Comcast and Charter are working out a deal in which Charter would acquire Time Warner Cable (TWC) and then sell some of those assets to Comcast.

Previously, Charter offered to buy Time Warner for $61.3 billion or $37.3 billion excluding TWC's debt. Time Warner management rejected the amount, but Charter is attempting to push an acquisition through by appealing to shareholders.

Today, Bloomberg reported that Comcast "is near a deal to buy New York City, North Carolina, and New England cable assets from Charter Communications Inc. if shareholders approve Charter’s takeover bid for Time Warner Cable Inc."

The markets that would go to Comcast after the potential Charter/TWC merger include about three million out of Time Warner's 15 million total subscribers.

"Charter would sell the markets to Comcast to raise cash after borrowing about $20 billion to finance a deal for Time Warner Cable," Bloomberg said, attributing the information to "people with knowledge of the matter."

The Comcast/Charter arrangement faces a significant obstacle in the fact that Charter has not yet struck a deal to buy Time Warner. While Charter offered $132.50 a share for TWC, "most Time Warner Cable shareholders are demanding a bid of more than $140 a share," Bloomberg reported.