NTL’s £1.2bn Acquisitions Further UK Cable Industry Consolidation

NTL has secured a double deal, costing a total of £1.2 billion, to buy two of its UK cable rivals, ComTel and Diamond Cable. ComTel, which operates cable services in the Midlands and South-East has been acquired for £550 million. Diamond Cable, operating in the Leicester and Nottingham areas, sold for £630 million.

ComTel has around 900,000 cable homes passed, and Diamond Cable around 400,000; the franchise areas of each, however, cover a million homes each. This now places NTL as the UK’s third largest operator with franchises containing around 5 million homes. Telewest is the largest followed by Cable & Wireless.

The deal almost completes the steady consolidation of UK’s cable companies – something which recently caused the Cable Communications Associations to restructure its role and operations (see CCA To Restructure In The Light Of Cable Industry Consolidation).

In February this year NTL bought Comcast UK for £363 million (see NTL Buys Comcast UK For £363m)

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