6th Dec 2006 07:02
NTL Inc06 December 2006 Immediate release: Wednesday December 6, 2006 NTL INCORPORATED ("NTL") STATEMENT CONCERNING ITV PLC ("ITV") London; December 6, 2006 - NTL (NASDAQ:NTLI) - today issued the followingstatement. NTL announces that it has no present intention of making an offer for ITV, as itbelieves a transaction between ITV and NTL is unlikely to be attained on termsacceptable to NTL. NTL is continuing to focus on integrating NTL, Telewest and Virgin Mobile,driving cost synergies, improving operational effectiveness and leveraging itscontent assets. In the first quarter of 2007, NTL will rebrand to "Virgin Media"and will exploit its unique ability to offer an unrivalled quad-play of digitalTV, broadband, mobile and home phone services. The rebranding is underpinned bya substantial improvement in customer service and operational efficiency, bothhallmarks of the Virgin brand. NTL notes that Sky purchased a 17.9% interest in ITV, paying a substantialcontrol premium. NTL has submitted its views on this purchase to the Office ofFair Trading and OFCOM, because it presents serious competition and publicinterest issues. The fact that Sky would spend nearly $2 billion to acquire itsstake immediately following the mere announcement of NTL's proposed combination,before the ITV board had an opportunity to respond, highlights the magnitude ofthe competition issues involved. For the purposes of Rule 2.8 of the City Code on Takeovers and Mergers ("TheCity Code"), NTL reserves the right to make or participate in an offer withinthe next six months in the event that: an agreement or recommendation from theboard of ITV is forthcoming; a third party announces a firm or possible offerfor ITV; ITV announces a "whitewash" proposal for the purposes of Rule 9 of theCity Code or a reverse takeover; ITV announces its intention to pursue a Class 1transaction under the Listing Rules of the FSA; or Sky sells all or a materialpart of its stake in ITV. For more information about NTL/Telewest's services, or to check availability,consumers can call 0800 183 1000 or visit www.whycable.co.uk, or check outwww.virginmobile.co.uk for the latest Virgin Mobile offers. Enquiries NTLVani Bassi Tel: +44 (0)20 7299 5353 M: Communications Tel: +44 (0)20 7153 1530Nick MilesNick FoxLisa Gordon About NTL Incorporated In March 2006 NTL and Telewest completed a merger creating the UK's largestprovider of residential broadband and leading provider of triple-play -telephone, broadband and digital TV services. The company operates under thename of NTL Telewest and offers a range of communications and entertainmentservices to more than 5 million residential customers. The Company's networkscan service more than 12 million homes - 50% of UK households - and 85% of UKbusinesses. NTL Telewest's content division, Flextech Television, provides televisionchannels for the UK multichannel TV market and owns transactional channelsprice-drop TV, bid tv, speed auction tv and screenshop. Flextech owns sixentertainment channels - LIVINGtv, LIVINGtv 2, Bravo, Challenge, Trouble, Ftn(plus their time shifted variants) and is a 50% partner in UKTV which consistsof ten channels including UKTV Gold, UKTV Drama and UKTV History. TogetherFlextech and UKTV are the largest suppliers of basic channels to the UK pay-TVmarket. On 4 July 2006 NTL Incorporated (the holding company of NTL Telewest) completedits acquisition of Virgin Mobile. Virgin Mobile is the UK's largest mobile virtual network operator and usesT-Mobile's network. Since its launch in November 1999, Virgin Mobile hasattracted more than 4 million customers. Virgin Mobile is part of the NTLTelewest group. The group is the first to be able to offer 'quadruple play' tocustomers: mobile and fixed line telephony, broadband internet and television. Further information about NTL Telewest and its products can be found atwww.whycable.co.uk, www.flextech.co.uk or www.virginmobile.co.uk This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock ExchangeRelated Shares:
ITV