NO. 1 CABLER COMCAST ACQUIRES NO. 2 CABLER TWC

Time Warner Cable, which had been fighting off takeover efforts from Charter Communications, has surprisingly accepted a deal from a far bigger suitor, Comcast, the No. 1 U.S. cable operator and the owner of NBCUniversal. Comcast announced today (Thursday) that TWC had accepted an offer of $45.2 billion in stock. Although the deal would likely have little effect on consumers since Comcast and TWC do not overlap in any market, the deal will nevertheless face antitrust scrutiny by regulators. The Wall Street Journal reported today that Comcast had become “very uncomfortable” with Charter’s strategy of waging a proxy battle to take over the company, and, if successful, to slough off some areas to Comcast. The newspaper said that Comcast chief Brian Roberts carried on his negotiations with Time Warner Cable executives on the phone from Sochi, where he attending the Winter Olympics. During a conference call, Roberts remained low-key about the acquisition, saying “The financial benefits of this are attractive and will create sustainable benefits for years to come.”