NTL interested in ITV

With the level of acquisitions and mergers in the broadband sector, any company merging with any other company looks possible. The latest merger talk is of ntl:Telewest approaching ITV about a
possible merger. Sky News has some more detail on this approach.

With a rebranding of ntl:Telewest to Virgin Media due in 2007, a merger with a major content producer like ITV could vastly expand the groups capabilities and influence in the UK media arena.
With video over broadband just around the corner it is possible ITV may be worried about further drops in revenue from advertising and see a merger with a group like ntl:Telewest as a way of
moving forward into a broadband media era.

At this stage everything is just preliminary disccusions, so nothing may come of this news, but it does reflect on the sort of market competition that groups like BT will be facing in the next
few years.