The nation’s two largest cable providers have announced a merger. Comcast will buy Time Warner Cable at a cost of more than $45 billion in stock. The deal comes less than a year after Comcast completed its acquisition of NBCUniversal. The merger still faces approval by regulators and shareholders. Media reform advocates have expressed opposition, saying the deal would give Comcast unprecedented control over the media landscape. In a statement, the group Free Press said: “In an already uncompetitive market with high prices that keep going up and up, a merger of the two biggest cable companies should be unthinkable. This deal would be a disaster for consumers and must be stopped.”