Speculations have been on the rise about a cable company buying Time Warner Cable, the nation’s second leading television provider. Monday, Charter Communications announced their plans to make a cash-and-stock offer that could be worth up to $38 billion.
This move is brought on by broadcast and pay-TV channels demanding higher fees from cable companies to include their channels in customers’ cable listings. Time Warner Cable dropped CBS for a month last summer due to a fee dispute causing them to loose more than 300,000 subscribers. Combining Charter and Time Warner would increase their negotiating powers with TV channels and possibly reducing the fee increases that are passed to customers. They could also create apps for customers to watch channels on phones and tablets, reaching out to the technologically advanced target audience the company is seeking to have.
