Charter Communications announced it plans to purchase Bright House Networks for $10.4 billion. The deal, which had been rumored in reports earlier this month, would combine the nation's sixth and fourth largest cable operators into a company that Charter said would be the second-largest cable operator in the United States.
Importantly, the agreement also signals a belief among Charter and Bright House executives that Comcast's $45 billion proposed purchase of Time Warner Cable will be approved by U.S. regulators. The merger between Comcast and TWC would create the nation's largest cable operator.
A combined Charter and Bright House would serve 26.4 million passings and 10.1 million owned and serviced video customers. In announcing the transaction, Charter said Bright House serves around 2 million video customers in central Florida including Orlando and the Tampa Bay area, as well as Alabama, Indiana, Michigan, and California. The addition of those customers would improve Charter's scale.