Comcast’s big cable merger try apparently is ending

Comcast plans to abandon its $ 45 billion takeover of Time Warner Cable after the deal encountered intense regulatory scrutiny over whether it was anticompetitive and in the public interest, people briefed on the matter said Thursday.

The merger would have united the country’s two largest cable operators and reshaped video and broadband markets. Just a day earlier, Comcast met with the Justice Department and the Federal Communications Commission.

Some lawmakers, public advocacy groups, and media and technology companies had rallied against the merger.

A Comcast spokeswoman declined to comment, as did a spokesman for Time Warner Cable.

News that Comcast was walking away from the deal first was reported by Bloomberg.

On Wednesday, Comcast officials met with the Justice Department and the FCC, amid signs of stiff resistance from the regulatory agencies. Justice officials were considering whether the deal would harm competition, while the FCC was evaluating whether the deal was in the public interest.

Last week, staff lawyers at the Justice Department raised concerns about the merger and were leaning toward recommending that it be blocked, people familiar with their thinking said. While the development was preliminary, it signaled that the tide had turned against the deal.

On Wednesday, crucial FCC staff members recommended in an informal presentation that the merger be referred to an administrative law judge, according to people familiar with the discussions. That results in a drawn- out process that is viewed as a death knell for deals, and a strong signal that the agency does not think they’re in the public interest.

In 2011, the FCC formally proposed the same path when considering AT& T and T- Mobile’s bid to merge; within a week the two companies had withdrawn their application.

The FCC proposal to follow that course for Comcast was only a preliminary one; no formal order was circulated among the agency’s commissioners. Nonetheless, the message from the general counsel’s office this week was strong, according to people familiar with its content.

Neil Grace, a spokesman for the FCC, declined to comment.