Charter Communications is laying the groundwork for a potential bid for Time Warner Cable, according to people familiar with the matter, after Comcast’s deal unraveled Friday.
Charter, backed by John Malone’s Liberty Broadband, could approach Time Warner Cable with a proposal soon, the people said.
People close to Charter acknowledged that they will have to come up with a better offer than what they presented to Time Warner Cable more than a year ago, given that Time Warner Cable’s operations have improved and both companies’ stock prices have climbed. Charter is unlikely to make a hostile bid, one of the people said. Earlier Friday, Comcast dropped its plan to acquire Time Warner Cable for $45.2 billion amid resistance from regulators, a stunning turnaround for one of the largest proposed media mergers in years. It would have united the nation’s two largest cable providers.
Charter had pursued Time Warner Cable before it was snapped up by Comcast in a surprise move. The unraveling this week of the Comcast deal also reverberated for Charter, scrambling two deals it had planned. Comcast had a deal with Charter to sell or spin off about 4 million subscribers that Comcast and Time Warner Cable planned to divest in their combination. Plus, Charter had agreed to buy cable operator Bright House Networks for $10 billion.Dow Jones Newswires
