Charter Communications

Comcast Corp. and Charter Communications reached a deal for Comcast to divest millions of subscribers, helping it smooth over regulatory concerns involving its $45 billion deal for Time Warner Cable. As part of the agreement, Comcast will divest about 1.4 million existing Time Warner Cable customers directly to Charter for cash.

Charter said the risk of regulatory rejection of the merger, combined with probable delays, made it in the interest of Time Warner Cable shareholders to turn down the deal.

Charter Communications dropped the ball in a big way when it allowed Comcast to snatch Time Warner Cable from its grasp in a $45 billion acquisition. Now Charter has to come up with a fallback plan.

Charter Communications may not lick its wounds for long before trying to grab another piece of the consolidating U.S. cable industry. Charter, John Malone’s Liberty Media Corp. and advisers are having a board meeting next week to discuss options, according to a person familiar with the matter.

In its most aggressive move yet to take over Time Warner Cable, Charter is proposing a full slate of directors to its target’s board.

Charter Communications’ $38 billion bid to take over the much-larger Time Warner Cable Inc. is an attempt to future-proof its business by getting its foot in the door of millions more homes wired for Internet service.

Charter Communications Inc is discussing raising its bid for Time Warner Cable Inc as soon as in the next two weeks, according to people familiar with the matter, a move that could pressure its reluctant rival ahead of a proxy deadline. Charter is considering a higher bid in the low $140s per share range, the people said on Friday, up from its current $132.50 per share offer that values the second-largest U.S. cable operator at $37.3 billion based on shares outstanding.

Public interest watchdog groups held a lobbying session at the FCC earlier this month, making a case for barring joint sales and shared services agreements in which the stations share management or in which one of the stations in the combo sells 15% or more of the advertising time of the other.

As Charter Communications Inc campaigns for investor support for its $37.3 billion bid for Time Warner Cable Inc, Charter CEO Tom Rutledge and his turnaround skills are front and center of that effort. But Rutledge’s track record as COO of Cablevision Systems Corp. from 2004 to 2011 shows that he may not be quite the miracle worker that allies like to portray him as.

No 1 cable provider Comcast, in its talks with Charter about a possible deal to acquire parts of Time Warner Cable, would be interested in an agreement that gives Comcast the New York market and parts of New England, a person familiar with the matter said on Friday.

Charter Communications reached out to Comcast Corp. yesterday about teaming up to buy Time Warner Cable, after the larger rival rejected its $37.3 billion takeover bid, according to people familiar with the matter. Charter approached Comcast on Wednesday to discuss carving up the second-largest U.S. cable company’s systems and subscribers.

Executives with Charter Communications, which has 4.2 million video customers, argued that its $38 billion offer for Time Warner Cable is urgently needed because TWC is rapidly losing customers for key services such as video, voice and even Internet.

Time Warner Cable’s board rejected the $62 billion offer as “grossly inadequate.” Time Warner Cable CEO Rob Marcus said: “In essence, these guys are just trying to get a premium asset at a bargain basement price. This makes the job of fending it off rather straightforward. Our shareholders will see it as what it is, an attempt to steal the company.”

Charter Communications Inc. offered to buy Time Warner Cable Inc. for about $132.50 a share, valuing the second-largest U.S. cable provider at more than $61 billion, including debt. The proposal includes about $83 cash per share and about $49.50 in Charter stock, Tom Rutledge, Charter’s CEO, said in an interview. The offer is the third-largest for any global company since 2009, according to Bloomberg data.

Richmond, Va.-based Media Genera yesterday reached a settlement with Charter Communications to renew their retransmission consent agreement. Both companies had agreed to extend the agreement, which was set to expire Dec. 31, until midnight on Thursday. The resolution prevented a disruption in service just before Media General’s stations were set to go dark.

Charter Communications and Cox Media have reached retransmission consent agreements for four markets: Atlanta (WSB), Charlotte (WSOC), San Francisco (KTVU-KICU), and Seattle (KIRO).

Pappas Telecasting: “Retransmission consent negotiations with Charter Cable have not been successful. As a result, NTV [KWNB (ABC)] and our sister station KFXL (Fox) may be removed from Charter’s lineup as of midnight on Dec. 31. We are hopeful that a mutually satisfactory agreement will quickly be reached.”

Liberty Media Corp.’s top executives estimate that a merger between Charter Communications and Time Warner Cable could generate roughly $700 million in annual synergies, according to people close to the matter.

Charter Communications Inc. is preparing to send an offer letter to acquire Time Warner Cable Inc. as soon as next week, a source close to the matter said today.The offer is expected to be less than $135 per share and will be a combination of cash and stock, said the source, who asked not to be named because the matter is not public.

Two major cable company executives have downplayed the possibility of a merger-buyout. Tom Rutledge, CEO of Charter Communications, says: “Charter doesn’t need to do any deals to make itself a highly valuable business.”

Wall Street reacted positively to reports of a merger, including the possibility that Comcast and Charter could team up to buy Time Warner Cable and then divide its holdings. Wall Street has been preparing for another wave of consolidation in the cable industry as distributors want to become more muscular to better compete in a technologically complex and competitive landscape. Operators also want more leverage in negotiations with major programmers such as Viacom, Walt Disney Co. and 21st Century Fox.

The Wall Street Journal is reporting that Charter Communications is nearing an agreement with banks to borrow money for a bid for Time Warner Cable, according to people familiar with the situation — a sign that the scrappy cable operator’s effort to engineer a combination of the two companies may be moving into high gear. WSJ subscribers can read the full story here.

STAMFORD, Conn. (AP) — Charter Communications Inc. (CHTR) said Tuesday that its third-quarter loss narrowed, helped by contributions from an acquisition this summer and higher revenue from its cable TV […]

Charter Communications Inc. is weighing a bid for Time Warner Cable Inc before year-end and is trying to devise a deal structure that would lure the No. 2 U.S. cable operator’s shareholders, people familiar with the matter say.

DirecTV, Time Warner Cable and Charter Communications are considering capturing free broadcast signals from TV networks to avoid paying billions of dollars in retransmission fees. “If found to be legal, the Aereo concept is very interesting, especially as it relates to retransmission consent fees,” says a TWC spokesperson.

Fox announced Thursday that its new national sports network — Fox Sports 1 — is set to bow Saturday with all major cable, satellite and telco TV operators, including late holdouts DirecTV, Dish Network and Time Warner Cable. FS1 will be distributed to about 90 million U.S. households, according to Fox.

Cox Communications Inc., the third-largest U.S. cable provider, has held talks about combining with Charter Communications Inc., according to two people with knowledge of the matter. Cox President Pat Esser has discussed a deal with representatives from Liberty Media Corp., which owns a 27% stake in Charter, said one of the sources. The structure of a potential deal hasn’t been determined, including which company might be the acquirer, the other source said.

Billionaire John Malone is exploring scenarios for how Charter Communications Inc. could acquire Time Warner Cable, even after his initial overtures were rebuffed, according to people familiar with the discussions. Malone’s Liberty Media Corp., which owns 27% of Charter, is working on how to structure an offer with enough cash to win over TWC investors, said the people, who asked not to be named because the deliberations are private. Time Warner Cable isn’t interested in a deal and doesn’t think Liberty and Charter can come up with an offer that’s attractive, according to people familiar with management’s thinking.

Wall Street is fired up about consolidation in the cable industry and is betting on Charter Communications chief Tom Rutledge to lead the latest deal-making — potentially a merger involving Cablevision or Time Warner Cable. Although Charter is half the size of Time Warner, the fourth-largest pay TV provider, Wall Street would like to see the two combined under the leadership of Rutledge.

Liberty Media boss John Malone and sidekick Greg Maffei have grand plans to consolidate the cable business via a 27% stake in Charter Communications. Fed up with the balkanized cable industry’s lack of coordination and ineffective efforts to battle the likes of Netflix, Malone and Maffei plan to pitch cable bigs on a get-together plan.

At issue are three 60-second spots that Antennas Direct of Ellisville, Mo., sought to air in the St. Louis market through Charter Communications on ESPN, the History Channel and other cable networks. The ads encourage viewers to cancel cable and save money by buying an antenna. Charter spokeswoman Anita Lamont said the company decides on a case-by-case basis whether to accept advertising of competitors. “In this instance, we made a decision not to accept business advertising from this company for this particular product,” she said.

Liberty Media, the Englewood, Colo.-based holding company controlled by billionaire John Malone, said it agreed on a deal with investment funds tied to Apollo Management, Oaktree Capital Management and Crestview Partners to buy about 26.9 million shares and about 1.1 million warrants in the cable TV provider.

As a pioneer in the U.S. cable industry, John Malone’s hard-nosed deal making earned him the moniker “Darth Vader.” Now, 14 years after selling a big chunk of his empire to AT&T, Malone is returning to the fray. According to the Wall Street Journal, his Liberty Media Corp. is close to an agreement to buy 25% of Charter Communications for about $2.5 billion, say people familiar with the situation. WSJ subscribers can read the story here.

Cablevision Systems is selling its Optimum West systems, which pass more than 660,000 homes and serve 304,000 video subscribers and 366,000 customer relationships in Colorado, Montana, Wyoming and Utah.

A lot of Wall Streeters believe that something important is in the works. The cable company’s shares are up 5% in afternoon trading amid talk that it’s gearing up for a deal with a larger company — possibly either Time Warner Cable or Cox. Yesterday Charter said it hired a Wall Street vet to handle M&A: Charles Fisher is the new SVP for corporate finance.

In addition to covering retrans rights for the CBS Owned Stations, the deal  includes new online and on-demand availability of programming from CBS and Showtime.

The new multi-year agreement covers ABC, ESPN, WABC New York, KABC Los Angeles, WLS Chicago, KGO San Francisco, KTRK Houston, WTVD Raleigh-Durham, N.C., and KFSN Fresno, Calif.,  a host of other services available to Charter customers both in and out of the home.

Charter Communications has signed a carriage agreement with Estrella TV to deliver the US Hispanic entertainment network to select additional markets. “Multicultural programming choices are increasingly important to our customers. […]

Cable operator Charter Communications said it will use ad widgets from FourthWall Media to propel advanced advertising opportunities in 800,000 homes in five markets.