French investor said to be interested in Time Warner Cable

French investor Patrick Drahi’s firm Altice SA has made contact with Time Warner Cable about a possible acquisition, the Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday night.

Time Warner has been in talks with other companies as well — and any deal being done by one of the country’s largest cable operators is sure to be watched closely in Washington.

{mosads}Talk of a deal came a day before Altice announced that it would purchase a 70 percent controlling stake in Suddenlink, a smaller cable operator. The deal is valued at $9.1 billion, Altice said.

The company said it expected the deal to close in the fourth quarter of 2015 once regulators sign off on the transaction.

The deal would mark the first entrance to the U.S. market for Drahi, who has a reputation for implementing significant cost-cutting measures at companies he buys.

His interest in Time Warner Cable comes after the company’s massive merger with Comcast was killed by regulators at the Department of Justice and Federal Communications Commission.

Time Warner is reportedly in talks with Charter Communications and Bright House Networks about doing a possible deal, in talks that are likely to be closely watched in Washington. An acquisition of Bright House would be seen as a move by Time Warner to improve its negotiating position with Charter.