Charter Communications, the disappointed bidder for TWC, has filed legal documents contesting the proposed merger between Time Warner Cable and Comcast claiming that the deal has been subject to a “flawed process”.

Charter told Securities and Exchange Commission: “TWC’s process for negotiating and approving the merger was flawed because of the failure of the TWC Board of directors to consider and investigate alternatives to the Proposed Comcast Merger. In particular, the TWC board simply refused to meaningfully engage with Charter regarding a potential business combination even after deciding to pursue a transaction with Comcast.”

The filing questions the likelihood of regulators allowing the merger of America’s two largest cable operators – a combined business that would have control of nearly 40 per cent of the country’s broadband market with about 33m subscribers.

Charter had spent six months pursuing a deal with TWC and was ambushed by Comcast’s successful bid in February. A deal would have seen Charter, the fourth-largest cable operator in the US, nearly quadruple its about 4m subscribers with TWC’s 11m in highly sought-after markets, such as New York and Los Angeles.

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