How a cable mega-deal could finally (and indirectly) make it easier to get good Internet

As Charter prepares to take over Time Warner Cable and create a huge new company covering 24 million customers, regulators want the combined firm to make some commitments of its own to ensure the merger doesn't create problems for competition. One of the more interesting requirements is that Charter (or "New Charter," as the company refers to its future self) will have to build new high-speed Internet connections to millions of households. Depending on how they shake out, these actions could foreshadow some unprecedented changes in the way Americans get their Internet. The Charter-TWC deal could end up being the tip of a very large iceberg.

To fulfill the FCC's requirement Charter is allowed (and would likely need) to consider entering markets where a cable company already offers service. That's a huge change from what consumers have historically known, which is a system where — because the costs of building infrastructure are so high — towns and cities simply agreed to let one provider do all the legwork. As a result, Americans at one point could choose from only one cable provider. Since then traditional phone companies like Verizon and AT&T have also begun offering high-speed service and competing with the local cable companies. But we generally haven't seen cable firms go head-to-head with one another for Internet customers in the same geographic area. For the first time, then, consumers could someday see New Charter compete directly with the likes of Comcast in places like Pennsylvania or Florida.