Reuters: French Telecom giant now wants to buy Time Warner Cable

Big Telecom giants might still get their way. ​Just weeks after the huge Comcast-Time Warner Cable deal collapsed, French telecom giant Altice SA wants to buy TWC.  BY LIANA B. BAKER, LEILA ABBOUD AND GREG ROUMELIOTIS for Reuters  French telecommunications group Altice SA has held talks to buy Time Warner Cable Inc, and is close to buying smaller peer Suddenlink, moving into the U.S cable market, according to people familiar with the matter.

Big Telecom giants might still get their way. ​Just weeks after the huge Comcast-Time Warner Cable deal collapsed, French telecom giant Altice SA wants to buy TWC. 

BY LIANA B. BAKER, LEILA ABBOUD AND GREG ROUMELIOTIS for Reuters 

French telecommunications group Altice SA has held talks to buy Time Warner Cable Inc, and is close to buying smaller peer Suddenlink, moving into the U.S cable market, according to people familiar with the matter.

The negotiations with Suddenlink are more advanced and a transaction could be announced later this week, the people said. That deal could be worth $10 billion, including debt, the people added. Time Warner Cable has a market capitalization of $44.5 billion.

Since Time Warner Cable's merger with Comcast fell apart last month, Time Warner Cable is also being circled by small rival Charter Communications.

If either deal is completed, it would take Altice, which is controlled by French billionaire Patrick Drahi, into the massive cable market of the United States for the first time. Suddenlink would be the first step but Altice could consolidate the U.S. market further, according to one of the sources.

Time Warner Cable, which is in large U.S. markets such as New York and Los Angeles, is a much bigger bite for Altice, and it would also face competition from Charter for the asset.

- Read more at Reuters.com