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Media Talk

News Wrap Up on NTL

Given Northlake’s new long position, in NTL Incorporated (NTLI), I pay close attention to the press reports out of the UK. I follow them via Google News doing a simple daily search on NTL. Sunday’s articles were particularly interesting. First, there is an interesting profile of Richard Branson’s history with Virgin Mobile and some of his other investments. There is also a favorable profile of new NTL CEO Stephen Burch. If you are interested in the bear case for NTL and U.S. cable companies, this article outlines the potential pricing competition for triple play and quadruple play services. I touched on the pricing issues, especially for the low fixed cost business of high speed data and telephony on Media Talk in my Midwest Media Day summary when I reviewed the DirecTV meeting. Finally, there is an article outlining the fact that the Virgin Mobile deal terms include a requirement that Branson vote his shares with management in the event of a hostile deal. This could have relevance if strongly rumored private equity interest turns to reality.

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