Cable Forum - ntlwest ?

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Okay so it probably won't be called this, but the current "speculation" is that ntl & TW will announce the worst kept secret in the world when the sale of the Broadcast Division has finally been completed. This is expected to sometime in Q1 2005, with the actual joining in Q4 (i.e. by the end of the year). ntl will be the senior 'partner' of the new ntl-telewest, basically controlling the new company.

What this will mean in real terms is obviously not very clear atm - but again the "speculation" is that there will be a lot of redundancies as TW is considered to be over-manned at the moment.

Whilst I have every sympathy for those at both NTL and TW who will inevitably be made redundant as a result of this, it can't happen soon enough IMO.

As to the name, I think it's most likely Telewest would "become" NTL. However I wouldn't rule out some sort of expensive rebranding and renaming of the whole company, to try and remove any negative connotations that have been associated with both NTL and Telewest in the past.

National TeleWest Limited (NTWL)? :D

It won't bother me much on the TV side, having sky installed on Wednesday.

I'd imaging something with far more marketing-speak... How about cable.uk - with appropriate colouring and font, of course!

Quote:

Originally Posted by jimbo

I'd imaging something with far more marketing-speak... How about cable.uk - with appropriate colouring and font, of course!

That's a pretty good one, actually

Claim the copyright to it, quick -- you could make a packet ;)

I've been thinking of registering the domain name "cable.uk.com" - but those uk.com ones are expensive!

EDIT: D'oh! And now it's gone!

Slightly off topic but who do you think owns www.nthell.co.uk

Quote:

Originally Posted by ianathuth

Slightly off topic but who do you think owns www.nthell.co.uk

Well it goes to Telewest, lol.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tristan

As to the name, I think it's most likely Telewest would "become" NTL. However I wouldn't rule out some sort of expensive rebranding and renaming of the whole company, to try and remove any negative connotations that have been associated with both NTL and Telewest in the past.

Personally, I'd would rather have Telewest take over the consumer department or if it came to the worst, a 50:50 share would be fine. But it sounds like it will be a 60:40 power share: http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/s...368697,00.html

Quote:

Originally Posted by bigcat

Huff Cable ;)

I read an article about Huff in the Sunday Times (I think) and it said he would probably sell a merged NTL/Telewest to a large American Cable Corp such as Comcast !!! That's what he does, buys up companies in difficulty attacks them with an axe to make them profitable then sells them on for a large profit. :erm:

Personally, I think they'd be best off ditching both names and calling the newly-merged company something along the lines of 'Cable UK'. We already have satellite TV referred to simply as 'Sky', why not just call the only real cable company 'Cable'? ;)

This is the article in the times, "William R Huff is ..... the cable guy"

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article...441903,00.html

;)

Quote:

Originally Posted by tomjleeds

*cough*

*looks up to post #5* ;)

Quote:

Originally Posted by ianathuth

Slightly off topic but who do you think owns www.nthell.co.uk

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nominet Whois Database

Domain Name:
nthell.co.uk

Registrant:
OIS UK

Registrant's Address:

THE REGISTRANT IS AN INDIVIDUAL WHO HAS ELECTED TO
HAVE THEIR ADDRESS OMITTED FROM THE WHOIS DATABASE

Hmm, individual, yeah, right.... its either name and no address or company name AND address. Anyone want to have a quiet word with nominet?

Quote:

Originally Posted by injuneer

This is the article in the times, "William R Huff is ..... the cable guy"

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article...441903,00.html

;)

"Hi, you're through to James in Time Warner Broadband, how can I help?"

Has a certain ring to it, I suppose... :D

Gone West ?

or maybe even ConWest :D

*Non-common major share holders have been removed*

NTL Inc

WR Huff Personal Holding 11,077,692 12.64%

WR Huff Asset Management Holding 10,448,530 11.92%

W R Huff total assets in NTL Inc = 21,526,222 shares = 24.56% of share capital.

FMR Corporation (Fidelity Management & Research Corp) 10,846,817 12.37%
Fidelity International Ltd (Bermuda) 2,169,814 2.48%

Fidelity Corp / Int Ltd NTL Inc holding = 13,016,631 shares, 14.85% of share capital

Franklin Resources, Inc 7,756,409 shares, 8.85% of share capital
Oaktree Capital Management, LLC 7,364,235 shares, 8.4% of share capital

Total Shares Outstanding 87,657,000

W R Huff, Fidelity, Franklin Resources and Oaktree Cap. Mgmt own 56.66% of NTL Inc.

Telewest Global Inc

HUFF, WILLIAM R. Personal Holding 45,022,199 18.38%
HUFF (W.R.) Asset Management Co., L.L.C. 42,772,619 17.46%

W R HUFF total holding in Telewest = 87,794,818 shares = 35.84% of share capital.

FMR Corporation (Fidelity Management & Research Corp) 29,830,504 12.18%
Fidelity International Ltd (Bermuda) 6,919,426 2.82%

Fidelity Corp / Int Ltd Telewest Global holding = 36,749,930 shares, 15.00% of share capital.

Franklin Resources, Inc 22,621,503 9.23 $262,861,857 30-Sep-04

Oaktree Capital Management, LLC 14,131,785 5.77 $164,211,337 30-Sep-04

Shares Outstanding 245,000,000

W R Huff and Fidelity just between the two of them own 50.84% of Telewest Global Inc.

Franklin and Oaktree Cap Mgmt's shares make this combined ownership 65.84%

The *same* 4 entities own 56.66% of NTL and 65.84% of Telewest Global.

Indeed the 2 largest holders of NTL shares own over 50% of Telewest.

You do the maths, you can bet as soon as they like the look of the numbers the two are together, rapidly. Unlikely for Mr Huff and Fidelity to argue with themselves.