[Kevin T]

Originally Posted by m419

Perfect buyers:

Comcast: Comcast shared some light on it but was hesitant,they said the UK has too much competition. Comcast has already had shares in Cable franchises in the UK which NTL bought and eventually fell into Telewest's hands and then back to NTL in 2006. Comcast currently owns E! and several other TV channels most of which we don't get yet in the UK.

Verizon: Verizon formerly BellAtlantic or Bellcable Media and Nynex in the UK, Verizon acquired MCI Worldcom globally and already have a telecoms infrastructure here in the UK. Acquiring Virgin Media would allow Verizon to have a Residential base,Small business base and also be able to provide business mobile telephony and Cable internet to its existing Business customers.

Cable and Wireless: Would allow the company to retrieve back a residential and small business customer base and would be able to offer Cable internet to its existing business customers. Cable and Wireless would definately continue to use existing Virgin and NTL:Telewest business brands and thats what Virgin Enterprises want! Although France Telecom are after Cable and Wireless, so if Cable and Wireless did acquire Virgin Media and France Telecom acquires Cable and Wireless, then we would probably see everything be rebranded to Orange! How does Orange Media sound???

Under Virgin Media:
This would be the Residential and TV station base for Cable and Wireless

Under NTL:Telewest Business:
This would be the small business base for Cable and Wireless

Under Cable and Wireless UK:
This would be the parent company of Virgin Media and would be the customer base of the large business customers.

Benefits to the customer if C&W or Verizon acquire the Virgin Media?
Well cheaper phone calls! Since C&W and Verizon are international networks, phone calls made internationally can become cheaper. Also,the national telephone network would be managed by the parent companies saving even more money. Also UK based calls are often routed over networks such C&W and these extra charges would no longer happen as everything would be treated as in-house.

But I would hate it if private equity firms took over as they are there for the profit only and never put customers first!

[cynic] You really think any business would pass such savings on to it's customers? [/cynic]