Confirmed: Morgan Stanley to buy NTL Ireland, will sell on to UPC

KevIRL

Just heard from a mate who works for NTL that an announcement will be made in 2 weeks that Setanta are going to be taking over the company.

Alun

I wonder, if this is true, will it be good news or bad? I'd never heard of them until I heard of the Setanta Sports channel, which I personally never watch, along with any of the other sports channels. Do they do anything other than produce a Sports channel?

Mossy Monk

Setanta are going for years with PPV operations all over the world. very successful company afaik. not sure if they do anything other than sport

IDM

Setanta rip us off with PPV over here in the States. I ended up paying $20 to see England v. Northern Ireland ... and that was at the pub ! Setanta actually forces the pubs to charge admission. But hey, it's better to have an expensive option than no option at all. I have to say I've been quite impressed with their Irish sports channel, though. So hopefully the takeover won't be a bad thing ...

Infini

IDM wrote:

Setanta rip us off with PPV over here in the States. I ended up paying $20 to see England v. Northern Ireland ... and that was at the pub ! Setanta actually forces the pubs to charge admission. But hey, it's better to have an expensive option than no option at all. I have to say I've been quite impressed with their Irish sports channel, though. So hopefully the takeover won't be a bad thing ...

That's a complete rip-off! :mad:

Aquos76

A very good write up in todays indo about the prospective buyers. Looks like Setanta backers have backed out though. The company which owns Chorus is widely believed to be favourites.

Mimikyu

This post has been deleted.

a bientot

If UGC wins the prize (340,000 homes) and UPC is the new name for the Dublin/Galway/Waterford cable tv and radio service can we expect a normal pricing structure that is typical of what the mainlanders pay UPC.......? 12 euros per month for a minimum of 35 channels in the very basic package..........actually the channel line up in all countries where UGC operate is multi-lingual.....and copyright fees are shown separately on subscribers bill.
Sorry about those who hate all languages except the language of Shakespeare, as the French call it, referred to as 'our' language by some!

SteM

a bientot wrote:

If UGC wins the prize (340,000 homes) and UPC is the new name for the Dublin/Galway/Waterford cable tv and radio service can we expect a normal pricing structure that is typical of what the mainlanders pay UPC.......?12 euros per month for a minimum of 35 channels in the very basic package

I shouldn't imagine so. It's not like NTL Ireland is the same as NTL UK at the moment so there's nothing to suggest that UGC will have the same structure in Ireland as mainland Europe. Is the system here even capable of carrying 35 analogue channels with Digital on top of that?

a bientot wrote:

Sorry about those who hate all languages except the language of Shakespeare, as the French call it, referred to as 'our' language by some!

Here we go again.

chorus techy

Doubt it, somehow. Basic packages for that price and with that many channels are generally on networks where all customers have been converted to digital television and analogue has ceased. NTL is much the same in the UK where they axe most of the analogue services once your area has been digitally upgraded, meaning you need a seperate STB (and subscription) for each tv AND video.

a bientot

I beg to differ with you on this......see UPC websites around Europe and you will see that most services are in analogue take Bruxelles, Varsovie, Prague etc
I would be happy to take 30 analogue or digital channels for 13 euros per month......

But why is this unmentionable company quitting Eire in M & S parlance?
Is it because they have been too successful in convereting all 340,000 customers to digital and getting 30 euros per month out of each household?
Why is there so much DGW cable advertising at present? Is it because they had an advertising contract signed before the decision to quit was made and they now are desperate to use this up before they 'get the boat'?

No, it is the fact that they have only sold the 100+ channel digital package to 22,000 after more than four years marketing from these Ph D marketing geniuses. The other 50,000 digital customers were easily 'captured' by simply changing all mmds analogue customers around Dublin, Galway and Waterford over to digital.
The tome of an annual report recently published by this company boasted of its success in getting 4100 new subscribers an the last quarter of 2004. New digital customer figures were not mentioned.
Also let us remember that Telecom/RTE provided the cable tv and radio service to 370,000 in 1999.
Open to be challenged

causal

It seems it went pear shaped for ntl after buying cablelink alright.
Check out this article from hackwatch back in 7-May-1999 where it says:

NTL will also introduce a telephone service to Cablelink subscribers allowing them to avail of an unmetered local call charge of 0.035 as opposed to Telecom Eireann's £0.115 charge per unit. The move would effectively rip the heart out of Telecom Eireann's domestic and commercial market as Cablelink's main network is in Dublin City and it also has the main population centres of Waterford and Galway. This coupled with internet access via cable has the capability to drastically affect the internet access market in Ireland.

Well 6 years later ntl don't have a telephone service, and we're still hoping that ntl (or the new owners) will offer a substantially superior broadband product than the DSL providers; and from their point of view it should be to a heck of a lot more broadband customers than they have.
So all three prongs of their business have fallen short: tv, internet, phone.
Maybe that's why it's selling for 1/3 to 1/2 of what it did 6 years ago.

causal

causal

More developments in this post , UGC & John Riordan bids 'shortlisted'; Setanta and Denis O'Brien bids 'in reserve'


causal

icdg

Interesting. Makes it rather likely that UGC will win. We will then be seeing a Competition Authority inquiry into the merger of Chorus and NTL, that could last months.

Renaming this thread

SteM

icdg wrote:

Interesting. Makes it rather likely that UGC will win. We will then be seeing a Competition Authority inquiry into the merger of Chorus and NTL, that could last months.

Do UGC own Chorus too? From all I've heard of them Chorus are an even bigger shamles than NTL when it comes to customer support etc.

icdg

Part of the problem with Chorus is that they are an amalgamation of many seperate cable companies (which eventually resolved into Irish Multichannel and CMI Cable, which then merged to become Chorus). Their analogue network has different things in different places in nearly every town. At least NTL only have to support three cable networks, which are pretty standard in design and lineup.

From an NTL customers' point of view, I would be hopping that our DTV service is not "downgraded" to the Chorus one, which has less than half the channels NTL carry. For three times the price! The problem being that the new company will need a digital super-head-end in Ireland to operate. Chorus are the owners of the only one in the state...

ebsa

icdg wrote:

Interesting. Makes it rather likely that UGC will win. We will then be seeing a Competition Authority inquiry into the merger of Chorus and NTL, that could last months.

Maybe not right now...

http://www.enn.ie/news.html?code=9598751

Morgan Stanley is to buy NTL Ireland on behalf of UGC in order to avoid a lengthy competition probe which would delay NTL's expected merger with Telewest.

UGC is the highest bidder for the Irish cable operator NTL Ireland, but has passed its preferred bidder status to US investment bank Morgan Stanley in an effort to avert a full regulatory review by the Irish Competition Authority. Morgan Stanley represented UGC in a bidding process which started earlier this year, during which the media company offered EUR320 million for the NTL Ireland.

It had been expected that the sale to UGC would proceed subject to Competition Authority approval. However, it has been reported that NTL is anxious to close the sale as quickly as possible ahead of a widely expected merger with Telewest in Britain.

As a result, Morgan Stanley is to buy NTL Ireland in an arrangement known as "warehousing." NTL's Irish assets will be parked with the investment bank until it can be sold on to UGC at a later date.

causal

There's no sidestepping the Competition Authority, they're just postponing the protracted investigation for a shorter one, because ntl:uk want to offload nt:irl quickly so that ntl:uk can proceed with their Telewest merger.

Even a sale to Morgan Stanley would have to be approved by the Competition Authority, since the sale of NTL Ireland is considered a "media merger" which brings it under the authority's umbrella. The future sale of NTL Ireland to UGC by Morgan Stanley would also need the approval of the Competition Authority.

causal

JDxtra

...but don't ntl: and Chrous typically operate in different areas?

If the franchise areas don't overlap then I see any need for the competition authority to be getting heavily involved.

icdg

The main problem is that because Liberty Media have a stake in BSkyB, that they will have to investigate whether Malone can influence both Sky and NTL, and whether that will impede competition.

Of course, if that really was the case, then Malone should never have been allowed snap up Chorus in the first place.

Alison1

icdg wrote:

The main problem is that because Liberty Media have a stake in BSkyB, that they will have to investigate whether Malone can influence both Sky and NTL, and whether that will impede competition.

Of course, if that really was the case, then Malone should never have been allowed snap up Chorus in the first place.

Does anyone have any idea on the implications of the employees of both Chorus and NTL. Over 400 employed by Chorus in Limerick alone and probably more by NTL in their franchise area. At the end of the day a lot of people will lose their jobs but will NTL or Chorus bear the brunt of these cuts.

chorus techy

There will inevitably be people layed off, such as engineers, or people who's functions "double up" with ntl and chorus. But you must remember that ntl is majority cable and chorus is majority MMDS so a lot of engineer staff will still be required. And they can't possibly lay off customer support staff - ntl is understaffed enough as it is!

icdg

It depends just where they decide to run the merged company from - Limerick or Dublin. I would suspect the choice of head office location will dictate whose staff gets laid off. If Limerick, I suspect many NTL head office staff would be reluctant to move down, likewise, I'm not sure how many of the Chorus head office staff would want to move to Dublin.

causal

At a guess I'd say they'll locate their head-office in Dublin.
Dublin or Limerick : Jesus or Barabbas

causal

a bientot

I wonder when will Chorus be getting its new name 'UPC' (cable) and a properly constructed webpage to match that of its fellow services in the eleven countries on the mainland?
Or is UGC waiting for its hoped-for buy out of ntl to change all the names to UPC?
And yes, the company will be based in Roxboro, Limerick, where there is plenty of extra space to accommodate more local staff or ex-ntls.......thanks to extra government grants to stay out of Dublin.
ntlers in Dublin who are not willing to apply for a job with UPC will be given the choice of going 'home to mother house' in London or whereever or becoming redundant.
However, it is stunning to have to suffer all the death bed advertising from this company called ntl including three letters begging me to come back as a customer and offering me an amnesty on all the money I owe them....

More of this absolute madness from these marketing geniuses with their five page CVs.........

Marcopolo85

a bientot wrote:

I wonder when will Chorus be getting its new name 'UPC' (cable) and a properly constructed webpage to match that of its fellow services in the eleven countries on the mainland?
Or is UGC waiting for its hoped-for buy out of ntl to change all the names to UPC?
And yes, the company will be based in Roxboro, Limerick, where there is plenty of extra space to accommodate more local staff or ex-ntls.......thanks to extra government grants to stay out of Dublin.
ntlers in Dublin who are not willing to apply for a job with UPC will be given the choice of going 'home to mother house' in London or whereever or becoming redundant.
However, it is stunning to have to suffer all the death bed advertising from this company called ntl including three letters begging me to come back as a customer and offering me an amnesty on all the money I owe them....

More of this absolute madness from these marketing geniuses with their five page CVs.........

And you obviously have a hand in this decision-making process?

John R

a bientot wrote:

I wonder when will Chorus be getting its new name 'UPC' (cable) and a properly constructed webpage to match that of its fellow services in the eleven countries on the mainland?
Or is UGC waiting for its hoped-for buy out of ntl to change all the names to UPC?
And yes, the company will be based in Roxboro, Limerick, where there is plenty of extra space to accommodate more local staff or ex-ntls.......thanks to extra government grants to stay out of Dublin.
ntlers in Dublin who are not willing to apply for a job with UPC will be given the choice of going 'home to mother house' in London or whereever or becoming redundant.

Conjecture masquerading as fact I reckon.

a bientot wrote:

However, it is stunning to have to suffer all the death bed advertising from this company called ntl including three letters begging me to come back as a customer and offering me an amnesty on all the money I owe them....

The company is not being wound down or sold off to be asset stripped, it is being sold as a profitable business with a large customer base and an attractive product line, it is no reason why they should axe their marketing campaign.

The tax man

a bientot wrote:

ntlers in Dublin who are not willing to apply for a job with UPC will be given the choice of going 'home to mother house' in London or whereever or becoming redundant.

Strange that,when NTL took over Cablelink I don't remember anyone having to apply for thier job with NTL.
What makes you think NTL is full of English staff???

cdc

What makes you think NTL is full of English staff???

The 'Ireland' in 'Ntl Ireland' is clearly Ireland the British home nation. And their Non WASP channel purges are well known.

Alison1

a bientot wrote:

I wonder when will Chorus be getting its new name 'UPC' (cable) and a properly constructed webpage to match that of its fellow services in the eleven countries on the mainland?
Or is UGC waiting for its hoped-for buy out of ntl to change all the names to UPC?
And yes, the company will be based in Roxboro, Limerick, where there is plenty of extra space to accommodate more local staff or ex-ntls.......thanks to extra government grants to stay out of Dublin.
ntlers in Dublin who are not willing to apply for a job with UPC will be given the choice of going 'home to mother house' in London or whereever or becoming redundant.
However, it is stunning to have to suffer all the death bed advertising from this company called ntl including three letters begging me to come back as a customer and offering me an amnesty on all the money I owe them....

More of this absolute madness from these marketing geniuses with their five page CVs.........

From speaking to a few friends of mine working in Chorus the fear is that all functions with overlap between NTL and Chorus will relocate to Dublin, the combined companies of Chorus and NTL will then be called UPC Ireland, Irish headquarters in Dublin with some serious job cuts on the way.

a bientot

Finally UGC have updated their webpage although it is dated 14 March 2005 (but I have been checking it for weeks without seeing what is there today) and it gives all details of the cable systems they operate around the world - Europe................and this also includes Ireland where they claim to have (only) 112,900 basic subscribers..............
The Irish Times even today claims that they have 200,000 customers.....

For further info surfers are advised to go to www.chorus.ie
My oh my! what an excuse for a webpage take-over!
And by the way all basic services are multi-lingual. Nothing extraordinary about this in mainland Europe......sorry, shouldn't mention normality in this country.

See

http://www.unitedglobal.com/euFmain.cfm

This may interest those who can listen in a few hours time....will Ireland be mentioned?

http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/050504/law142.html?.v=2