Charter Communications (CHTR) Officially Merge With Time Warner (TWC)

Charter Communication (CHTR) officially owns Time Warner Cable (NYSE:TWC) and another cable provider, Bright House, after a mega merger valued at $65 billion closed. This means the customer-hated Time Warner Cable name is going away. The newly enlarged Charter is now one of the biggest television providers in the country, standing alongside Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA), AT&T (NYSE:T), and Verizon (VZ).

Charter calls its cable television and broadband services “Spectrum.”

“One of our first major initiatives in implementing the Charter Playbook is to streamline our product pricing and packaging and introduce our consumer-facing brand, Spectrum,” Charter CEO Tom Rutledge told employees in an email message per a report via CNN Money. “This will be rolled out in a phased approach beginning this fall.”

This merger was announced almost one year ago. Charter and Time Warner did face some backlash from Dish Network (DISH) back in October 2015 as the rival company urged the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to dismiss the then pending merger due to concerns of a potential lack of competition in the market. It won its final approval last week from California's Public Utilities Commission, which means Wednesday is the day that the deal actually took effect.

Charter has somewhat higher marks for customer service than Time Warner Cable, though the industry as a whole is not very popular among customers. The company is hoping to win new fans in Time Warner Cable markets like Los Angeles and New York.

Public interest advocates have doubts about whether the deal will truly help customer service issues as well as fair pricing for consumers, but a Charter spokesman said it will offer a “superior product set at highly competitive prices,” per CNN Money.

The company is also highlighting the fact that it is bringing “thousands of outsourced jobs back to the United States,” as Rutledge said in his email. Overseas Time Warner Cable call centers will be replaced by American workers.

Charter Communications has a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).