feThat Was Fast: Charter Reportedly Already Reaching Out To TWC About Possible Merger

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Today’s headlines are all about Comcast failing to buy Time Warner Cable, but there weren’t just two players in the game. Another company is losing out: Charter would have been the lucky recipient of all the mega-merger’s spun-off customers, giving them greater consolidation over markets mainly in the midwest. But with the failure of the mega-merger, TWC is now minus one new owner, and Charter is minus all those new paying customers. So if a new deal i already in the works, well, color us unsurprised.

Bloomberg Business — which also was the first to hear on Thursday that Comcast was about to bail on the TWC deal — reports this afternoon that Charter has already reached out to spurned suitor Time Warner Cable about another possible union.

Charter already made one go at buying TWC, but got shot down in January in favor of the more lucrative offer from Comcast. As the Comcast/TWC approval process dragged on with federal regulators, Charter made it clear they’d be happy to try again should the opportunity present itself. And now it has.

Charter’s 2013/2014 offer to TWC was about $31 billion; Comcast’s failed bid was $45 billion.

According to Bloomberg, executives from the two companies have not yet sat down to negotiate any specific details, but Charter has already approached banks about potential financing and “advisers” for the company were reaching out to people at Time Warner Cable earlier today.

Charter’s planned acquisition of Florida-centric Bright House Networks is also on the line after the collapse of the Comcast/TWC merger, and could be part of any further merger deals.

As for the regulatory angle, a merged Charter/TWC would have one big advantage over anything involving Comcast, and that’s size. Or rather, the lack thereof. Put together, TWC and Charter still have fewer subscribers than Comcast alone, and would only add to TWC’s status as the second-largest cable company in America.

Charter Advisers Said to Contact Time Warner Cable for Talks [Bloomberg]

by Kate Cox via Consumerist