Charter Communications is talking with its bankers to help bankroll a takeover bid for Time Warner Cable, according to the Wall Street Journal.

Backed by media mogul John Malone, Stamford-based Charter with 4.2M customers is the No. 4 cable TV company, while TWC ranks as No. 2. Its market cap of $13B trails its target’s $35B.

BankAmerica, Barclay’s and Deutsche Bank are Charter’s bankers.

Malone, who triggered a consolidation wave during the 1990s, believes a Charter/TWC mash-up would counter rising programming costs and stiffer competition from the pay-TV sector.

In June, TWC CEO Glenn Britt rejected Charter’s takeover overturns.

In the aftermath, Britt announced plans to step down by yearend, yielding the top post to Rob Marcus, who has a financial background.

Charter CEO Tom Rutledge joined the company in February after building Cablevision as president/COO.

TWC posted $16.5B in nine-month revenues, up four percent. Net income declined 13.9 percent to $1.4B.

Charter lost $204K on $6B in revenues during the comparable period.