Comcast talks spinoff with Time Warner Cable execs

Comcast has pledged to sell 3 million cable subscribers to keep the combined Comcast-Time Warner Cable customer base under 30 percent of the US pay-TV market. One scenario under discussion is spinning out the subscribers to form a new pay-TV company that would be run by Time Warner Cable veterans.

“[Comcast boss] Brian Roberts is very smart and measured,” said a source close to the talks. “He’ll spin off the subscribers when he gets pushback. There’s a possibility of the Time Warner Cable guys running it.” Time Warner Cable’s chief financial officer, Arthur Minson, and chief operating officer, Dinni Jain, could run the new cable company, sources said. Jain is a former president of Insight Communications, which Time Warner Cable acquired for $3 billion in 2011. While several sources confirmed the talks, they cautioned that the spinoff is just one of several scenarios that could play out as Comcast works to win regulatory approval for the deal.