John Malone

John C. Malone, the chairman of Liberty Media, is working behind the scenes to gain control of Time Warner Cable, seeking a second act in an industry he once dominated.

The chairman of Liberty Media compares the growing sense of bitterness in pay TV to the dysfunction in Washington: There’s so much tension lately between programmers and distributors — especially over pricing — because “like [in] the political system, the moderates have been driven out of the business,” John Malone told an investor gathering.  He said Internet video services led by Netflix have become so popular that they’ve pressured traditional pay TV companies to focus on short-term gains instead of deals that would create long-term value.

Cable cowboy John Malone is just starting to think about hanging up his spurs. While the Liberty Media chairman has no plans to retire any time soon, he has told colleagues recently that he wants to put in place a succession plan for when he eventually steps aside, according to sources familiar with the talks. The 73-year-old billionaire oversees a far-flung media empire with investments spanning cable, satellite radio and music.

Billionaire John Malone’s re-emergence in the U.S. cable business is a bet on the growth of broadband, and he believes the industry can soon deliver speeds of up to 500 megabits per second to the home. Today, Malone also said the nation’s home Internet service providers will ultimately move to a pricing model similar to the wireless industry where fees are based on the amount of data consumed rather than speeds.

Liberty Media Corp. Chairman John Malone urged fellow billionaire Charlie Ergen to combine Dish Network Corp. with DirecTV to get the advantages of bigger bulk in the pay-TV business. “It would be good if DirecTV could combine with Echo or Dish or whatever Charlie calls it now just because scale economics in the media business drives down costs and makes it possible for larger investment,” Malone said in an interview at the Allen & Co. conference in Sun Valley, Idaho.

Sun Valley, the annual mogul get-together hosted by Allen & Company which kicks off Tuesday evening, will have golf, creek-side cocktails and the King of Jordan. But what about the deals? Anything can happen between rounds of golf and closed-door panels — but it’ll probably be consolidation.

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.

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.

Cable pioneer John Malone warned that the runaway cost of sports programming poses a threat to the pay-TV industry. He said rising cable bills may be reaching the breaking point for consumers, adding that it’s time for sports channels to be moved to a separate tier, allowing customers to decide whether to pay for them.

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.

John Malone’s Liberty Global has opened talks with Britain’s Virgin Media over a takeover that would increase the U.S. cable group’s dominance in Europe and step up a challenge to media mogul Rupert Murdoch.

Add cable industry pioneer and Liberty Media Chairman John Malone to the growing list of people who think sports programming costs are out of control. “We’ve got runaway sports rights, runaway sports salaries and what is essentially a high tax on a lot of households that don’t have a lot of interest in sports. The consumer is really getting squeezed, as is the cable operator.”

Barry Diller is stepping down as CEO of IAC — and he’s getting a divorce from John Malone after a long, often tumultous marriage. Diller announced today that he has relinquished his post at the New York-based digital media company, part of a complicated deal that will see Liberty Media, one of IAC’s biggest stakeholders, exit the business.