MUMBAI: Cox Communications, the third-largest US cable provider, has held talks about combining with Charter Communications, according to reports on the matter.

Cox president Pat Esser has discussed a deal with representatives from Liberty Media, which owns a 27 per cent stake in Charter. The structure of a potential deal hasn't been determined; including which company might be the acquirer.

Liberty and Charter are also still pursuing an acquisition of Time Warner Cable, the people said. Billionaire John Malone, who controls Englewood, Colorado-based Liberty, has said he wants Charter to get bigger so it can gain leverage in negotiations with TV networks, which have sought higher prices for the use of their programming.

Cox has 4.8 million video subscribers, while Charter has 4.4 million, according to Craig Moffett, an analyst at Moffett Research LLC in New York.

Malone sees mergers as an appealing way for the cable industry to cope with the lower video profit margins that have come from higher programming costs and fewer new customers.

Malone's strategy isn't just about traditional cable. The high-speed internet connections that companies like Charter provide to US households are the key to the future of the TV industry, Malone said at the June meeting. He cited the growing viewership of streaming-video services, also known as over-the-top.

Dissolving the trust is a step toward Cox gaining flexibility to merge the cable company.