Time Warner Cable, Inc. (TWC) was an American cable television company. Before it was acquired by Charter Communications on May 18, 2016, it was ranked the second largest cable company in the United States by revenue behind only Comcast, operating in 29 states. Its corporate headquarters were located in the Time Warner Center in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, with other corporate offices in Stamford, Connecticut; Charlotte, North Carolina; and Herndon, Virginia. It was controlled by Warner Communications, then by Time Warner (later known as WarnerMedia and presently Warner Bros. Discovery). The company had spun off its cable operations in March 2009 as part of a larger restructuring. From 2009 to 2016, Time Warner Cable was an entirely independent company, continuing to use the Time Warner name under license from its former parent company (including the "Road Runner" name for its Internet service, that was merged into what is now Spectrum Internet). In 2014, the company was the subject of a proposed purchase by Comcast Corporation, valued at $45.2 billion; however, following opposition to the deal by various groups, along with plans by the U.S. government to try to block the merger, Comcast called off the deal in April 2015. On May 26, 2015, Charter Communications announced that it would acquire Time Warner Cable for $78.7 billion, along with Bright House Networks in a separate $10.1 billion deal, pending regulatory approval. The purchase was completed on May 18, 2016; Charter had continued to do business as Time Warner Cable in its former markets, but has now re-branded these operations under the Spectrum brand in most markets (a brand of Charter which launched in 2014), though it will continue to use the roadrunner.com email addresses and adelphia.net email addresses to new customers. History Background Time Warner Cable traces back to two cable entities owned by Time Inc. & Warner Communications respectively in the 1970s; American Television and Communications, which was established in 1968, and would be acquired by Time in 1973; and Warner Cable, established in 1973. Warner Cable would eventually diversify into channels with the formation of Warner Cable Communications in 1977, creating test channels such as Pinwheel, Star Channel, and even Slight on Sound; these would eventually be officially launched as Nickelodeon & The Movie Channel in 1979, and MTV in 1981 respectively. In 1979, American Express was brought in to form a joint-venture cable network and cable television