Comcast is ending bid for Time Warner Cable

Comcast Corp. is pulling the plug on its $45-billion purchase of Time Warner Cable, conceding it had little chance of overcoming stiff resistance from regulators, lawmakers and consumers who mobilized to block the merger.

The deal collapsed after high-level meetings with regulators in which Comcast executives learned that the government was gearing up to challenge its plan to combine the nation's two largest cable companies. The merger would have created a colossus that reached 30 million cable TV and high-speed Internet customers in the U.S., including 2 million in Southern California.

Comcast is expected to formally announce it is withdrawing its bid as early as Friday, according to a knowledgeable executive.

Collapse of Comcast-TWC merger could extend Dodgers' TV blackout
Collapse of Comcast-TWC merger could extend Dodgers' TV blackout

The apparent collapse of the merger leaves unsettled such issues as ownership of Time Warner Cable. It could also diminish odds that more L.A. Dodgers fans will soon be able to watch their team on TV, because Comcast was expected to resolve an impasse over distribution fees for the team's TV channel.

It would be a stinging defeat for the Philadelphia cable company and chief executive Brian L. Roberts. In the end, the proposed acquisition succumbed to regulatory concerns about giving one company so much power as an Internet gatekeeper read more


TV installation los angeles