Dive Brief:

• Charter Communications announced Tuesday it has reached a $55 billion cash-and-stock deal to acquire Time Warner Cable. 
• The deal comes after two years of pursuit from Charter with several rejected rejected bids in 2013 and a hostile takeover bid last year. 
• The merger will make Charter Communications the second largest cable company in the U.S. -- just behind Comcast, which called off a merger deal with Time Warner earlier this year. 

Dive Insight: 

What didn't work about the Comcast-Time Warner merger -- worries over monopoly, disagreements over content assets -- has seemingly been ironed out between Charter and Time Warner. Since the deal creates the second-largest cable company, Comcast will now have some stiffer competition. That competition could force new innovation, and better options for consumers and marketers.