In the wake of Comcast’s unsuccessful takeover bid for Time Warner Cable, the Wall Street Journal reports that despite a history of bad blood between the two companies, Charter Communications and Time Warner are in discussions about a possible merger.
Liberty Media chairman John Malone has personally reached out to Time Warner Cable CEO Rob Marcus, according to the Wall Street Journal. Liberty Media is a media and communications conglomerate and major shareholder in Time Warner Cable.
Marcus is reportedly set to meet with Charter CEO Tom Rutledge this week at the annual National Cable and Telecommunications Association convention in Chicago. Charter attempted a hostile takover of Time Warner just last year.
It’s not certain how successful Charter’s efforts might be this go round, as Comcast dropped its attempt at acquiring Time Warner Cable following indications that regulators would nix the deal. While Charter is smaller than Comcast, and the resulting merged company would prove smaller than a Comcast/Time Warner company, regulators may still discourage such a merger, in favor of more a more competitive cable TV marketplace.
