Comcast abandons merger plans with Time Warner Cable

NEW YORK – Comcast is dropping its $45 billion bid for Time Warner Cable after heavy regulatory pushback.

The combined company would have put nearly 30 percent of TV and about 55 percent of broadband subscribers under one roof, which would give the resulting behemoth unprecedented power over what Americans watch and download.

Competitors, consumer groups and politicians have criticized the deal, saying it would lead to higher prices and less choice.

Even with Comcast saying Friday that the deal was off, cable companies are likely to keep combining as costs rise for the shows, sports and movies they pipe to subscribers and video customers decrease.

Many analysts expect Charter Communications Inc., which lost out on its bid for Time Warner Cable Inc. to Comcast Corp., to resurrect its effort.

The drop is a high-profile example of a failed deal, but it doesn’t crack the list of the 10 largest.

It’s not even the biggest scuttled takeover attempt of a company named Time Warner. That distinction belongs to an unsolicited, $79.6 billion bid for Time Warner Inc. made by Rupert Murdoch’s 21st Century Fox, according to financial data provider Dealogic.

Here is Dealogic’s list of the five largest failed deals globally, with the price, acquirer, target and year things fell apart.

• $144.97 billion: BHP Billiton, Rio Tinto Plc, 2008

• $117.35 billion: Pfizer Inc., AstraZenca Plc, 2014

• $97.92 billion: MCI WorldCom, Sprint Corp., 2000

• $90.96 billion: Barclays Plc, ABN Amro Holding NV, 2007

• $82.34 billion: Deutsche Telekom AG, Telecom Italia SpA, 1999.