(Bloomberg) -- Charter Communications Inc. is in advanced talks to combine with privately held Cox Communications in a deal that would unite two of the biggest US cable providers, people familiar with the matter said.

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The companies are discussing a cash and stock transaction that would value Cox at more than $30 billion including debt, according to the people. The Cox family would be the largest shareholder in the combined company with a stake of about 20% and would hold seats on its board, they said.

A deal could be announced within days, the people said, asking not to be identified because the information is confidential. Terms are still being ironed out and talks could be delayed or falter, they said.

Charter shares closed at $419.57 in New York on Thursday, giving the company a market value of roughly $66 billion.

Representatives for Stamford, Connecticut-based Charter and Atlanta-based Cox couldn’t be immediately reached outside of regular business hours.

A deal would rank as one of the largest of the year and come at a time when cable companies are facing increasing competition from wireless providers such as AT&T Inc. and T-Mobile US Inc., which are luring away their broadband customers with their own internet offerings. At the same time, streaming companies such as Netflix Inc. have upended the traditional business of pay-TV.

In November, Liberty Media Chairman John Malone helped fuel M&A expectations involving Charter when he said the company should be allowed to merge with a media or telecom rival to stay competitive. Speaking at Liberty Media’s investor day in New York, he named Cox among a number of possible merger candidates. Charter and Cox previously discussed a potential deal more than a decade ago.

Turf Wars

Cable and phone companies have been engaged in an intense turf war, seeking to win over customers in areas that others have dominated. Cable providers have been selling their own mobile phone plans by leasing network access from major carriers. At the same time, phone carriers have been poaching home internet subscribers from cable companies.

The bet is that customers will in the future prefer to buy their internet and mobile phone services from the same provider — a trend referred to as convergence. A combination of Charter and Cox would position them to better compete in that environment by allowing them to bundle offerings and more efficiently invest in infrastructure.

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For Cox, which has been viewed as a perennial takeover target, a tie-up with Charter would end more than 70 years of outright ownership by the Cox family. Cox Communications is the main division of Cox Enterprises, a conglomerate founded around the time of the Spanish-American War more than a century ago.

The Cox family entered the cable business in the 1960s and has grown Cox Communications into the largest private broadband company in America, offering internet to almost 7 million customers. The company’s systems and regional footprint are expected to complement those of Charter, increasing the chances of a deal passing muster with regulators.

Operating under the Spectrum brand, Charter is the top cable TV company and the second-biggest broadband provider in the US, according to data from Bloomberg Intelligence. It had more than 12 million video subscribers and about 30 million internet customers as of the end of March, earnings show.

Last year, Charter agreed to buy Liberty Broadband Corp. in an all-stock transaction. That deal consolidated two public companies in which cable billionaire Malone held significant interests. Malone remains chairman of Liberty Broadband.

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