Time Warner Cable exiles could run new cable company formed by Comcast sub spinoff

Time Warner Cable (NYSE: TWC) executives jettisoned by a Comcast (Nasdaq: CMCSA) takeover could end up running their own cable company serving former TWC subscribers that Comcast has to sell off in order to comply with regulatory requirements.

If the TWC acquisition goes through, Comcast is expected to sell off about 3 million subscribers to keep its combined subscriber base below 30 percent of the U.S. subscriber base. The TWC execs, jettisoned when new management comes in to run the merged company, would buy those subs and start a new cable company, sources told the New York Post.

"Brian Roberts (Comcast CEO-president) is very smart and measured," a source told the Post. "He'll spin off the subscribers when he gets pushback. There's a possibility of the Time Warner guys running it."

Those Time Warner guys, the story said, would include CFO Arthur Minson and COO Dinni Jain, who already has experience running a cable system from his time as president of Insight Communications. CEO Rob Marcus, with a golden parachute worth about $80 million, is content to take the money and walk away, according to the Post.

The sources who confirmed the talks also pointed out that the spinoff is only one possible scenario for Comcast. Others include selling the subs to Charter Communications (Nasdaq: CHTR), which had been in the chase to acquire Time Warner Cable on its own, or seeing Comcast sell off even more subscribers.

For more:
- The New York Post has this story

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