation Vue and Roku (see 1506080035).

The FCC Media Bureau opened docket 15-149 on Charter Communications' proposed buy of Bright House Networks and Time Warner Cable. The three companies have said they expect to close the deals by year's end, with the result being a company with 23.9 million customers in 41 states. Applications seeking FCC consent to the two deals are still expected, the bureau said Tuesday. The pay-TV universe is paying close attention to the deal in large part because of the regulatory pushback that Comcast's proposed TWC acquisition faced. Comcast in April said it had withdrawn its $45.2 billion offer (see 1504240066).

Contributions in honor of the late founder of Comcast, Ralph Roberts, can be made to two charities in the company's headquarters city of Philadelphia, a spokeswoman for the operator said Monday: The Germantown Boys & Girls Club and the United Way of Greater Philadelphia and Southern New Jersey. Roberts died Thursday at 95 in Philadelphia (see 1506190014).

Cablevision objections to some Game Show Network evidence "lack merit" and often come from "a misunderstanding of the nature of the evidence the motion seeks to exclude, as well as the rules of evidence," the network said in its opposition posted Monday in docket 12-122. Cablevision earlier this month objected to some evidence and experts GSN had hoped to bring in its carriage complaint against the cable company (see 1506150013). A hearing before FCC Chief Administrative Law Judge Richard Sippel regarding GSN's complaint is scheduled to commence July 7. GSN, in its opposition to Cablevision's objection, said Sippel should rule on evidence admissibility at the hearing itself "in the context of the relevant testimony." GSN also filed a separate opposition to Cablevision's objection to work done by Hal Singer, Navigant Economics' managing director, on the profit supposedly given up by Cablevision in the retiering move. Those analyses "are based on record evidence produced by Cablevision and utilize sound and generally accepted methodologies. Contrary to Cablevision’s suggestion, Dr. Singer has not changed his opinions to avoid unhelpful evidence," GSN said.

Sequential Brands Group is buying Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, the consumer brands firm said Monday. Martha Stewart will remain as chief creative officer of the publishing, merchandising and TV content firm and will be nominated to the board of the combined companies. The deal is expected to happen in the second half of the year, with Sequential paying $6.15 per share. Brand promotion and licensing business Sequential's portfolio includes Jessica Simpson shoes, clothing and perfume and Avia running shoes.

The Library of Congress is considering adjusting royalty rates cable systems pay for retransmission of broadcast radio and TV signals, it said in Friday's Federal Register. The royalties are calculated based on the cable system's gross receipts from subscribers who receive the retransmitted broadcast signals, with cable operators lumped into tiers of small, medium and large. The deadline for a petition to participate in the proposed adjustment is July 20.

Expansions of Comcast and Time Warner Cable outdoor Wi-Fi systems got the green light, as the FCC Office of Engineering and Technology granted both companies waivers to operate in the 5,150-5,250 MHz band. The waivers allow for using systems already certified for the U-NII-3 band to be used in the U-NII-1 band, with Comcast planning to deploy an additional 3,583 outdoor Wi-Fi access points certified for U-NII-3, while TWC looks to deploy 10,000, the Thursday waivers said.The Comcast and TWC deployments "should not pose a threat of harmful interference to the incumbent services in the U-NII-1 band" since in both cases the companies' operational parameters and operating power can be adjusted, the OET said.

Charter Communications faces a tougher road than it knows or acknowledges in getting regulatory approval to buy Bright House Networks and Time Warner Cable, BTIG analyst Richard Greenfield said in a note Wednesday. While the White House is particularly focused on promoting broadband competition, the pricing history of Comcast and TWC points to "size/scale ... not leading to the fastest speeds at the lowest prices," Greenfield said. "The government is concerned that new Charter will replicate the behavior of Comcast and Time Warner Cable." Pointing to a transcript of an internal Charter video of a talk between Charter CEO Rob Marcus and TWC CEO Tom Rutledge, Greenfield said Rutledge "appears to completely disagree with President [Barack] Obama, FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler, the FCC and the [Department of Justice]'s viewpoint that there is no meaningful broadband competition, which creates monopoly power." Post-deal Charter "can complete against the great powers in the world ... the Verizons and the AT&Ts and the Comcast and others," Rutledge said in the chat. "Charter does not appear to appreciate how painful approval will be, if it is even possible," Greenfield said. Comcast withdrew its planned buy of TWC after likely DOJ and FCC opposition. Charter had no immediate comment Wednesday.