Charter Communications would consider buying subscribers that Comcast could divest as part of its proposed Time Warner Cable takeover, Greg Maffei, CEO of the largest Charter stakeholder, Liberty Media, said on Friday. These were Liberty Media's first comments since Charter Communications, in which it has a 27 stake, lost out on acquiring Time Warner Cable to Comcast. Although Comcast, the top U.S. cable operator, had always been intrigued by the idea of buying Time Warner Cable, a deal was not on its list of priorities until Charter put it in play last summer.Maffei told a conference call that Charter could still go after Time Warner Cable if regulators reject the Comcast deal, although he expects it to win approval - perhaps with "onerous conditions".Maffei said he thinks that the Comcast-Time Warner Cable deal will ultimately be approved by regulators but said if the deal were to fall through, Liberty and Charter Communications are leaving the option on the table of acquiring Time Warner Cable.Maffei said he wants Liberty and Charter to be "flexible both for acquisitions of other systems or potentially the divestitures out of Time Warner or if the Time Warner deal is not able to be completed -- looking back at the whole thing," he said.
Charter Communications, Inc. (Charter) provides cable services in the United States, offering a range of entertainment, information and communications solutions to residential and commercial customers. Shares of CHTR traded higher by 1.7% or $2.11/share to $126.25. In the past year, the shares have traded as low as $85.74 and as high as $144.02. On average, 1532670 shares of CHTR exchange hands on a given day and today's volume is recorded at 1410663.
Time Warner Cable Inc. (TWC) is a provider of video, high-speed data and voice services in the United States with systems located in five geographic areas: New York State, the Carolinas, Ohio, Southern California and Texas. Shares of TWC traded higher by 1.88% or $2.6/share to $141.20. In the past year, the shares have traded as low as $86.08 and as high as $147.28. On average, 3582560 shares of TWC exchange hands on a given day and today's volume is recorded at 1781664.
Time Warner Inc. (Time Warner) is a media and entertainment company. Shares of TWX traded higher by 2.6% or $1.71/share to $67.48. In the past year, the shares have traded as low as $52.66 and as high as $70.77. On average, 5281290 shares of TWX exchange hands on a given day and today's volume is recorded at 3017683.
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