Comcast Drops Bid for Time Warner Cable

As had seemed increasingly likely, the Comcast effort to acquire Time Warner Cable now has been abandoned, Bloomberg reports. 

Comcast has not formally confirmed the rumor, but with the Federal Communications Commission signaling opposition, and the probsbly frank private meetings recently held by Comcast and Time Warner Cable with antitrust officials, it has seemed very likely the bid wouild be abandoned.

It appears that has happened. What happens next depends, in part, on what course Time Warner Cable might choose for itself. Other bids from Charter Communications are expected, but Time Warner could decide not to sell, but become an acquirer.

It does appear that history did repeat. The staff of the Federal Communications Commission had called for a hearing by an administrative law judge on the proposed acquisition.

In 2011, AT&T and T-Mobile USA dropped a planned $39 billion merger after the Justice Department filed an antitrust lawsuit to block the deal and the FCC issued a hearing designation order on the deal.

It appears the call for a hearing has had the same impact as the same sort of call did for the AT&T effort to buy T-Mobile USA.