Comcast to Buy Time Warner Cable, Combining Two Largest U.S. Cable Companies: Report

Comcast Corp. will announce on Thursday morning that it has agreed to buy Time Warner Cable Inc. in an all stock deal worth $159 a share, or $45 billion, four sources familiar with the situation told Bloomberg.

The deal would combine the two largest cable companies in the U.S.

In this Thursday, Jan. 9, 2014, photo, a Comcast cable truck works in front of a home in Mount Lebanon, Pa. Comcast reports quarterly earnings on Tuesday, Jan. 28, 2014.(AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)

“In the deal, Time Warner Cable shareholders will receive $158.82 a share in stock for their shares, about $23 a share above where TWC has been trading,” the Wall Street Journal reports. “Charter has made three offers, the most recent of which was valued at $132.50, all of which were rejected by TWC as too low.”

According to CNBC, the deal does not "face ownership cap restrictions, but is expected to get a tough review from the FCC."

TheBlaze recently outlined how 9 TV distributors control roughly 91 percent of channel lineups. Because a number of huge companies have so much control over major programming on TV, it is harder for new or smaller networks to get a seat at the table.

With this deal, Comcast only stands to grow even more influential in the cable industry.