cable television provider ntl . for other uses see ntl disambiguation . this article has multiple issues . please help improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page . learn how and when to remove these template messages this article s factual accuracy may be compromised due to out of date information . please update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information . october 2011 this article does not follow wikipedia s guidelines on the use of different tenses . please consider copy editing to past tense if historic present tense if not time based e.g. fiction or future tense if upcoming . may 2013 learn how and when to remove this template message learn how and when to remove this template message ntl incorporated industry cable communications fate merged with telewest successor virgin media founded 1992 defunct march 2006 headquarters corporate new york ny usa operational hook hampshire uk key people james mooney chairman stephen burch chief executive jacques kerrest chief financial officer products cable television broadband telephone mobile phone revenue 6.10 billion 2005 number of employees 22 500 2005 website via wayback machine http www.ntl.com ntl incorporated branded as ntl was a u.s. listed british company founded in 1992 which provided cable television cable internet and fixed line cable telephone services . while ntl had its headquarters in new york city the company s activities focused heavily on the united kingdom with operational headquarters in hook hampshire . ntl became the dominant cable operator in the united kingdom controlling more than 90 % of the market citation needed . ntl also produced content through its flextech subsidiary . in 2005 residential services generated 78 % of ntl s revenue and business services 22 % . in march 2006 ntl merged with fellow cable telecom company telewest and created ntl telewest which then also merged with virgin mobile uk and virgin.net in june 2006 creating the uk s first quadruple play telecom provider offering television internet landline phone and mobile phone services . in february 2007 ntl telewest was rebranded as virgin media . contents 1 history 1.1 1992 2006 1.1.1 ntl 1.1.2 telewest 1.2 ntl telewest merger 1.3 virgin mobile merger 1.4 rumoured private equity bid 1.5 itv merger 1.6 ntl 1.6.1 internet 1.6.2 television 1.6.2.1 pvr and high definition services 1.6.2.2 video on demand 1.6.3 fixed line telephone 1.6.4 premium tv 1.7 telewest 1.8 virgin mobile 1.9 virgin.net 1.10 ntl telewest business 2 broadcasting 3 references 4 external links history edit 1992 2006 edit ntl edit barclay knapp and george blumenthal the founders of the cellular network company cellular communications inc. sold to airtouch in 1996 established international cabletel in 1993 . they founded cabletel in order to take advantage of the deregulation of the uk cable market . initially cabletel acquired local cable franchises covering guildford and parts of northern ireland scotland and wales . in 1996 cabletel acquired national transcommunications limited ntl the privatised uk independent broadcasting authority transmission network . in 1998 cabletel adopted ntl as its new name . the company spent heavily both on expanding its network and on acquiring rivals . the company also began to expand outside the uk in 2000 buying into markets on continental europe and in ireland . a collapse of the telecommunications markets from mid 2000 dealt a serious blow to the company . this combined with ntl s rapid acquisition of local cable operators led to severe integration problems . ntl struggling to cope with rapid expansion and suffering from significant customer service problems then had to contend with the setting up in november 2002 of one of the uk s first consumer lobby groups nthellworld with ntl hell following shortly after . as a complementary move a team of ntl employees founded www.chetnet.co.uk to provide customers with a site focused on providing expert advice on its subject matter based on factual information without the emotion or speculation of the lobby groups . devalued and struggling with debts of around 18bn ntl had to seek chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in may 2002 in order to organise a refinancing deal . the company did not emerge from protection until january 2003 having converted around 11bn of debt into shares technically this amounted to the largest debt default in us corporate history . the company reduced its debt to 6.4 bn . a re organisation split ntl itself into ntl inc. covering the uk and irish markets and ntl europe inc. for the french swiss and german parts of the corporation . new executives replaced the ntl president ceo and co founder barclay knapp as well as stephen carter the md and coo . after exiting from chapter 11 protection ntl produced an operating profit . in 2004 it announced plans to split the broadcasting division off from the main company . in december 2004 ntl sold its broadcast unit to a consortium led by macquarie communications infrastructure group mcg for 1.27 billion . macquarie renamed the division arqiva in may 2005 . this sale allowed ntl to focus on its core businesses of providing communications packages and cable services . in autumn 2004 ntl purchased the remaining shares of the internet service provider isp virgin.net originally a joint venture between ntl and sir richard branson s virgin group 1 by 2005 its uk network consisted of a 7 800 km fibre backbone with the potential to reach 8.4 million residential homes and around 610 000 businesses . in january of that year ntl started rolling out video on demand . with content selected by ntl this service covers genres including music videos children s programming and adult entertainment . this provides an extension to the basic pay per view services the company offered for film and sport content . the new service allows customers to rewind fast forward and pause content . despite ntl ireland turning a profit in may 2005 ntl sold their dublin galway and waterford cable business which they had acquired in 1999 for 825 million from the irish government to ugc europe for 325 million this after having spent in excess of 100 million on network infrastructure i.e. making a gross loss of 500 million more than 50 % over what they paid . liberty global continued to use the ntl brand in ireland but was eventually merged with chorus communications and rebranded as upc ireland in may 2010 . by july 2005 ntl had cut its debt to 1.445 billion with an operating cashflow of 178 million . the company had 3.2 million customers buying at least one service from them with the 1.4 million subscribers to broadband services making ntl the market leader in this field . telewest edit main article telewest company history ntl telewest merger edit from late 2003 discussions commenced on a merger between telewest and ntl . thanks to their geographically different areas ntl and telewest had co operated previously as in re directing potential customers living outside their respective areas . on 3 october 2005 ntl announced a usd 6 billion purchase of telewest forming one of the largest media companies in the uk . the merger agreement as structured would have left ntl having to negotiate with bbc worldwide the bbc s commercial arm due to a change of ownership clause written into the agreement for uktv a joint venture with telewest s flextech content division . to prevent this telewest instead acquired ntl . the parties completed the merger on 3 march 2006 making the merged company the uk s largest cable provider with more than 90 % of the market . once merged the combined company renamed itself to ntl telewest 2 with ex ntl shareholders controlling 75 % of the stock and ex telewest shareholders 25 % . nine of the eleven directors of the new board came from ntl and two from telewest . virgin mobile merger edit in december 2005 ntl and virgin mobile announced that talks had taken place regarding a merger . virgin mobile s independent directors rejected the original bid of 817 million 1.4 billion taking the view that ntl s bid undervalued the business . sir richard branson reportedly expressed confidence that a re structured deal could go ahead and in january 2006 ntl increased its offer to 961m 372p per share . on 4 april 2006 ntl incorporated announced a 962.4 m recommended offer for virgin mobile . according to reports branson accepted a mix of shares and cash making him a 10.7 % shareholder of the combined company . the takeover completed on 4 july 2006 creating the uk s first quadruple play media company bringing together television internet broadband mobile phone and fixed line phone services . the deal included a 30 year exclusive branding agreement that will see ntl adopt the virgin name across its consumer operations as it merges operations with its current telewest brand . as a result on 8 november 2006 ntl announced it would change its name to virgin media plc. rumoured private equity bid edit this section does not cite any sources . please help improve this section by adding citations to reliable sources . unsourced material may be challenged and removed . june 2016 learn how and when to remove this template message on 16 august 2006 the times reported that the ntl incorporated group could become the subject of a 10bn takeover bid from a private equity firm consortium made up of kohlberg kravis roberts bain cinven blackstone and providence private equity with a formal approach expected within a fortnight . the 10bn figure would include 6bn worth of debt already on the ntl balance sheet . additional new banking facilities would probably fund the private equity bid . as of january 2007 update no such bid has materialised . itv merger edit in november 2006 ntl announced that it had approached commercial television broadcaster itv about a proposed merger bskyb effectively blocked the merger on 12 november 2006 when it controversially bought a 17.9 % stake in itv plc 3 a move that attracted anger from ntl shareholder richard branson 4 and an investigation from media and telecoms regulator ofcom . 5 on 6 december 2006 ntl announced that it had complained to the office of fair trading about bskyb s move and that it would withdraw its attempt to buy itv plc stating that it did not believe that it could currently make a deal on favourable terms . 6 ntl edit internet edit ntl offered broadband internet access connections through cable . the service operates through sacms stand alone cable modems and set top boxes stbs . in ntl areas customers could also access a 512 kbit s download speed ; and both ntl and telewest offer dial up internet services on a pay as you go basis or at a fixed monthly fee of 14.99 for unlimited usage . the broadband services did not have a bandwidth cap or a fair usage policy ; this means that customers have unlimited usage and need pay no extra charges related to the amount of data downloaded . however ntl has admitted introducing traffic shaping . 7 ntl started trialling 20 mbit s and temporarily upgraded some 10 mbit s subscribers to this speed in october 2006 . 8 furthermore ntl started conducting trials of a 100mbit broadband service on its cable network . 9 10 after trials in the guildford area from summer 1999 ntl launched its original broadband services at the same time that ntl acquired the cable business of cable and wireless spring 2000 . in the original ntl also known as langley areas ntl has always supplied broadband services via docsis cable modems . in these areas the digital television set top boxes used an incompatible standard davic . initially ntl decided to terminate service to approximately 90 000 ex cable and wireless subscribers on short notice . 11 this threatened to leave customers