Liberty to buy NTL and spend €400m upgrading

bk

Liberty Global (UPC) has gotten the go ahead from the minister to buy NTL:Ireland.

http://www.rte.ie/business/2005/1205/ntl.html

Liberty also plans on spending €400 million to upgrade the network for voice, video and BB:

The deal means Liberty can now invest up to €400m on upgrading its services. It plans to offer television, telephone and broadband over the same pipe which currently carries TV signals into homes.

More here:
http://www.irishexaminer.com/pport/web/business/Full_Story/did-sgW9QUeKtLnrQsg0aewFBADppk.asp

The tax man

Ha ha ha I still have to laugh when the word "pipe" is used in connection with cable TV.

Don't know about the rest of ya but my TV signal arrives via cable.
Now my water,that arrives via a pipe.:D

Here's hoping we see some movement on the investment front sooner then later.
It will take time but just how much.

a bientot

Just in......so let's sit back and watch what happens next.....

Liberty Global Completes Acquisition of NTL Ireland


DENVER, Dec. 12 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Liberty Global, Inc. ("Liberty
Global") (Nasdaq: LBTYA, LBTYB, LBTYK) today announced that UPC Ireland B.V.,following the approval by the Minister of Enterprise Trade and Employment last week, has completed the acquisition of NTL Ireland through its acquisition of MS Irish Cable Holdings B.V. NTL Ireland was subsequently contributed to UPC Broadband, our primary European borrower group.
NTL Ireland is the largest cable operator in the Republic of Ireland,
offering cable television and broadband services to residential customers and
managed network services to corporate customers. At September 30, 2005, NTL Ireland had approximately 375,100 revenue generating units ("RGUs") including 358,700 video RGUs and 16,400 broadband Internet RGUs. In the Republic of Ireland Liberty Global also owns cable operator Chorus, which served 201,100 RGUs at September 30, 2005.

About Liberty Global, Inc.
Liberty Global owns interests in broadband distribution and content
companies operating outside the continental United States, principally in
Europe, Asia, and the Americas. Through its subsidiaries and affiliates,
Liberty Global is the largest broadband cable operator outside the U.S. in
terms of subscribers. Based on the Company's consolidated operating
statistics at September 30, 2005 (other than NTL Ireland which, at September
30, 2005, we consolidated but did not control), Liberty Global's networks
passed approximately 23.6 million homes and served approximately 15.2 million
revenue generating units, including approximately 10.7 million video
subscribers, 2.6 million broadband Internet subscribers and 1.9 million
telephone subscribers

Forward-Looking Statements: Except for historical information contained
herein, this press release contains forward-looking statements within the
meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These
forward looking statements involve certain risks and uncertainties that could
cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by
these statements, including NTL Ireland's ability to continue financial and
operational growth at historic levels, the Company's ability to successfully
operate and integrate the NTL Ireland system, continued use by subscribers and potential subscribers of the NTL Ireland services, and the Company's ability to achieve expected operational efficiencies and economies of scale. These forward-looking statements speak only as of the date of this release. The Company expressly disclaims any obligation or undertaking to disseminate any updates or revisions to any forward-looking statement contained herein to reflect any change in the Company's expectations with regard thereto or any change in events, conditions or circumstances on which any such statement is based.

For more information, please visit http://www.lgi.com

Alun

It's nice to know that we're all nothing more than "Revenue Generating Units".

channelsurfer

ok so whats the bets.. what channel line up will the combined company give us. ntl or chorus line up. As for the chorus cable areas they seem to be getting smaller by the day. In my area anyone that asks chorus for digital gets mmds digital not a sign of them even upgrading the cable to digital.

bk

Alun wrote:

It's nice to know that we're all nothing more than "Revenue Generating Units".

And some of us are even multiple RGU's

As for channels, well we better not get the pathetic Chorus digital lineup.

The tax man

Hmmm...Chorus do have that em sports channel that NTL em dropped.
Now before all the tractor pulling jokes come flying in Eurosport did actually cover main stream sports too.
I for one can't wait to get it back,hopefully in time for Le Tour(which I'll watch in English)

@BK I don't think the DTV package will go backwards.NTL are stilling adding channels.I doubt they'll to a Uturn.Only time will tell.Fingers crossed.

Mossy Monk

have they announced that Eurosport is coming back?

The tax man

Mossy Monk wrote:

have they announced that Eurosport is coming back?

No,but why would they drop it when both companies merge.
All involved know the uproar the removal caused.
TBH Mossy nobody knows(at this early stage) what will happen.Things will probably stay the way things are atm. Chorus customers get the same channels for now as will NTL customers.
MMDS vs cable. It could end up like the present state. Cable customers will get more then MMDS customers.

Hmmm...Tractors:D

paulm17781

I just had a look at all the UPC sites. They all seem to have very fast BB except Romania where the top speed is 1.5mb. Let us hope they put more of an effort in here.