Public has 30 days to comment on Liberty-OneLink deal
Consumers will have their say on the proposed merger between Liberty and OneLink, the TRB announced Sunday. (Credit: © Mauricio Pascual)
The Puerto Rico Telecommunications Regulatory Board has yet to receive Liberty Cablevision of Puerto Rico’s application asking for approval of its proposed acquisition of OneLink Communications, but it has already opened a 30-day public comment window to allow consumers and competitors to weigh in on the proposed transaction.
The $585.2 million deal would combine the island’s top two cable providers, which together would serve 45 towns and some 400,000 customers, as News is my Business reported.
In a resolution and order, the TRB announced that the general public and all those that could be affected by the transaction would be able to submit their comments through case 2012-CCG-0002.
“Knowing the importance of such a transaction to Puerto Rican consumers and under the laws and regulations for cable television companies, we have determined to open a procedure so the general public and those who may be affected by the purchase of OneLink may have a say in the matter,” TRB President Sandra Torres said in a statement issued Sunday.
Consumers will be able to express how they would benefit with regards to the services they currently receive and how they think they could be improved if the purchase of OneLink by Liberty were to materialize. Comments may be submitted via email at [email protected] or through the agency’s website at www.jrtpr.pr.gov through early August.
The TRB will consider all comments submitted when evaluating Liberty’s application and they will also be sent to the Federal Communications Commission so they may also evaluate them, Torres said.
“It’s imperative for the Board to know how consumers feel about this transaction to ensure, fair and equitable competition in benefit of the consumer,” she said.
Liberty should provide boxes with a different frequency so that you can easily manage two different TV’s in same room. At present One Link does not. That’s the reason I dropped One Link.
Nestor Rivera