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Comcast walks away from Time Warner deal: Confirmed

Decision Thursday, announcement Friday: Bloomberg

FRIDAY UPDATE: Comcast confirms

» READ MORE: the Time Warner deal is dea

d. EARLIER: "Comcast Corp. is planning to walk away" from its year-old plan to buy Time Warner Cable, Bloomberg

» READ MORE: says here

, citing unnamed sources.

» READ MORE: Inquirer's Bob Fernandez reports here.

Comcast shares up on the news. -- With or without the cable-Internet union of the nation's #1 and #2 providers, "America's Internet still has problems," says Quartz.com

» READ MORE: here.

"Comcast is planning to make a final decision on its plans Thursday, and an announcement on the deal's fate may come as soon as Friday, said one of the people, who asked not to be named discussing private information," said Bloomberg, in the article by Alex Sherman. Comcast declined immediate comment.

"This week, U.S. Federal Communications Commission staff joined lawyers at the Justice Department in opposing the planned transaction. FCC officials told the two biggest U.S. cable companies on Wednesday that they are leaning toward concluding the merger doesn't help consumers, a person with knowledge of the matter said... Comcast representatives came away from the FCC meeting with the impression the deal was in trouble, according to a person familiar with the matter."

Separately, Sherman quotes analyst Craig Moffett noting that Comcast might have at least been able to buy part of Time Warner if CEO Brian Roberts hadn't taken a big gamble in rebuffing an earlier proposal by rival Charter Communications to split Time Warner. "Maybe Comcast Corp. Chief Executive Officer Brian Roberts should have just played nice," Sherman suggests.

As the Inquirer's Bob Fernandez reported earlier: "Following a meeting with Justice Department officials Wednesday, Comcast Corp. attorneys met with the Federal Communications Commission to discuss the company's proposed $45 billion acquisition of Time Warner Cable Inc.

"The Wall Street Journal reported late Wednesday that the FCC might seek a hearing before an administrative law judge over the Comcast-Time Warner deal's public benefits, which would be a setback to the transaction. Comcast would neither confirm nor deny the report. The company said in a statement late Wednesday that it would comment on the FCC meeting within a few days in a required public disclosure.

"The developments at the FCC and Justice Department on Wednesday were part of the broad government review of the deal that would merge the nation's largest and second-largest cable companies. Comcast needs the approval of both the Justice Department and the FCC to close its deal with Time Warner. Published reports say Justice Department officials are leaning against the merger because of antitrust concerns."