NTL drops ITV bid, takes BSkyB to regulators
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Cable firm NTL  has dropped plans to bid for ITV  after its 4.7-billion-pound ($9.3 billion) proposal was rejected by the British broadcaster and rival BSkyB  swooped to take a blocking stake in ITV.
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MELBOURNE: Britain&#39;s largest cable firm NTL Inc said yesterday it would sell its television transmission business to an Australian investment group for Â£1.27bil to pay down debt.
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ITV, BritainÂs biggest commercial broadcaster, rebuffed a Â£4.73 billion ($8.98 billion) offer from the cable television operator NTL, saying the bid was too low and there was no advantage in a merger. The rejection is the second blow to NTL and its biggest shareholder, Richard Branson. British Sky Broadcasting Group, led by Rupert and James Murdoch, bought a 17.9 percent stake in the London-based ITV on Friday, eight days after NTL expressed interest in a takeover. Mr. Branson called on regulators to block British Sky BroadcastingÂs purchase of ITV shares, while BSkyB said Mr. Branson, the founder of the Virgin Group, Âseems to believe he and NTL have the unique right to acquire ITV.Â.
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Business & money: Companies reach agreement on UK network-sharing deal expected to reduce number of mast sites
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LONDON The British Broadcasting Corporation has announced a major cost-cutting move, eliminating about 29-hundred jobs or more than a-tenth of its work force.
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Media & professional: DTI refers BSkyB's acquisition of 17.9% stake in ITV to Competition Commission.
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Broadcaster ITV is to suspend all  premium-rate phone-in competitions pending a review.
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Britain&#39;s biggest cable company, NTL, agreed yesterday to sell its radio and television broadcasting business for Â£1.27bn to a consortium led by a fund managed by Australia&#39;s Macquarie Bank.
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A slump in value of its stake in ITV causes a loss for broadcaster BSkyB in the final half of 2007.
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England&#39;s home test matches will disappear from terrestial television after BSkyB won exclusive rights to cover live matches from 2006 to 2009, officials said on Wednesday.
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Talksport-owner UTV drops its proposed merger with fellow broadcaster SMG after the latter rebuffed it.
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HBOS said it had decided against bidding for the British mortgage bank Abbey National, clearing the way for an agreed offer from Spain's Banco Santander Central Hispano (SCH).
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BSkyB offers to give up some voting rights in ITV as it tries to hold onto a stake in the television broadcaster.
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ITV, the nation's biggest commercial television network, announced Wednesday that net profit declined last year and it forecast further falls in crucial advertising revenues.
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The military-installed government completed the takeover of the countryâs only independent television station, and said it would temporarily pull it off the air after it failed to pay billions of dollars in fees. The takeover was expected after the station said last week that it could not pay the fees. The government announced yesterday that it would terminate iTVâs license after the deadline had passed for paying nearly $3 billion in fines, broadcasting license fees and interest. The governmentâs move was the latest in a series of decisions that have raised concern among investors and the public about the direction of Thailandâs leaders. Others include the imposition of capital controls and new restrictions placed on foreign ownership of Thai companies. A minister in the prime ministerâs office, told reporters the station would stop broadcasting today but could resume transmission as early as Friday if government officials could resolve legal issues for new ownership.
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Broadcaster ITV is hit by a further drop in advertising revenues for the year.
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The unions defeat Labour in a party conference vote on rail  renationalisation, the BBC has learned.