LV cable company in $4 billion deal

Shareholders of TCA, which has 883,000 customers concentrated in Texas, Arkansas and Louisiana, will get $63.89 a share, or 23 percent more than Tuesday's closing price. Atlanta-based Cox offered $31.25 in cash and 0.3709 share of its Class A common stock, and would assume $736 million of TCA debt.

Cox, which last month agreed to buy Media General Inc.'s cable systems for $1.4 billion, and its competitors are consolidating clusters of subscribers. Cable companies also want to spread out the cost of new programs and digital services, such as high-speed Internet access.

Cox acquired the Prime Cable system in Las Vegas last year.

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