Privately held Cox Communications is considering bidding for Time Warner Cable either on its own or as part of a joint bid, The Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday, citing anonymous sources.

Recent media reports suggest Time Warner Cable is currently being circled by Charter Communications and top cable provider Comcast could jump into the fray with a joint bid for Time Warner Cable along with Charter. 

A Cox spokesman declined to comment on the report. A Time Warner Cable spokeswoman did not immediately respond on Tuesday.

Time Warner Cable shares jumped $5.02, or 3.8 percent, to $136.39.Cox, with 4.5 million subscribers, has cable markets on the West Coast, including in southern California, where it has neighboring cable systems to Time Warner Cable. Time Warner Cable, the U.S. No. 2 cable operator, is a larger company than Cox with about 12 million video subscribers.

Georgia-based Cox Communications is a unit of Cox Enterprises. The company has been viewed as an acquisition target in the past but says it is not for sale.