• by Joe Mandese  @mp_joemandese, August 15, 2011

Time Warner cable, the fourth largest provider of subscription TV and broadband communications services, just got bigger, agreeing to acquire Insight Communications from The Carlyle Group for about $3 billion in cash.

While the deal won't propel Time Warner Cable ahead of the TV industry's Big 3 - Comcast, DirecTV and Dish - it will at about 750,000 subscribers, and will greatly expand its reach in the Midwest, particularly in Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky and Ohio.

The deal is Time Warner Cable's largest since spinning off from Time Warner in 2009.

Top 25 Multichannel Video Programming Distributors as of Mar. 2011

Rank	MSO	BasicVideoSubscribers
1	Comcast Corporation	22,763,000
2	DirecTV	19,407,000
3	Dish Network Corporation	14,191,000
4	Time Warner Cable, Inc.	12,357,000
5	Cox Communications, Inc.1	4,899,000
6	Charter Communications, Inc.	4,497,000
7	Verizon Communications, Inc.	3,664,000
8	Cablevision Systems Corporation	3,306,000
9	AT&T, Inc.	3,205,000
10	Bright House Networks LLC1	2,171,000
11	Suddenlink Communications1	1,217,000
12	Mediacom Communications Corporation	1,175,000
13	Insight Communications Company, Inc.	693,000
14	CableOne, Inc.	647,000
15	WideOpenWest Networks, LLC1	410,000
16	RCN Corp.1	345,000
17	Atlantic Broadband Group, LLC	264,000
18	Knology Holdings	255,000
19	Armstrong Cable Services	243,000
20	Service Electric Cable TV Incorporated1	222,000
21	Midcontinent Communications	211,000
22	MetroCast Cablevision	179,000
23	Blue Ridge Communications1	169,000
24	General Communications	147,000
25	Buckeye CableSystem1	138,000

 Source: National Cable Television Association.