Charter, Comcast in renewed talks on Time Warner Cable bid

Charter Communications reached out to Comcast about teaming up to buy Time Warner Cable, after the larger rival rejected its $37.3 billion takeover bid, according to people familiar with the matter.

Charter approached Comcast to discuss carving up the second-largest US cable company's systems and subscribers, the people said. Charter, the No. 4 US cable provider, and Comcast, the top US cable provider, are in preliminary discussions about how to structure a potential alliance, the people said. One possibility is that Charter buys all of Time Warner Cable and sells off some of its markets and subscribers to Comcast. It was not immediately clear which geographic markets are under discussion, but analysts have said that Comcast would be interested in Time Warner Cable's largest markets such as New York, Los Angeles and Dallas. Cox Communications isn't preparing a bid for Time Warner Cable, according to people familiar with the matter, removing one potential suitor for the New York-based cable company for the time being.