The Comcast-Time Warner merger may be dead—but that doesn’t mean the two will continue on as-is. Now, it appears that the French telecoms firm Altice is sniffing around Time Warner Cable.
Both Reuters and Wall Street Journal report that the French company is in advanced talks to buy the regional cable company Suddenlink—which operates in states including West Virginia, Texas and Louisiana—for $9.1 billion. But they also report that Altice is looking to purchase Time Warner Cable, too. It’s not clear at what stage these plans are, or what the sums involved might be.
But while the purchase of Suddenlink may be straightforward, buying TWC may be more difficult for Altice, which is led by French billionaire Patrick Drahi. Time Warner has a $44.5 billion market capitalization, as the Journal points out, and it’s also of interest to other parties—including Charter Communications, that made a bid last year. It’s not clear what the future of Time Warner Cable holds—but at lot of people are very interested in finding out. [Reuters, Wall Street Journal via Engadget]
Image by Michael Dougherty under Creative Commons license
