Charter Communications (CHTR) is acquiring Time Warner Cable (TWC) for $55.33 billion and is acquiring Bright House Networks for $10.4 billion, creating a giant U.S. TV and Internet firm. The new Charter will have nearly 24 million customers, below the leader Comcast’s (CMCSK) 27.2 million customers. Comcast owns NBCUniversal. Charter also lags AT&T (T), whose recent merger with DirecTV (DTV) gave AT&T 26.4 million TV customers and 16.1 million fixed Internet customers, as well as tens of millions of wireless customers. Several major factors are spurring horizontal integration in the TV and Internet business, including that cable providers are rapidly losing TV subscribers, and pressure from online video services such as Netflix (NFLX), Hulu, and Amazon is increasing dramatically.

Based on: http://www.aol.com/article/2015/05/26/charter-buying-time-warner-cable-in-55-33b-deal/21187076/?icid=maing-grid7%7Cmain5%7Cdl5%7Csec1_lnk3%26pLid%3D-419789984