Cablevision Systems Corp. has made a $16.5 billion bid for bankrupt Adelphia Communications Corp. in competition with a joint bid by Comcast Corp. and Time Warner Inc., the Wall Street Journal reported, citing people familiar with the matter.
A spokesperson for Cablevision did not respond to a request for comment, and a spokesman for Adelphia declined to comment about the sale process.
New York-based Cablevision made the bid for Adelphia without the aid of a private equity consortium also seeking to acquire the fifth-largest cable operator, the newspaper reported.
Comcast and Time Warner are offering $17.6 billion in stock and cash for Adelphia, and analysts expect the joint bid to go as high as $18 billion, according to the Journal.
Comcast and Time Warner’s Time Warner Cable are the largest and second-largest cable companies, respectively.
A Comcast spokesman did not respond to a request for comment on its reported joint bid with Time Warner.
