Comcast's No. 1 Issue With Time Warner Cable

In US cable, one plus two may add up to an even bigger No. 1. That depends, though, on how regulators define what a bigger No. 1 means. Comcast, the largest cable provider by subscribers, agreed to buy No. 2 player Time Warner Cable for about $45.2 billion in stock, or roughly $66.8 billion including assumed debt. The deal, which valued the smaller company at $158.82 a share, easily tops an earlier offer of $132.50 from Charter Communications. That gap suggests Charter is unlikely to bite back. It also underscores the benefits of scale in cable. Comcast can afford to pay more because it has a bigger balance sheet. But it can also wring more savings out of a combination.