[Merged]Ntl to buy Telewest

[Pierre]

Originally Posted by Chris T

It's worth re-stressing the point being made in the media at the moment, that while we've been using the word 'merger' all these months, what is actually happening is NTL buying Telewest. It will be interesting to see what happens in the boardroom. It could still turn out as a very interesting reverse-takeover, in which NTL buys Telewest, but Telewest management takes over the combined company.

Which is what happened to parts of the company after we bought Consumer Co.

Some in ntl were very aggreived when part of CoCo came in and started telling us how we should be doing things. Not that thier processes were any better.

Power struggles ensued, and still exist today.

It will be very,very messy for a long time.

[DWW]

Hi,

a so called merger between these companies will take a minimum two years to affect customers. I don't no why some people who post things on this forum believe telewest management to be vastly better than NTL. It is a more streamlined version of NTL and normally learns by both BTs and NTLs mistakes.
Both companies have fully satisfied customers, though since NTL is larger you will always hear more from its dissatisfied customers than TW. Telewests Blueyonder broadband service is bar far the most reliable internet service in the country and I think with both companies backbones eventually they will blow the socks of the competion.

Lets hope so for everyones sake.

[AtW]

Christ people, can't you see the real issue with this merger or whatever its called? The real issue is whether Telewest customers will be subject to ridiculous NTL's traffic quotas -- 30 Gigs a month is a joke, and I am really concerned about NTL's policy becoming prevalent.

[quadplay]

That's hardly the "real" or even the biggest issue surrounding the merger. How about the thousands of people likely to lose their jobs over the coming few years due to increased "synergy" (man, I hate that word) between the two businesses?

[AtW]

Originally Posted by jimbo

How about the thousands of people likely to lose their jobs over the coming few years due to increased "synergy" (man, I hate that word) between the two businesses?

That's result of economies of scale. Its regrettable but inevitable.

Traffic caps affect millions of people and these backwards caps slow down progress: I will vote with my money and move to anybody offering uncapped broadband, and if it results in job losses in a company that can't offer me what I need, then I won't cry about it and neither should you.

Personally I'd prefer Telewest not to merge with NTL, and thus have reasonable chance of keeping its policies rather than switching to backwards NTL way of treating its customers. This will also avoid some job losses. But if its a question of having 1,000 people fired to reduce costs instead of imposing traffic caps on millions of users, then those 1,000 people were in the wrong place: its customers who pay for their jobs and if they want to keep their jobs by cutting down on what customers get then tough ****.

[wsf86]

There maybe trouble ahead.....

[Chrysalis]

Well I think telewest users will be safe for 6-12 months, then after period I expect NTL restrictions to be slowly imposed on them like the proxies and usage caps, It is possible only new customers will be affected and current customers get told they can keep what they got.

[wsf86]

I don't think there is going to be a direct correlation between the broadband traffic capping and redundancies!!! I don't think that is what jimbo meant!!!

Redundancies will happen because two large companies are merging and they will look to centralise departments, i.e. you won't need two HR's deprtaments etc etc. The customer is going to experience the fall out as staff morale gets lower and lower (if that's possible!).

Iceberg dead ahead!!

[budwieser]

Sorry, Didn`t know if this has been posted before.

http://www.micromart.co.uk/default.a...3b&newsid=2527

[andymt]

they said it would have taken place by end of july but i havent seen anything in the news or on the websites to suggest that it has taken place.
if it has, how long would it take for the customers of the two cablecos to see changes, ie speed changes, price reductions and capping for telewest users.
i am a telewest user and hope that the merger will not cause ntl to "take over" telewest by introducing capping and reducing prices so much that the quality is rubbish.
wat do u guys think?

[Pø†øƒGøL�]

I'm also a telewest customer... and have no complaints. I do worry when I see all the NTL complaints about what we might be getting dumped with, and don't like the look of their packages compared to ours either

[Chrysalis]

Originally Posted by andymt

they said it would have taken place by end of july but i havent seen anything in the news or on the websites to suggest that it has taken place.
if it has, how long would it take for the customers of the two cablecos to see changes, ie speed changes, price reductions and capping for telewest users.
i am a telewest user and hope that the merger will not cause ntl to "take over" telewest by introducing capping and reducing prices so much that the quality is rubbish.
wat do u guys think?

Hard to say I would expect nothing much to happen in the first 3-6 months then after that a merging of the products. They might workaround capping by suggesting capping will take affect in certian areas dependant on capacity and then just use it in ntl area's similiar thing with the 4mbit product. But I would expect current customers to be told they can keep what they have and new customers will have merged products same to both companies. (probably low price lower quality) as I expect ntl to be the bigger force.

[bob_builder]

Today's update:

NTL-Telewest merger at risk as talks hit trouble
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/printFr...749591,00.html

MERGER talks between NTL and Telewest, the cable groups, have reached a critical stage, with wrangles over pricing and tax issues potentially threatening to wreck any deal.

Sources close to the merger said yesterday that tomorrow had been set as the †œcrunch dayââ‚Âà ‚¬Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ÂÂ� for negotiations on the £6.5 billion tie-up, which would create a dominant British cable company and a powerful competitor to the satellite broadcaster BSkyB. BSkyB is 36.8 per cent owned by News Corporation, parent company of The Times.

...

[Chrysalis]

good news for telewest user's.

[bob_builder]

Originally Posted by Chrysalis

good news for telewest user's.

I thought Telewest had more than one user!