Deal Reunites Charter Chief With Time Warner Cable

Two years ago, Charter Communications Chief Executive Tom Rutledge predicted that the cable business would soon be down to two big players. Now, he’s in line to run one of them.

Rutledge will be the chairman and CEO of the new US cable giant that results from Charter’s planned $55 billion acquisition of Time Warner Cable Inc. and $10.4 billion merger with Bright House Networks. The 61-year-old will get a huge elevation in responsibilities. Through the deals, Charter’s base of customers will grow from about 6 million to 24 million customers -- making it second only to Comcast in cable TV and broadband access. The Time Warner Cable deal is also a personal triumph for Rutledge. His career started in 1977 at Time Warner Cable’s predecessor, American Television & Communications, and he rose up the ranks to become president of Time Warner Cable. However, in 2001 he left the company during a management realignment and became chief operating officer of Cablevision Systems. He spent almost a decade at Cablevision before clashing with Cablevision CEO James Dolan, and he joined Charter in January of 2012.