Comcast Faces California Scrutiny of Merger

California is joining New York as states that are independently reviewing the proposed merger between Comcast and Time Warner Cable, the Latin Post reports. The state’s public utility commission explained its reasoning in a Thursday memo:

“Comcast and TWC, through their California subsidiaries, would potentially combine the two largest providers of high-speed last mile broadband service in the state,” reads the memo. “The Merger would impact competition and consumer welfare in California’s market for wholesale telecommunications, retail voice, backhaul and broadband services.”

“More importantly, the Merger would have an impact on broadband deployment in California as two of the largest cable broadband services in the state form one entity.”

The commission may end up suggesting California-specific conditions to the merger; the record of its review will be filed with the Federal Communications Commission, which is doing the federal review of the merger.