Re: John Malone/Liberty/VM General News Thread
 

Strange bedfellows one would think Andrew? but when you are taking on the might and influence of Sky then needs must.

Re: John Malone/Liberty/VM General News Thread
 

This has to be a harbinger of the apocalypse.

Re: John Malone/Liberty/VM General News Thread
 

Ha ha! If it makes financial sense for VM to share a few adverts with its competitors then I'm sure it will. Frenemies to use current jargon!

Re: John Malone/Liberty/VM General News Thread
 

My take on this, is, that VM fear Sky, Talktalk et all getting hold of and control of BT's/Openreach's infrastructure - and on the cheap.

Although Sky has been doing trials of FTTP, Murdoch has never shown any inclination in investing billions in infrastructure, which is why he piggybacked his satellite tv business off someone's else's satellites.

If a competitor to VM could get hold off infrastructure without investing billions this could put VM's whole business under threat. Because what future investor would bother pumping in money if it were possible to be gifted cables, ducts and poles from BT?

Re: John Malone/Liberty/VM General News Thread
 

Liberty Global to introduce Docsis 3.1 in 2017

Cable operator Liberty Global will launch its first services over Docsis 3.1 in 2017, the company announced at IBC in Amsterdam. It's not yet known which country will get the faster services first.

http://www.telecompaper.com/news/lib...-2017--1162860

Re: John Malone/Liberty/VM General News Thread
 

The enemy of my enemies is my friend.

Re: John Malone/Liberty/VM General News Thread
 

The ones that need it to compete. So not us.

Re: John Malone/Liberty/VM General News Thread
 

Virgin Media receives regulatory approval to acquire UTV Ireland

http://www.irishtimes.com/business/m...land-1.2870076

Re: John Malone/Liberty/VM General News Thread
 

.... and the Liongate-Starz merger should complete soon which will give Malone the largest and controlling stake in it. I'll post here when confirmed.

http://www.denverite.com/colorado-bi...onsgate-21746/

---------- Post added at 22:53 ---------- Previous post was at 21:07 ----------

Following on from that, something which has been muted in the press over the last several months is a potential Malone buyout of CBS and Viacom, owner of Paramount Pictures. This article hints that the Starz-Lionsgate deal may be a used as a vechicle by Malone as a way to buy CBS/Viacom:

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/artic...ck-undervalued

THe F1 deal should also complete soon, which will give Malone total control over F1 via his controlling stakes in Liberty Global and Discovery.

Re: John Malone/Liberty/VM General News Thread
 

Two differing points of view here:

http://seekingalpha.com/news/3225242...ty-global-deal

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-tm...-idUSKBN13C1OJ

Re: John Malone/Liberty/VM General News Thread
 

.... I think in that Reuters article, Fries gave a very strong hint that he intends to buy a UK broadcaster. Perhaps ITV, which Liberty already own a bit of, or perhaps he might go for Ch4, if and when the government puts it up for sale.

On the main issue covered in the articles about a Liberty/Vodafone tie-up, I think it's less likely now. I think Malone was keen on the idea as long as he got his way and the merged entity was leveraged to the hilt and paid -1000% tax. But the first article hints that Vodafone are still keen on a deal, so perhaps it may be them that stalk Malone, not the other way around.

Re: John Malone/Liberty/VM General News Thread
 

Looks like they've been juggling some TV channels about in preparation for this recently:

Re: John Malone/Liberty/VM General News Thread
 

Always the possibility that Malone could undertake a break-up bid for ITV with the assets split between LGI, Discovery and Starz-Lionsgate.

Re: John Malone/Liberty/VM General News Thread
 

Interesting, I guess we'll soon start hearing about a new Modem/Hub for this?

Re: John Malone/Liberty/VM General News Thread
 

Which TV boxes would be compatible with this standard?