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Charter Communications, Bright House cable deal back on table

 
Published May 20, 2015

Cable TV companies Charter Communications and Bright House Networks, which is owned by Advance Newhouse, have extended by 30 days their "good faith" negotiating period for the planned $10.4 billion buyout of Bright House, according to both companies.

"We look forward to completing the transaction as planned, and our teams are working together to make that happen," Charter chief executive Tom Rutledge said. Reuters recently had reported Bright House, one of Tampa Bay's principal cable TV providers, was preparing to "abandon" the Charter deal.

Charter, the No. 4 U.S. cable operator, first agreed to the deal with Bright House in March, contingent on completion of Comcast Corp.'s $45.2 billion merger with Time Warner Cable.

Charter had previously lost out to Comcast in a bid to acquire Time Warner. Comcast eventually walked away from the Time Warner deal last month because of antitrust hurdles.

The collapse of the deal opens the door for other offers for Time Warner Cable, which has been rapidly consolidating in the face of competition from satellite TV and Web-based services, Reuters said.

And in a twist noted in media reports, Time Warner has been cited as a potential buyer of Bright House.

Times staff