Insight cable has been actively looking for a buyer for a while. well, actually, Carlyle Group that owns insight was looking for cash. Carlyle Group is an infamous holding company (backed by powerful politicos in the US and Saudi petrodollars). Carlyle bought Hawaiian Telecom from VZ, but it went BK. Carlyle has a stake in Actelis, an EoC gear maker.

Today, TW Cable nabs Insight for $3B in cash, which will add "more than 750,000 customers in Indiana, Kentucky and Ohio to TW Cable." That's about $4K per customer, which is ridiculous, unless size does matter. In the flat market sector that is consumer triple-play, I don't see how they get that $4K back except through CFO magic. The only growth that is available is Business Broadband and Ethernet over fiber service.  It is this sector for growth that TWCBC is utilizing the Channel to attract. It is also an expensive sector to acquire customers in since fiber runs - even 400 feet - can start at $4000 per address. Maybe in the wake of all the mergers, TWC felt left out. Or the only avenue for growth right now is acquisition. Or in this uncertain economy acquisitions are a good way to use up cash on hand.