US Cable Giant Liberty Global buys Virgin Media

[Gavin-D]

Looks like Liberty Global will be exempt from paying UK tax for at least 15 years

Losses accumulated by Virgin Media after two decades of investment in the country's cable network mean the new company would be exempt from tax for at least 15 years. This is a company that over the last 20 years has invested billions in network infrastructure," said Espirito analyst Andrew Hogley. "This is a very different situation to a Starbucks or an Amazon, that is offshoring profits to avoid paying UK taxes."

[BenMcr]

Originally Posted by Pierre

virgin media, in the NTL days used to own UPC Ireland. They still work very closely together as UPC maintain the Virgin Media network in Eire.

Virgin Media don't have a network in Eire as far as I know

They do in Northern Ireland, but the ROI company was sold, lock stock and network to Liberty.

---------- Post added at 21:18 ---------- Previous post was at 21:17 ----------

Originally Posted by Gavin-D

Looks like Liberty Global will be exempt from paying UK tax for at least 15 years

One tax, there are many others they will still be paying

[spiderplant]

Originally Posted by BenMcr

Virgin Media don't have a network in Eire as far as I know

http://www.virginmediabusiness.co.uk...lw105-VRB.html

---------- Post added at 21:40 ---------- Previous post was at 21:36 ----------

Originally Posted by MarkC1984

I asked on Twitter whether it would mean SKY Atlantic coming in HD, along with all the other SKY HD channels now they have been taken over and they said you never know what's coming. I'm inclined to think it is just a line they are spinning to stop customers walking out on them.

The people on Twitter work for Customer Services, so can tell you no more than if you rang 150 and asked them.

[BenMcr]

Originally Posted by spiderplant

http://www.virginmediabusiness.co.uk...lw105-VRB.html

Ah ok, so basically for NI connectivity only

[dcclanuk]

Hi all,

I have not read all the comments, but just wanted to add that being in debt is not always a bad thing. Debt can sometimes be cheaper than equity as interest payments are deductible from taxable profits, so you pay lower taxes.

Yes, but you always have to make debt repayments whereas you can withhold dividends if need be. NTL's problem throughout the late 90s and early noughties was that it had too much debt, such that there wasn't any money for important investments that were essential to keep the offering fresh and appealing to customers.

[Pierre]

Originally Posted by BenMcr

Virgin Media don't have a network in Eire as far as I know

They do in Northern Ireland, but the ROI company was sold, lock stock and network to Liberty.[COLOR="Silver"]

Well I'm happy to put you right, Virgin Media have a core fibre network that runs through Eire, and we also have a core fibre ring in Dublin.

So now you know.

---------- Post added at 23:09 ---------- Previous post was at 23:03 ----------

Originally Posted by BenMcr

Ah ok, so basically for NI connectivity only

No. We have fibre network in Eire, connecting to businesses in Dublin.

Think beyond our cable offering. we are a major carrier and business provider. we do much more than TiVo and broadband.

---------- Post added at 23:10 ---------- Previous post was at 23:09 ----------

Originally Posted by BenMcr

Ah ok, so basically for NI connectivity only

No. We have fibre network in Eire, connecting to businesses in Dublin.

Think beyond our cable offering. we are a major carrier and business provider. we do much more than TiVo and broadband.

[BenMcr]

Originally Posted by Pierre

No. We have fibre network in Eire, connecting to businesses in Dublin.

Think beyond our cable offering. we are a major carrier and business provider. we do much more than TiVo and broadband.

Happy to be corrected, and I don't think in just TiVo or broadband terms. But I have never seen or heard ROI mentioned when talking the company talks about 'our network' at any point.

[Pierre]

Originally Posted by Chris

Yes, but you always have to make debt repayments whereas you can withhold dividends if need be. NTL's problem throughout the late 90s and early noughties was that it had too much debt, such that there wasn't any money for important investments that were essential to keep the offering fresh and appealing to customers.

Yes, but back then we didn't have the revenues to finance the debt.

Until this deal we had a debt of around 5-6 billion but revenues far in excess of that.

As an investible opportunity I think we have matured, this is the next logical progression. as a VM employee I think it's a real opportunity and may open up a few career doors.

---------- Post added at 23:17 ---------- Previous post was at 23:14 ----------

Originally Posted by BenMcr

Happy to be corrected, and I don't think in just TiVo or broadband terms. But I have never seen or heard ROI mentioned when talking the company talks about 'our network' at any point.

Well I'm sure you've seen high level network maps and stuff?

We have a cable that goes across the Irish Sea from Lytham to Dublin.........................

[Horizon]

Originally Posted by HDFootyMan

Interesting read:
http://www.istockanalyst.com/finance...placed-analyst
I wonder why Liberty are seeking the Dawn.......I'll get my coat. (Horizon can't be that good if Liberty are seeking alternatives).

It's had a lot of bugs, but what new software doesn't. Fries was saying how wonderful it was at Davos a few weeks ago, so this is interesting.

Thanks for posting this info here.

[Jayster]

Originally Posted by spiderplant

http://www.virginmediabusiness.co.uk...lw105-VRB.html[COLOR="Silver"]

Lol Newry is marked so badly on that map, about 30 miles off and in the wrong country.

[Nemeth]

Originally Posted by BenMcr

However Google has a European HQ in Ireland so has to comply with EU law and America comes under the 'Safe Harbour' agreements http://www.soas.ac.uk/infocomp/dpa/policy/outside/ so any request under the Patriot act would conflict with EU law

Slightly late to the party on this one, but I'll offer some insight since I'm studying the topic at the moment.

Regulatory frameworks in the EU and US are not compatible. The Patriot Act overrides Safe Harbor and major US providers have already said they'll honour US government requests for information on EU data subjects. Yes that would put them in breach of EU data protection laws, but in the US there is no requirement for notification of 3rd party disclosure, so there's no real way of knowing.

Edit: Here's a good article that explains things pretty succinctly.

[Arthurgray50@blu]

The press release says that it is in talk with Liberty, not that it is a done deal.

Where the problem lays again is that VM are not telling the customer everything, this is not a whinge, but it appears again that the customer is the last to know what is happening.

Its good for the customer, that at last we will have another group overseeing what happens at VM.

Maybe they will throw out the dead wood of the company, and bring back the CS centres from India and place them back in the UK, and give jobs to the unemployed.

[BenMcr]

Originally Posted by Arthurgray50@blu

but it appears again that the customer is the last to know what is happening.

From a customer point of view, nothing is happening. At this stage it's purely a financial transaction.

[Stephen]

Originally Posted by Arthurgray50@blu

The press release says that it is in talk with Liberty, not that it is a done deal.

Where the problem lays again is that VM are not telling the customer everything, this is not a whinge, but it appears again that the customer is the last to know what is happening.

Its good for the customer, that at last we will have another group overseeing what happens at VM.

Maybe they will throw out the dead wood of the company, and bring back the CS centres from India and place them back in the UK, and give jobs to the unemployed.

Are you still reading the press release from the day before regarding the talks or the one yesterday confirming the deal?

Nothing will change from a customer viewpoint, so there is nothing else for them to tell customers. VM will still be ran as it is now. For the forseeable future its BAU.

VM already are giving jobs UK people. Andrew Barren was at the Bellshill call Centre a few weeks ago and announced new jobs for the centre.