Charter Communications on Tuesday proposed a three-way merger with two other cable and broadband providers, Time Warner Cable and Bright House Networks.
If approved by government regulators, the combined company will stand next to Comcast, AT&T, and Verizon as a media giant that is shaping the future of television-watching and web-surfing.
You won’t see any difference in your cable bill right away — but Charter might offer you new ways to access cable TV and the web in the future.
Time Warner Cable’s stock, which closed at $171.18 last Friday, was up about 4 percent on Tuesday morning. Charter will pay $195.71 per share, valuing Time Warner Cable at $78.7 billion.
“With today’s announcement, we have delivered on our commitment to maximizing shareholder value,” Time Warner Cable CEO Rob Marcus said.
Tom Rutledge, Charter’s CEO, will run the enlarged company — known in corporate-speak as “New Charter” — and will receive a five-year contract extension.
The deal is a climactic moment for Charter (CHTR), an under-the-radar company with operations in states like Michigan, Wisconsin, North Carolina, and Georgia. It is backed by the billionaire cable pioneer John Malone.
Charter currently has about 4.1 million TV subscribers and 4.9 million broadband subscribers.
Through the transactions announced on Tuesday, New Charter will have 17 million residential TV subscribers and 18.8 million on the broadband side, making it a counterweight to Comcast, which has about 22 million subscribers.
All of the companies also have millions of commercial subscribers.
And they all have something else in common: poor marks on customer satisfaction surveys.
But executives at Charter, Time Warner Cable (TWC)and Bright House say they have to band together. By getting bigger, they say, they’ll be able to improve service and exert more influence over the future of television distribution.
Charter promises faster, better broadband
Charter’s announcement on Tuesday specifically pledged faster broadband for subscribers; an improved cable TV interface; and wider availability of public Wifi.
“Put simply, the scale of New Charter, along with the combined talents we can bring to bear, position us to deliver a communications future that will unleash the full power of the two-way, interactive cable network,” Rutledge said in a statement.
Some of the same rationales underpinned Comcast’s bid for Time Warner Cable. But the government stood in the way of that deal, causing Comcast to abandon it last month.
