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Verizon is reportedly exploring combination with Charter (updated)

Talks are said to be preliminary, but a deal would unite millions of wireless and cable customers.

Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times

AT&T bought DirecTV for $48.5 billion in 2014 and now it looks like another wireless carrier is interested in getting into the television business. The Wall Street Journal reports that Verizon is exploring a combination with Charter Communications that would bring together millions of customers from the two companies. Charter and Time Warner Cable merged in 2016, a year after the two sides announced a $55 billion deal. This comes ten days after the New York Post suggested either Charter or Comcast could be likely takeover targets for Big Red.

WSJ explains that talks between Verizon CEO Lowell McAdam and Charter officials are preliminary and that a deal might not happen. It's also unknown if Charter is even open to a combination agreement. If something does materialize between the two companies, it would bring together Verizon's 114 million wireless customers with Charter's television audience of 17 million subscribers and a broadband business that counts 21 million. We reached out to Verizon for a comment on the matter and we will update this post when we hear back.

Update: CNBC reports that there are "no significant talks" going on between Verizon and Charter at this time. For now, we'll just have to wait and see if there's any movement one way or the other.