Roger Yu

USA TODAY

Bloomberg%3A Charter will offer %22less than %24135 a share%2C%22 which would be slight premium to current value

Time Warner Cable has had talks with Comcast

Charter is said to be acting at urging of major stake holder%2C John Malone and his Liberty Media firm

Charter Communications is preparing to offer less than $135 a share in cash and stock next week to buy Time Warner Cable, the latest development in a bidding match for the nation's second largest cable TV provider, according to a person who was familiar with the proposal but declined to be speak publicly because the deal hasn't been finalized.

While Time Warner Cable has approached Comcast for a deal to merge earlier this year, Charter Communications is seeking a cash and stock deal partly at the urging of a major stake holder, Liberty Media, that is controlled by industry legend John Malone.

Charter's proposal, which was first reported by Bloomberg News, represents a slight premium to TWC's current market value. Shares of TWC, which have risen sharply in recent weeks as acquisition talks heat up, rose 0.4% Friday to $131.55.

Charter and TWC declined to comment.

The cable and satellite TV industry has been besieged by surging competition from online video streaming companies, like Netflix, that are increasingly driving consumers to ditch their cable accounts. Meanwhile, cable providers' cost to carry their extensive lineup of channels is rising as networks and TV-station owners demand more fees for their content. Key cable executives, like Malone, and analysts have been advocating industry consolidation, which would give the companies greater leverage in bargaining with content providers and theoretically improved purchasing powers over suppliers.

TWC, which lost 306,000 cable TV customers in its most recent quarter in just three months, has had talks with Comcast for a possible merger. And Comcast has reportedly sought advice on whether its acquisition of TWC would spark concern by antitrust regulators and the Federal Communications Commission.