Charter lobbies up in merger bid

Charter Communications is ramping up its Washington lobbying operations as the firm makes its case to regulators reviewing its proposed merger with Time Warner Cable.

Charter went on a hiring spree, registering four lobbying firms in a single day. The roster of outside help features some heavy hitters with connections on both sides of the aisle tapped to help smooth the roughly $55 billion purchase of Time Warner and a $10.4 billion acquisition of Bright House Networks, a smaller provider with operations in five states. The hires bring the company’s total number of outside lobbyists to nine. ”In general we don’t want to find that we’re in a crucial part of the process and find that we don’t have the resources to do what we need to do,” said Alex Dudley, Charter’s Senior Vice President of Communications, when asked about the hires. As it makes its case, Charter has also hired net neutrality advocate Marvin Ammori to consult on the deal and possible conditions that regulators could place on it. According to a person familiar with his role at the company, Ammori will mostly work with Charter Executive Vice President for Government Affairs Catherine Bohigian as the company evaluates conditions.