Charter Communications → Time Warner Cable
The smaller cable operator swallowed the larger: a month after regulatory opposition made Comcast abandon its bid, Charter agreed to buy Time Warner Cable for $78.7bn and, with Bright House Networks alongside, built a group serving 23.9 million customers in 41 states under the Spectrum brand.
Included about $50bn of debt and was paired with a $10.4bn purchase of Bright House Networks.
- Value
- $78.7B
- Announced
- May 2015
- Completed
- May 2016
- Sector
- Telecom
- Deal type
- acquisition
- Acquirer
- Charter Communications (United States)
- Target
- Time Warner Cable (United States)
Why it mattered
Charter, run by Tom Rutledge and backed by John Malone's Liberty Broadband, had wanted Time Warner Cable for years; in January 2014 it offered $132.50 a share and was rejected. The next month Time Warner Cable accepted Comcast's $158.82 a share instead, and Charter's part became that of buyer of the customers Comcast would have to shed. The Comcast deal collapsed in April 2015, when the Justice Department was reported to be preparing to sue over a combination that would have controlled 57% of the nation's broadband capacity.
Charter moved within weeks. On 26 May 2015 it announced that it would pay $100 in cash plus shares for each Time Warner Cable share, about $195.71 in total, valuing the company at $78.7bn, and revised its agreed $10.4bn purchase of Bright House from Advance/Newhouse. Liberty Broadband committed $5bn of new equity. A smaller buyer with few media holdings was an easier case for regulators than Comcast: the FCC's conditions barred data caps, usage-based pricing and interconnection fees for seven years and required high-speed service for 2 million more locations, while the Justice Department barred Charter from contracts that limit programmers' licensing to online video services. The deal closed on 18 May 2016.
What it left behind
The integration was contentious. New York's attorney-general sued in 2017 over internet speeds in former Time Warner Cable areas, a case Charter settled for $174.2m, and in July 2018 New York's Public Service Commission revoked its approval of the merger over missed expansion targets; in April 2019 Charter agreed to new deadlines and a $12m broadband fund. Charter rejected an approach from Verizon in 2017 and, as of 2022, served over 32 million customers — the largest US cable operator by subscribers. On 20 August 2026 it completed the purchase of Cox Communications, agreed in May 2025 at an enterprise value of about $34.5bn, and absorbed Liberty Broadband, extending Spectrum to 45 states. Losing an auction need not end a campaign: by staying close as Comcast's divestiture partner, Charter was the ready alternative when regulators blocked the winner.