Charter, TWC Make A Deal

Charter Communications Inc. has sealing a $56.7 billion deal for Time Warner Cable Inc., giving cable mogul John Malone the prize he has been chasing for two years, according to The Wall Street Journal.

The acquisition by Charter, which is backed by Malone’s Liberty Broadband Corp., would vault the cable operator into the ranks of the biggest U.S. broadband and pay-television companies.

The firms have agreed to terms for a cash-and-stock deal that would value Time Warner Cable at $195 a share, according to people familiar with the matter.

As part of the transaction Charter would also merge with small operator Bright House Networks, said people familiar with the deals. The combined cable giant would have 23 million total customers, second only to Comcast’s 27 million among cable operators.

The Wall Street Journal

News of the advanced deal talks comes only a month after Time Warner Cable went back on the block after Comcast terminated the companies’ planned $45.2 billion 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.

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Discussing plans to buy Time Warner Cable, president and CEO of Charter Communications Tom Rutledge says this deal is very different from the previously proposed one with Comcast.