The U.K.’s 2 largest cable operators are coy about widespread rep...
The U.K.’s 2 largest cable operators are coy about widespread reports they're in merger talks. The media frenzy began with a Sunday Times piece that was “pure speculation,” said an NTL spokeswoman, acknowledging that consolidation has been talked about…
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for years. Telewest doesn’t comment on such matters, a spokeswoman said. But NTL said Mon. it sold its telecom operations in the Republic of Ireland to MS Irish Cable Holdings BV, an affiliate of Morgan Stanley, for 325 million ($417 million), a move its CEO said would let the firm focus on “growing and improving our U.K. communications and content distribution businesses.” The sale reportedly removes one of the last barriers to a $10.4 billion merger with Telewest. The merger is said to be necessary to let the firms compete with British Telecom in the telephony market and BSkyB in the pay-TV arena.