Article : NTL & UGC

causal

[pedant]The article says 6-9 months.[/pedant]

morlan wrote:

This is getting confusing!

morlan, the merger with Telewest is ntl:uk (not ntl:Ireland), have a peek at electric news

Telewest and NTL, Britain's two cable-television operators, are heading towards agreement on a STG5.5 billion merger. According to the report, Telewest will meet investment banks in New York this week to decide on a line-up of advisers for the merger. NTL has asked Goldman Sachs to advise it on the merger.

Back home again, ntl:Ireland was sold to Goldman Sachs (as MS Irish Cable Holdings BV)who will warehouse it until they can sell it on to UGC (as UPC Ireland) subject to lengthy Competition Authority approval.

Clear as mud...
causal

bk

causal wrote:

Back home again, ntl:Ireland was sold to Goldman Sachs (as MS Irish Cable Holdings BV)who will warehouse it until they can sell it on to UGC (as UPC Ireland) subject to lengthy Competition Authority approval.

Clear as mud...
causal

You forgot to add that the Broadband product will probably be sold under the Chello brand name

crawler

NEW YORK -(Dow Jones)- NTL Inc. (NTLI) sold its telecommunications business in Ireland to a Morgan Stanley (MWD) affiliate for EUR325 million, which translates to about $416.7 million.

In a press release Monday, NTL said it sold the assets to focus on its U.K. communications and content-distribution operations.

NTL plans to use the proceeds from the asset sale to MS Irish Cable Holdings BV to repay the principal on its senior credit facility. NTL ended 2004 with long-term debt of $5.66 billion.

Morgan Stanley will sell the assets acquired from NTL to UnitedGlobalCom Inc.'s (UCOMA) UPC Ireland BV unit. The sale to UnitedGlobalCom requires regulatory approvals.

This deal will transfer control of the former NTL assets to media mogul John Malone, who serves as chairman of Liberty Media Corp. (L). Liberty owns 53% of UnitedGlobalCom shares, and 90% of its voting shares.

Separately, UnitedGlobalCom confirmed the deal with Morgan Stanley, and said it loaned the funds MS Irish used to purchase NTL's Irish telecommunications business.

Earlier Monday, Liberty Media said it swung to a first-quarter profit of $254 million, or 9 cents a share. The company's first-quarter revenue rose 14% to $2 billion.

Company Web site: http://www.ntl.com; http://www.unitedglobal.com

-Eamon Beltran; Dow Jones Newswires; 201-938-5400; AskNewswires@dowjones.com

Snake Plisken

Is anyone a bit nervous about this? My heart sank when I heard who bought it! Anyone who has experienced the rubbish TV/Internet service provided by Chorus and then gone on to use NTL will agree that there is no comparision between the two with NTL blowing Chorus away withTV service/picture quality, Broadband rollout and increase in connection speeds provided, if the two merge into one, then I can see any future inprovement being severely hampered, plus there is the whole competition issue, if you buy your rival, then you have a monopoly situation!

Anyway just my initial thoughts on this deal.

Cheers

Snake

crawler

Snake Plisken wrote:

Is anyone a bit nervous about this? My heart sank when I heard who bought it! Anyone who has experienced the rubbish TV/Internet service provided by Chorus and then gone on to use NTL will agree that there is no comparision between the two with NTL blowing Chorus away withTV service/picture quality, Broadband rollout and increase in connection speeds provided, if the two merge into one, then I can see any future inprovement being severely hampered, plus there is the whole competition issue, if you buy your rival, then you have a monopoly situation!

Anyway just my initial thoughts on this deal.

Cheers

Snake

No, not at all - Chorus did not Buy NTL - UGC did. People are incorrectly making the same connection you made....I owuld be more inclined to look at what Chello do in France for a model of what is to come....The fact that they make a profit is a good sign too!!

Raskolnikov

crawler wrote:

No, not at all - Chorus did not Buy NTL - UGC did. People are incorrectly making the same connection you made....I owuld be more inclined to look at what Chello do in France for a model of what is to come....The fact that they make a profit is a good sign too!!

Surely there's no need to worry anyway since Chorus and NTL both operate in different parts of the country?

I wouldn't go holding off getting ADSL just yet because of these developments. You seriously have to wonder if UGC will have the stomach/investment to try and rebuild Ireland's cable infrastructure.

bk

Snake Plisken wrote:

Is anyone a bit nervous about this? My heart sank when I heard who bought it!

No not at all, quiet the opposite in fact.

Chorus hasn't bought NTL:Ireland.

What has happend is just last December UGC Europe, one of the largest cable companies in Europe bought Chorus. Now UGC Europe is also in the process of buying NTL:Ireland.

As a Corkonian living in Dublin, I have experienced both Chorus and NTL and I therefore understand your concerns. There is absolutely no comparison between Chorus and NTL. NTL is so much better it is not even funny. However it doesn't apply here. UGC Europe is a very large company with very healthy financils and seemingly a lot of money to spend on upgrading networks. Rumour has it that they are already starting to invest in the Chorus network and a similiar situation is likely to happen for NTL:Ireland network.

causal

A few articles of interest on the subject:

1) http://www.electricnews.net/news.html?code=9606292

Still, many expect that Ireland's Competition Commission will eventually allow the sale, in part because Chorus and NTL Ireland's networks do not overlap. Moreover, an Irish cable operator with near-national reach would have more resources to do battle with satellite TV firm British Sky Broadcasting (BSkyB), which has captured a large chunk of the Irish market.

And unfortunately this

Meanwhile, a report in Tuesday's Irish Times indicated that the combined NTL Ireland and Chorus operation, which will employ about 1,000 people, is likely to cut jobs once the merger goes ahead fully. "There will be a headcount reduction in the fullness of time," Shane O'Neill, the UGC executive leading the acquisition team, told the paper. "But it is not axiomatic that on day one it will lead to significant reductions."

2)Which is maybe a bit of a bitter pill to swallow considering this article: Rising revenues for Irish cable TV firms

3)From a customer point of view I'm optimistic about the takeover. Particularly considering this

Informed sources have told siliconrepublic.com that UGC — with a war chest of €1bn for infrastructure and acquisitions — is planning to spend €200m on upgrading its cable infrastructure in Ireland to be capable of handling frequencies of up to 850MHz and beyond.

causal

Snake Plisken

Probably in the broadband sector they will remain competative, but for the provision of TV services they will now be like the ESB, and will put up prices whenever they like! And don't tell me me about being regulated, as recent increases in the price of electricity have shown it doesn't work!

Snake

Blaster99

And the situation is different now in what way exactly? I don't recall having a choice of cable TV companies.

causal

afaik Sky have the upper hand in the digital tv market; so the all new bigger brighter 'ntl+chorus' will be better able to compete with Sky - and hopefully that will benefit the consumer

causal

bk

Snake Plisken wrote:

Probably in the broadband sector they will remain competative, but for the provision of TV services they will now be like the ESB, and will put up prices whenever they like! And don't tell me me about being regulated, as recent increases in the price of electricity have shown it doesn't work!

NTL+Chorus are under major competitive pressure from Sky, who offer more channels, better Picture Quality, better reliabilty, interactivity and the Sky+ PVR service. And next year Sky will be launching High Definition channels.

Chorus in particular is losing customers at a very high rate to Sky.

In the future NTL+Chorus will also come under pressure from Digital FreeSat and Digital Terestial Transmitting and in the longer term mayb even IPTV services.

So I don't expect ESB style price rises, NTL don't operate in a vacuum, people do have other choices.

Marcopolo85

bk wrote:

NTL+Chorus are under major competitive pressure from Sky, who offer more channels, better Picture Quality, better reliabilty, interactivity and the Sky+ PVR service. And next year Sky will be launching High Definition channels.

Chorus in particular is losing customers at a very high rate to Sky.

In the future NTL+Chorus will also come under pressure from Digital FreeSat and Digital Terestial Transmitting and in the longer term mayb even IPTV services.

So I don't expect ESB style price rises, NTL don't operate in a vacuum, people do have other choices.

Just like to point out one thing: Sky cover the whole island and have 300,000 customers approximately. That's a penetration of roughly 25%. NTL have approximately 340,000 homes connected, with about 100,000 digital customers - that's a penetration of just under 30%. So each, in their own domain, are neck and neck.....Sky aren't as far ahead as some contributors point out.

There are a lot of people who can't wait to see NTL or Chorus succumb. That, if it ever happens, will be a very black day for Irish consumers. While NTL/chorus are not perfect they are, nevertheless, (at least in NTL's case) providing an extremely cheap and attractive alternative to Sky. And not just cheap in terms of monthly fees......they're streets ahead when it comes to chraging (or not charging) for backup.

causal

If your figures are accurate then Sky and NTL percentage take up is similar; but Sky are way ahead in terms of actual numbers - 300,000 against 100,000 - using your figures.

And who are the idiots that want to see NTL/Chorus succumb? (Apart from Sky*) Speak up and let your arguments be known if ye are out there?

causal

*Remember in the Terminator films - Skynet is the name of the computer network that took over Earth!!! "NTL be back!" :cool:

Marcopolo85

causal wrote:

If your figures are accurate then Sky and NTL percentage take up is similar; but Sky are way ahead in terms of actual numbers - 300,000 against 100,000 - using your figures.

And who are the idiots that want to see NTL/Chorus succumb? (Apart from Sky*) Speak up and let your arguments be known if ye are out there?

causal

*Remember in the Terminator films - Skynet is the name of the computer network that took over Earth!!! "NTL be back!" :cool:

I see where you're coming from. I was just pointing out that, in their respective patches (remember NTL does not have a nationwide footprint) the performance is similar, with NTL slightly ahead. There is no questioning that (technically at least) the Sky system does have the edge.....but how many people actually know how to use the 'bells & whistles' on the box?!

There was a dude with the username of 'a bientot' on the posts recently (I think his comments have since been removed) who appeared to actually relish the prospect of people in Chorus or NTL losing their jobs.