Charter Said to Be Near Deal to Buy Time Warner Cable

[cal04]

Source: NY Times

Charter Communications is near a deal to buy Time Warner Cable for about $55 billion, a person with direct knowledge of the talks said on Monday, a takeover that would create a new powerhouse in the rapidly consolidating American cable industry.

Under the proposed terms of the deal, Charter will pay about $195 a share in cash and stock. That is roughly 14 percent higher than Time Warner Cable’s closing stock price on Friday — and 47 percent higher than Charter’s original bid for its rival from early last year.

A deal could be announced as soon as Tuesday, though this person cautioned that talks were continuing and might still fall apart.

The potential acquisition of Time Warner Cable completes a lengthy quest by Charter and its main backer, the billionaire John C. Malone, to break into the top tier of the American broadband industry.


Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/26/business/dealbook/charter-time-warner-cable-deal.html?_r=0

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(snip)
News of the advanced deal talks comes only a month after Time Warner Cable went back on the block when Comcast terminated the companies’ planned merger in the face of serious pushback from Washington regulators. A Charter-TWC deal could be in for a stringent review in Washington as well, some analysts have said.

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/charter-near-deal-for-time-warner-cable-bloomberg-2015-05-25

[napi21]

1. I hope the gov't stops this merger via anti trust.

They stopped other cos from merging if it created "lack of competition" and this sure would!

[onenote]

3. Much different

First, this would combine the fourth, eighth and tenth largest multichannel video companies to create a company that would still be smaller than both Comcast and DirecTV. It would have a combined total of 17 million customers compared to over 30 million if Comcast and TWC had been allowed to combine.

Second, Charter, TWC and Bright House have virtually no content assets, unlike Comcast, which owns NBC and dozens of cable networks. It was this vertical integration and the threat to broadband that led the DOJ and the FCC to block (correctly I believe) that merger.

This one will not be stopped.

[Atman]

2. Two of the worst cable providers in the world...what could possibly go wrong?

Now just ONE BIG pile of crap instead of two. Ugh.

[napi21]

4. Why do you say Charter is one of the worst cable co?

I'm no cable lover, but I've had Charter since 2000, and although there were some really rocky episodes back at the beginning of my subscription, It's been fine ever since. I think they charges way too much, but I have TV, Internet, and phone through them. I had cable in 3 other States, and I don't see where Charter is an better or worse than they were.