Roger Fingas
Charter Communications is on the verge of buying out rival Time Warner Cable in a cash-and-stock deal worth approximately $55.1 billion, a report said on Monday.
The two companies are in advanced talks for the takeover which would value Time Warner Cable at $195 per share, according to Bloomberg sources. Charter, meanwhile, is reportedly ready to offer $100 per share in cash, and the remainder of the purchase price in stock.
A deal could be announced as soon as Tuesday. In the process Charter would roll smaller provider Bright House Networks — Â which Charter has been trying to buy for months — into the new entity, a claim echoed by the Wall Street Journal. Bloomberg indicated that the Bright House purchase could be worth $10.4 billion.
An entity resulting from the mergers would have some 23 million customers, placing it second only to Comcast in terms of U.S. cable giants. On its own Charter has 5.9 million residential customers.
The company first tried to buy TWC in 2013, even attempting a hostile takeover. Comcast then made a move of its own, but backtracked when regulators indicated they would block a merger. There was widespread concern the deal would give Comcast too much control of the U.S. media landscape, and people like Minnesota Sen. Al Franken pointed to Comcast's poor business practices, such as favoring its own CNBC business network over Bloomberg.
Sources tell the Journal that Charter is taking a gentler approach to negotiations this time around. John Malone, the owner of Charter backer Liberty Broadband, is said to have called TWC CEO Rob Marcus early on in order to suggest a friendly deal. Charter executives also allegedly avoided a lowball bid that might've been easily rejected.
TWC has also been the target of a European telecoms group, Altice SA — Altice backer Patrick Drahi was said to have met with Marcus on May 20. The same week, Altice announced plans to buy 70 percent of another American cable operator, Suddenlink.
Bloomberg sources claimed that Liberty Broadband is planning to buy $5 billion in new Charter stock to help pay for the deal. Another alleged part of the arrangement is a $2 billion "breakup" fee, which could compensate if Altice wins out or government regulators decide the acquisition raises antitrust concerns.
Although there has been growing resistance to consolidated media power from the public and even the U.S. government, Federal Communications Commission Chairman Tom Wheeler reportedly called Marcus and Charter CEO Tom Rutledge in recent times to assure them them that a merger would be judged on merit and not automatically banned just because cable providers were involved.
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18 Comments
Thinking about this as a TWC customer (no choice in my area), aren't Charter as bad as Comcast?
Thinking about this as a TWC customer (no choice in my area), aren't Charter as bad as Comcast?
Oh get off it. No matter who the carrier is somebody is going to claim they are crap. From AT&T to Verizon to Sprint to T-Mobile to Charter to TWC to AOL to whoever they are all crap in somebody’s eyes. So to answer your question, yes, Charter is just as bad as everyone else since they are all crap according to the malcontents of this world.
Thinking about this as a TWC customer (no choice in my area), aren't Charter as bad as Comcast?
Speaking as a customer of both, there is no comparison. Comcast is dreadful and Charter is decent. At least that's been my experience for many years.
FYI to the writers here: the word "alleged" means "accused," typically of some kind of wrong-doing. It is not a synonym for "rumored" or "suggested."
Oh get off it. No matter who the carrier is somebody is going to claim they are crap. From AT&T to Verizon to Sprint to T-Mobile to Charter to TWC to AOL to whoever they are all crap in somebody’s eyes. So to answer your question, yes, Charter is just as bad as everyone else since they are all crap according to the malcontents of this world.
People hate them because it's difficult to deal with service providers of that size. Many of these companies bought out local and regional carriers over time. If you call due to service problems, there are times where even in a major metropolitan area, you may be put through to a national help desk. Frequently there's little they can do over the phone, because there are so many different municipalities with differing infrastructure and supported equipment. It seems worse after consolidation, because they often continue to neglect certain things due to cost.