NTL Abandons ITV Ambitions

LONDON, December 6: NTL has abandoned plans to acquire ITV,
noting that “a transaction between ITV and NTL is unlikely to be attained on
terms acceptable to NTL.”

News of talks between the British cable giant and the
commercial broadcaster emerged in early November. At the end of last month, ITV
rejected the NTL offer, saying it “materially undervalues” the company. ITV
also said it saw no strategic value in the union. The rejection came a day after
BSkyB shelled out £940 million for a 17.9 percent stake in ITV, becoming the
company’s biggest shareholder. “The fact that Sky would spend nearly $2 billion
to acquire its stake immediately following the mere announcement of NTL's
proposed combination, before the ITV board had an opportunity to respond,
highlights the magnitude of the competition issues involved,” said NTL in a statement,
noting that it has submitted its views on the Sky/ITV deal to the Office of
Fair Trading and Ofcom.

NTL says it reserves the right to make or participate in an
offer within the next six months in the event that an agreement or
recommendation from the board of ITV is forthcoming, a third party announces an
offer for ITV, or Sky offloads part or all of its new ITV stake.

NTL has said that it will continue to focus on integrating
the cable platforms NTL and Telewest, as well as the recently acquired Virgin
Mobile, in advance of the Q1 2007 rebranding to Virgin Media. The integrated
company will place an emphasis on offering a quad-play offer of digital TV,
broadband, mobile and home phone services.