In 2014, which cable company did Comcast attempt to acquire for $45.2 billion?

In 2014, Comcast attempted to acquire Time Warner Cable for $45.2 billion.

Comcast announced the proposed transaction on February 13, 2014. The deal was structured primarily as a stock swap, under which Time Warner Cable shareholders would receive Comcast shares. Comcast argued that the combination would create greater scale, improve network investment and help the company compete in a rapidly changing media and broadband market.

The proposal immediately attracted antitrust scrutiny. Critics feared that combining two of the largest U.S. cable companies would give Comcast excessive bargaining power over television networks, internet services and content distributors. Comcast and Time Warner Cable served different local markets in many places, but regulators also considered the broader effect of concentrating national cable and broadband power.

The merger never closed. Comcast withdrew its proposal on April 24, 2015, after opposition from regulators and public-interest groups made approval increasingly unlikely. Time Warner Cable was subsequently acquired by Charter Communications in 2016 and absorbed into the Spectrum brand. It should not be confused with Time Warner Inc., the separate media company that had spun off the cable business in 2009.