Comcast was not able to acquire fellow cable and Internet provider Time Warner Cable, but another company is now close to acquiring it.
Time Warner Cable is currently in negotiations with small Internet cable provider Charter Communications about being absorbed into its company, says a number of sources who are familiar with the deal, reports Reuters.
"The new deal, and the friendly negotiations that preceded it, are in sharp contrast to the acrimonious exchanges in 2013 and early 2014 that ended with Time Warner Cable's rejecting unsolicited approaches by Charter and instead finding a white knight in Comcast," according to Reuters.
The deal is currently valued at $55 billion and would end up combining the second and third largest cable providers in the United States into a single company. Charter's potential deal is significantly more than the $45 million Comcast was going to pay.
If the deal goes through, then TWC shareholders will be offered an opportunity to receive compensation for their shares. At this time, TWC shares are currently valued at $195. Charter will offer all shareholders the option to opportunity to take either $100 or $115 in cash and receive the balance in Charter stock if the deal happens.
While this merger would create a significantly larger cable provider, it will still have a hard time competing with Comcast. The combined forces of TWC and Charter will only have 23 million customers in it, which is significantly smaller than Comcast's 27.2 million customer base.
Rumors of the Department of Justice's negative views of the Comcast/Time Warner Cable merger lead Comcast to abandon a merger last month.
Time Warner Cable and Charter both declined the opportunity to comment on the deal.
