Charter near a deal to buy Time Warner

It’s a cable company-eat-cable-company world out there.

The New York Times reports: 

Charter Communications is near a deal to buy Time Warner Cable for about $55 billion, people with direct knowledge of the talks said Monday, a takeover that would create a new powerhouse in the rapidly consolidating American cable industry.

Under the proposed terms of the deal, Charter will pay about $195 a share in cash and stock. That is roughly 14 percent higher than Time Warner Cable’s closing stock price on Friday — and 47 percent higher than Charter’s original bid for its rival from early last year.

You might remember that Comcast failed in it’s bid for Time Warner after regulators were unhappy. Official word on the Charter deal could be out on Tuesday.