Charter call: Planning May closing on TWC, Bright House; three-year integration

• In the Q1 earnings call for Charter Communications (NASDAQ:CHTR), CEO Tom Rutledge said the new company (after acquiring Time Warner Cable and Bright House Networks in deals valued by the government at $78B and $10.4B respectively) will drop the Communications and simply be "Charter."
• With federal approvals coming along, Rutledge now hopes to close within a few days of a May 12 vote at the California Public Utilities Commission, where an administrative law judge has recommended approval of the deal with conditions.
• Full integration will take somewhat longer, though -- likely until the end of 2018. Changing pricing and packaging of the new customers will follow a transition to two-way digital cable across its new footprint, comprising 36M passings.
• Shares in Charter are up 2.8% today despite an earnings miss driven by heavier financing costs tied to the company's deals. TWC is up 1.5% after its Q1 beat.
• Now read Cable Cowboy Ropes Deal »