Charter Communications is buying Time Warner Cable for $56.7 billion. The deal, in which Charter paid just over $195 a share—about 14 percent more than TWC’s closing stock price Friday—creates the nation’s second-largest cable company, behind only archrival Comcast. Billionaire John C. Malone, Charter Communications’ primary backer, has been attempting to break into the American broadband industry. His company swooped in after Comcast’s bid, for $45 billion, was broken up by antitrust regulators.
