Charter to buy Time Warner Cable and Bright House

Today, Charter Communications officially announced that it is acquiring Time Warner Cable (TWC) in a deal estimating Time Warner Cable at $78.7 billion. Excluding debt, the purchase price is $55.33 billion.

Charter will pay $195.71 per share in the cash-and-stock deal — $100 of it in cash with the rest in Charter shares. Charter also will provide Time Warner Cable shareholders an option to receive $115 in cash and shares of the new company.

At the same time Charter will also buy Bright House Networks, the sixth largest U.S. cable company, for $10.4 billion. If approved by government regulators, the combined cable giant would have as many as 23 million total customers, right behind Comcast's 27.2 million customers.

According to analysts such a merger highlights the need for cable and broadband companies to join forces as the industry experienced its latest round of consolidation.

"The timing of this deal clearly shows how desperate Time Warner Cable is to be acquired," said Paolo Pescatore, an analyst with the technology research company CCS Insight. "A tie-up with another cable provider makes perfect sense given the altering landscape in the broadcast industry."

Read more -here-