Big Spender

Time Warner Buys Insight: Report

$3 billion in cash for 10th-largest cable operator in U.S.

Time Warner Cable has reached a deal with the Carlyle Group to buy Insight, their cable-news operator, for $3 billion in cash. The company could make an announcement as early as Monday morning, according to a source. Insight is the 10th-largest cable operator in the U.S., selling cable television, high-speed Internet, and wireless phone services to close to 750,000 customers in Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, and Ohio. Time Warner had dropped out of the auction earlier this year, saying that Insight was asking for too much (nearly $4 billion). This is the company's largest acquisition since it broke away from parent company Time Warner Inc. in 2009. The deal will allow the cable company to save on programming, tax benefits, and other operating synergies.