ICCI Insight Communications CO CL A (MM)

Time Warner Cable Inc. (TWC), the nation's second-largest cable operator, won't be involved in an auction process for Insight Communications Co., a smaller cable provider backed by private-equity firms, according to a person close to Time Warner Cable.

Insight is seeking a valuation in the range of $3.5 billion to $4 billion, according to another person familiar with the matter, but the person close to Time Warner Cable said the company views that range as much too high.

Time Warner Cable has looked at Insight's assets and finds the business attractive but isn't interested in bidding for the company unless prices come down, the person close to Time Warner Cable said.

Representatives for Insight were unavailable to comment.

Insight, based in New York, recently enlisted Bank of America-Merrill Lynch and UBS AG to sell the company. It is the ninth-largest U.S. cable company, providing cable, Internet and phone service to about 761,400 customers in Kentucky, Ohio and Indiana.

MidOcean Partners LP and Crestview Partners led a group last year that acquired a stake in Insight from Carlyle Group LP and the company's co-founders Sidney R. Knafel and Michael S. Willner. Carlyle and the co-founders took Insight private in a $2.1 billion deal in 2005. The MidOcean-Crestview group and Carlyle each hold a 43% stake, according to the company's 2010 annual report.

Last fall, Insight paid a $300 million dividend to its backers. Carlyle tried selling Insight in 2007 but pulled the process when the troubled credit markets led to smaller bids than Carlyle was looking for, The Wall Street Journal reported at the time.

-By Nat Worden, Dow Jones Newswires; 212-416-2472; nat.worden@dowjones.com

--Christopher Chung contributed to this report.

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