Apple is ‘monitoring’ AT&T’s interest in acquiring Time Warner

AT&T’s interest in acquiring Time Warner has progressed quickly from “had talks” to “advanced talks” and now a deal could be set by Monday — which Bloomberg says is due to a sped-up timetable caused by Bloomberg‘s initial report.

That’s because AT&T is said to be concerned that the publicity could allow other interested suitors like Apple or Google/Alphabet to jump in. And Apple is said to be monitoring the deal talks, after it made its own approach to Time Warner a few months ago, The Wall Street Journal reports.

Those talks involved execs under CEO Tim Cook and didn’t get beyond a preliminary stage. A source tells the WSJ that Google doesn’t look interested in an offer for Time Warner.

Time Warner Cable is an American cable telecommunications company. It’s the second largest cable company in the U.S. by revenue behind only Comcast, operating in 29 states.