Charter Communications is poised to scoop up Time Warner Cable in a $55 billion deal that would make it the largest pay-TV and broadband Internet provider in Southern California.
The acquisition, officially announced Tuesday, is considered more likely to clear regulatory hurdles than the recently scuttled acquisition of Time Warner by Comcast Corp., the Los Angeles Times reported. That’s partly because the combined company would be far smaller, with 17 million customers nationwide. Had Comcast succeeded, it would have served 30 million households.
Charter, backed by cable pioneer John Malone’s Liberty Media Corp., would nonetheless command a giant footprint in Southern California, with more than 2 million customers in Los Angeles, Riverside, San Bernardino, Orange, San Diego, Ventura and Santa Barbara counties, according to The Times.
In San Diego County, Time Warner serves approximately 30 percent of all cable customers, primarily in North County, while Cox Communications serves the remainder.
Charter of Stamford, Connecticut, and Time Warner Cable of New York City began negotiating the proposed acquisition soon after federal regulators signaled in late April that they would seek to block Comcast’s proposed $45 billion takeover of Time Warner Cable.
City News Service contributed to this article.