Comcast Said To Nix $45B Time Warner Takeover
Comcast has reportedly withdrawn its $45.2B takeover of Time Warner Cable, a merger that would have united America's top two cable companies. Sources familiar with the matter told Bloomberg that Philadelphia-based Comcast scuttled the union following meetings with the Federal Communications Commission and Justice Department yesterday. The merger would have caused a tectonic shift in the broadcasting and broadband landscape, giving the single company control over nearly 30% of the country's pay cable subscribers and between 35 and 50% of the US broadband market.
The perceived inevitability of the merger came into doubt earlier this year as regulatory scrutiny increased. Amid that uncertainty Time Warner committed to move its Manhattan headquarters from the Time Warner Center to Hudson Yards on the West Side. [Bloomberg]
