Malone Says Charter Will Try to Buy Time Warner Cable if Comcast Deal Falls Through

By Shalini Ramachandran 

Liberty Media Corp. Chairman John Malone said Wednesday the cable operator he backs, Charter Communications Inc., would try to acquire Time Warner Cable Inc. outright if Comcast Corp.'s pending deal with TWC falls through.

Earlier this year, Charter agreed to a complex deal with Comcast that would allow it to purchase subscribers from Comcast after the TWC deal closes. That transaction would effectively make Charter the second largest cable operator, servicing about eight million TV and Internet customers.

Mr. Malone, speaking at Liberty Media's investor day, said he would pursue an outright purchase of Time Warner Cable if the Comcast deal doesn't get approval from regulators. That deal is getting significant scrutiny in Washington. But Mr. Malone said, "We're happy with the deal that's been negotiated," adding that "in many ways from our point of view it's a better deal."

Liberty Media bought a big stake in Charter last year and recently spun off that interest into Liberty Broadband, a new publicly traded company. Liberty and Charter had pursued an acquisition of Time Warner Cable for months last year but lost out to Comcast, which struck a deal with TWC instead.

Write to Shalini Ramachandran at [e-mail]

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