In a billion-dollar deal, Charter Communications Inc. has agreed to buy one of the most recognizable names in the US media industry, Time Warner Cable. This latest acquisition came right after rival company Comcast walked away from the deal. This merger could make or break the company's future, and the future of the cable TV business.

It seems that despite the boom of the internet industry, the cable TV business is not giving up without a fight. Despite the change in people's ways of watching television shows, cable companies are still taking in revenues, especially since a lot of these companies are now combining cable and broadband services.

Despite Charter Communications Inc. and Time Warner not being at the top of the industry's food chain, the merger hopes to at least put the service, to be dubbed as Spectrum, at par with or even surpass that of rival Comcast. Charter has also acquired another small cable operator Bright House Networks, giving us the impression that they are indeed aiming for a stronger cable service along with plans of including broadband bundles in their services.

According to Charter chief executive Thomas M. Rutledge, the merger will open up a lot of opportunities for other, more relevant services the company can offer to its subscribers. No longer will the cable operations be limited to the home screens, but there could be e=developments in terms of bring the cable experience to the mobile screens. Such a move could revolutionize the way people watch TV in the future.

Although Charter does not plan to compete with online video streaming providers, they did mention the possibility of that evolving, although no details have been revealed yet. But along with this merger comes public scrutiny as well as the involvement of the FCC. The merger does not seem to have any ulterior motive, but the fact that it aims to combine both cable and broadband services (and more) to subscribers has the public wondering about the company's true purpose for buying out the two cable operators.

The merger will still make Charter a bit smaller than Comcast but having the two cable operators under it helm will help it expand in different areas in the US.