Charter Communications Inc, seeking to remake the U.S. cable television industry by acquiring larger rival Time Warner Cable Inc for $56 billion, will try to skirt the regulatory obstacles that helped sink Comcast Corp's earlier bid for Time Warner Cable.
The combined company would control a big swath of the cable and Internet markets, marking a huge step toward industry consolidation, long advocated by cable pioneer John Malone, Charter's biggest shareholder.
agency's chairman, Tom Wheeler.
The agreement is the latest example of how cable companies are grappling with declining subscriber numbers as viewers shift to cheaper and more flexible streaming services offered by Netflix Inc, Amazon.com
Charter and others have been beefing up their higher-margin Internet businesses through consolidation and partnerships to offset TV subscriber losses.
That market power is likely to be regulators' main focus.The combined companies would control about one-fifth of the U.S. broadband Internet market, according to research firm MoffettNathanson.
Still, experts said the transaction is different enough from the scuttled Comcast takeover that it is likely to win regulatory approval with certain conditions.
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