New company shows interest after Comcast drops Time Warner offer

Charter Communications Inc.’s advisers have started the process to begin talks on a deal to buy Time Warner Cable Inc., Bloomberg reported on Friday, citing people familiar with the matter.

Earlier on Friday, Comcast Corp. abandoned its $45 billion offer for Time Warner Cable after U.S. regulators raised concerns that the deal would give Comcast an unfair advantage in the cable TV and Internet-based services market.

Charter is seeking to buy Time Warner Cable quickly and has approached banks about financing, but executives at the two companies have not yet spoken, the Bloomberg report said.

Charter would likely have to pay more than Comcast’s per-share offer, Bloomberg said, citing a source.

Time Warner Cable shares were up 5.6 percent following the report. Charter shares rose 0.5 percent.

Charter Communications lost out on a bid for Time Warner Cable last year, and Charter’s controlling shareholder, Liberty Media Corp., had since indicated continuing interest.

Time Warner Cable and Charter could not be immediately reached for comment.