A new cable provider

Many of Comcast’s Michigan customers may soon have a new cable provider. The company announced Monday that it has reached a deal with Charter Communications Inc. that involves selling some of it’s cable systems and creating a new spin-off company to take over some Comcast cable customers. The move is meant to help Comcast’s ability to get regulatory approval for its $45 billion purchase of Time Warner Cable. Under the agreement, Charter will have an approximately 33-percent stake in the Comcast spinoff, currently called SpinCo, that will serve about 2.5 million of Comcast’s existing customers. Comcast shareholders would own the remainder of the spin-off company. M-Live.com reports while specific locations were not available, Comcast confirmed the Detroit, Flint, Saginaw, Bay City, Lansing, Grand Rapids and Kalamazoo market areas would be impacted. The deal is contingent on the closing of the Time Warner Cable merger.  (MRN)