Charter to buy Time Warner Cable in a $78.7 billion deal

(Reuters) - Charter Communications Inc said it would buy Time Warner Cable Inc in a cash-and-stock deal that values the larger rival at $78.7 billion, to compete with No. 1 U.S. cable services provider Comcast Corp.

The deal values each Time Warner Cable share at about $195.71 based on Charter's closing price on May 20, the companies said in a joint statement on Tuesday.

(Reporting by Supantha Mukherjee in Bengaluru and Lauren Tara LaCapra in New York; Editing by Sriraj Kalluvila)