I am a trader as well as an investor and hopefully this thread will reflect both aspects ....

We should start by saying this is a highly speculative share and the market takes no prisoners.

Over the last 18 months I made lots twice in the early days - then lost it back - bought a million at 2.6p average - founded the TAG - bought another half a million or so at sub 1p - sold most at average 4.25 - bought back at 2.2p and less - sold most at 3.5p and now buying back - overall a good net profit at this time.

I think the d4e will happen (say 90% chance) and the 3% currently talked about will give or should give a price equating to say 3/5p. Longer term on succcess of d4e and progress in the sales market the shares should move to around 10p - assumming markets are not in freefall.

I am looking to buy at any time and hoping for a war generated dip - when I do I will let you know.

The TAG site is a great place for catching up on the TWT news and I will post here as well.

Currently trading on TWT is light (1.7 million traded) and the price is down a littlw with a wide spread (2.01/2.35p). This is a sets share and you must expect a crtain amount of manipulation in these troubled times - FTSE down over 4% intraday

I have a core holding of at least half a million shares and intend to be a long term investor at this time.


ainsoph


http://www.investoraction.co.uk - currently we have 804 registered members holding around 100 million shares in total

Broadband awareness soars
By Tim Richardson
Posted: 27/01/2003 at 16:19 GMT


Eight out of ten Net users in the UK know about broadband, according to research published by telecoms regulator Oftel.

Its an improvement to a year ago, when just five out of ten people knew about broadband. Around 30,000 people a week are signing up to broadband. Oftel estimates that around 1.4m people in the UK now use broadband to access the Net.

The research also found that many people make a link between the provision of broadband and telephony services, with three in ten people choosing their broadband ISP because they also provide telco services.

This will, no doubt, be of interest to the likes of NTL, Telewest and BT. Anyways, there is stacks of stuff in these reports if this is something you're interested in.

For example, the research found that the UK's big three ISPs BT, Freeserve and AOL UK account for six in ten of all Internet connections in the UK.

To check out Oftel's latest report go here.

from silicon

Monday 27th January 2003 4:00pm



UK broadband gets broader and Telewest's DIY offering


Sing it now - "I am the one in ten..." - or are you One in 10 home internet users in the UK now use broadband connections, while 90 per cent of all net users say they are happy with the services they buy. Those are the latest figures from Oftel - and the industry regulator is clearly pleased with progress.

In a release issued today, Oftel notes there are 30,000 new broadband subscriptions every week right now, meaning the UK has over 1.4 million households with high-speed net access.

Oftel DG David Edmonds also said consumers still benefit from "good deals on unmetered dial-up access". The government, BT and others have long maintained low broadband penetration rates in the UK are partly to do with good-value narrowband on offer.

Separate research has shown broadband adoption growing at these rates while narrowband dial-up levels remain almost static. However, it isn't that new users are jumping straight to broadband, rather that as new narrowband surfer come online they replace an equal number of consumers upgrading to broadband.

In a statement, E-minister Stephen Timms said: "It is wonderful to see the joint work of government and industry in raising awareness of the benefits of broadband really paying off."

Many consumers have chosen to focus on the lack of broadband availability in their locales, while the major service providers have concentrated on educating home users and small businesses on its advantages.

The main broadband service providers, BT, NTL, Telewest and ISPs, who nearly all resell BT's ADSL service, offer different versions of high-speed connectivity.

Today Telewest announced a self-install version of its Blueyonder broadband service, costing 12.50 for a DIY starter pack. The deal is cheaper than BT's self-install ADSL option but only available to Telewest digital TV subscribers as it makes use of the cable modem found in set-top boxes.

BBC


Monday, 27 January, 2003, 15:27 GMT
DIY broadband via television


Now you can festoon your own home with cables

Competition for customers is starting to cut the cost of connecting up to broadband internet services.
Cable firm Telewest has announced a self-install package for its Blueyonder broadband service that costs only 12.50.

The self-install pack does away with the need to buy a separate cable modem as it uses a television set-top box as the connecting point for the high-speed service.

Eventually Telewest said it will provide wireless links to make it easy to link up home computers with its network.

Fast forward

Many of the set-top boxes that people use to watch cable TV have a modem inside that can be used to connect up to the high-speed services offered by Telewest and NTL.

Telewest's self-install package does away with the need for a visit by one of the company's engineers and lets existing customers swiftly switch on a broadband service.

Currently Telewest offers two broadband services. By itself the 512mbps service costs 29.99, but customers of other Telewest services get it for 25 a month.

The higher speed 1mbps service is 39.99 for broadband only and 35 per month when combined with other Telewest services.

Before now both have needed a visit by technicians to wire up homes and get domestic computers authorised to use to Telewest network.

Telewest's network currently passes 4.9 million homes and it currently has 1.76 million households as customers.

Cable firm NTL already offers a broadband service via its set-top boxes.

Existing customers will be able to get the service working quickly though new customers will still require a visit to connect them up. The installation fee costs up to 50.

The numbers of people signing up for high-speed services via phone lines leapt when BT made a self-install package available.

The self-install package uses wires to link set top box with the computers in customers' home, but eventually Telewest said it will provide wireless connectors to make installation even easier.

New pricing structure for TWT services mailed out and received today - the claim is for a 2003 price freeze but with many pages of content to look through I will let you know :-))

One thing that is clear - they intend to reduce the bad debt situation and using pricing control to try and steer eberyone onto direct debit.


ainsoph

You over staying here now Ainsoph?

I have had a few problems with my password over last day or so but intend to post on a regular basis on a few shares where I have an interest.

Looking to add a few at the moment and would like to pay around 2p - no great rush.

Had occasion to talk to customer services ysterday and admit I was very impressed with their help - wanted to know why I was changing the content of my service and advised on options.


ains


Owen Gibson Guardian
Thursday January 30, 2003

Beleaguered cable company Telewest has signed a potentially lucrative partnership deal with Sony to develop a network allowing PlayStation 2 owners across
Europe to play games against one another.

It has formed a new company, which will be headed by former broadband chief David Docherty, to assist Sony in developing a high-speed internet network that will link gamers throughout Europe.



According to Mr Docherty, the deal is also significant because it will make Sony's games consoles the "gateway" through which, in the future, people can access pay per view movies and music.

"By the time you get to PlayStation 3, it becomes a platform and a brand identity and opens up a host of possibilities for music and video downloads. It's very exciting and more important than the future of ITV," he said.

Mr Docherty added the experience Telewest had gained from building its Blueyonder broadband service, which is one of the most popular online gaming services for PC owners, would stand the new division in good stead for developing the Sony service.

Sony is keen to establish its gaming network as soon as possible so it can catch up with Microsoft, which has already launched a high-speed link up through its X-Box Live service.

The service will launch later this year.





By Dinah Greek [30-01-2003] PCW

Company touts a range of business broadband services

Tony Grace, the new managing director of Telewest Business, has his heart set on wooing medium sized enterprises in industry and the public sector to the company's business broadband services.
In particular he believes that the public sector is beginning to lead the way when it comes to embracing broadband-based service technologies, which he insists is good news for Telewest's IPVPN model.

Grace has been buoyed by a recent contract signed by Telewest for its IPVPN product with the United Bristol Healthcare Trust.



The aim of the project is to use sophisticated high-speed fixed links to improve patient care and streamline medical systems.

Two hospitals in the area, Bristol Royal Infirmary and Bristol General Hospital, are already up and running on the network, with a further two ready for roll-out.

The aim is to connect 12 hospitals and a number of local GP surgeries into the network.

Grace, who has moved over from the company's consumer division, believes that Telewest has the right mix of services for these organisations, and that there is a fast growing awareness among them about the benefits.

"Large blue chip companies are not for us as they have multinational operations," he told vnunet.com.

"So I am pleasantly surprised by the desire in the public sector, and an increasing number of medium sized companies, to embrace new technology."

Grace added that Telewest is targeting its application service provider offerings, initially aimed at small companies, towards medium sized organisations.

But he accepted that there would be slower growth for these services, which were launched last summer.

"We have sold several thousand licences. I am not looking for an immediate influx of interest, but I do expect it to grow gradually but strongly over the next 12 to 24 months," he explained.

Camille Mendler, director of the Convergent Communications unit at the Yankee Group, said: "There is huge untapped potential in the SME sector for this type of service.

"But it is not an easily definable group. Companies like the idea of sending all types of traffic over a single network that is cheaper.

"Internet service providers now have to market the services more effectively and show how they can deliver benefits to SMEs."

Hi ainsoph, glad you found the time to register

Many familer names here

PS, perhaps a TAG link at the top of the thread is acceptable, after all we carry no ads and it will not take business away from Moneyam or ADVFN for that matter

PPS Best not to mention this moneyam site on advfn

Hi Paul - will do on the TAG - still getting 300 hits a day or so

I think a few others will look in as time goes bye




ains

UK to get 1.3m broadband punters this year

By Tim Richardson
Posted: 05/02/2003 at 15:17 GMT


More than a million homes in the UK will hook up broadband this year, amid signs that the UK is finally becoming a broadband nation.

At the end of 2002, 1.6m UK households had signed up to broadband. This year, a further 1.3m people are expected to get broadband, bringing the total number to just under 3m by the end of 2003.

Looking ahead, researchers Strategy Analytics reckon take-up will accelerate over the coming years with 10.5m - or a third of households - with broadband connections in place by 2008.

By this time, researchers reckon that DSL services will make up around 65 per cent of broadband lines, with cable making up around 31 per cent.

In the UK at the moment the split between DSL and cable services is neck and neck.

Strategy Analytics also pointed out that the UK has the second largest European broadband nation (in terms of numbers) behind Germany but ahead of France.

Would be nice and good for TWT if it happened



Business wants grants to help take-up broadband
By Tim Richardson
Posted: 06/02/2003 at 10:20 GMT


Half of UK businesses want tax breaks or grants to encourage the take-up of broadband, according to a survey by the Institute of Directors (IoD).

The survey also found that a third of businesses thought that local councils should subsidise the adoption of broadband by running 'try before you buy' schemes.

The call for help from business comes as nine out of ten of industry bosses said that broadband is an important issue for business, with eight out of ten saying that the lack of any local service was one of the main obstacles to hooking up to broadband.

However, the Government isn't keen on giving broadband special treatment.

In December 2001, it rejected the idea of using tax breaks to stimulate investment in broadband networks and instead called on companies to use existing tax breaks to help get wired up.

A spokesperson at the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) underlined this saying that tax breaks were available to small firms. Critics claim that the existence of the tax breaks was not well known.

In a statement Jonathan Cummings, Director of e-Business at the IoD said: "It is very encouraging to see that so many business chiefs cite broadband as an important business issue.

"However, for the government to meet its target of making the UK the 'best environment for ebusiness', UK business needs more coverage, more competition and more bandwidth options. To achieve this, more government support is needed," he said.

Last week European Commissioner Erkki Liikanen said political leaders must do more to help the development and take-up of broadband in Europe if they want to secure the benefits of a wired world.

Politicians must do more for broadband

ainsoph

Have you abandonned the threads you started at the other place?

I will be posting more frequently on this site in the hope there will be less abuse and spam. I will tend to update here in future and talk trading - if I trade.

Currently I hold a fair number from 0.7p to 2.6p and looking to buy back recent trading sales.



ains

ainsoph

it appears you have been banned elsewhere for abuse and spam! I will look at your threads from time to time. Perhaps post all the articles to info threads and allow some room for discussion?

F

I am not aware of being banned elsewhere for abuse and spam Fugitive - perhaps you can post a few details ..... sounds intriguing although it doesn't seem to be relevant to TWT



ains

Do we have to have all this 'yes you did', 'no I didn't' type of pantomime dialogue?

Most of us prefer proper civilised discussions. I thought we had left that type of thing behind us when we came here from ADVFN.

agreed 100%


Looking at sets last week it does seem as though a certain amount of manipulation is going on in order to push the price up. Not convinced we should be buying @ 2.5p+ at this time.

ains



latest news seems to be

23:09 GMT, Wednesday 5th February 2003 -- by Jason Crawley
Updated: 01:20

GWR have signed up with Telewest Broadband to broadcast four of its digital stations into millions of cable homes.

Telewest will broadcast the four stations - Classic FM, the Core, Planet Rock and The Storm - from February 7 on its digital cable service, which will increase the stations' potential cable and satellite audience to eight million. Classic FM, which currently transmits on EPG 922, will be moving position according to a report in the Digital Spy Telewest Broadband forum.

The deal comes after last week's Rajar figures showed that 7.5 million people are listening to radio via digital platforms, with GWR's digital stations reaching 80% of the population and The Storm having a potential digital radio audience of 13 million.

Simon Ward, GWR Group New Media and Digital Director, said: "Given that our aim is to connect our brands to consumers in all ways that appeal to them, this makes perfect sense and will only increase the availability of our brands, audience reach and audience share."

GWR have also announced the completion of a sophisticated new transmission network for Classic FM, constructed by NTL Broadcast under its 25 million twelve-year transmission contract with the group.

Haystack

An apology to ainsoph (and a polish to his halo too!)

F

Heard about some of the problems you had on the other site ainsoph. Are you still posting there our have you effectivly abandoned the place.

On the subject of twt you are possibly aware of this Hong Kong Billionare, a Mr Li. Rumour has it that he is shopping around for Energis although I fail to understand how that could be achieved as it is in insolvency.

Something to be aware of I surpose.

BTW over on the premium side here I currently maintain a thread (epic tele) for telecom traders and investors. I am not sure if I will stay here (premium) as much depends on level 2 pricing and effective formatting as a tool. However will keep you informed

Paul

Hi Paul

I think it would be fair to say that the situation over there has gotten totally out of control. I mostly talk via IM to like minded people these days - more lively discussion but no slagging or spam :-))

Yes ..... I saw the talk about MR Li shoping for a UK telecom. There was some vague suggestion of TWT but think that's totally out of order.

What is a little puzzling is the way TWT has been moving forward despite markets falling back. Not sure but get an impression there may be some stake building going on. A lot of biggish buy trades at above the general going rate. I still have at least 10K to buy a few of my traders back but still hoping for sub 2p ..... in an ideal world.

I haven't sprung for any money yet and therefore not on premium site but may dip my toe in - this coming week. I only use the other side for L2 and the fbb because ME is too expensive for L2. I will always be interested in a cheaper and/or better service.



ains

Indeed ainsoph. when Bullshare introduces L2 there is going to have to be some hard thinking. For example the two serices that I rely on is level 2 and streaming charts. Fundermentals I get from the FT.com site via a small annual subscription.

Since Croc left I hardly ever post now on the premium BB.

If we migrate here we may need to ask the other side to close the TAG thread, but thats an issue we can face if necessary

I have streaming charts via Market Eye - which I prefer but guess L2 will be what it is all about as far as traders are concerned. I have Investor Ease for fundamentals and CD refs.

From my point of view L2 is relatively expensive as I don't use any of the other services - also irritated by the constant cut off's when market is busy.

As you say, we can think about the TAG thread in due course.

Lastly, I should say there is a need for a lively and busy free or near free bb - at the moment the other guys have the edge on features but do believe the 'free speech' is now working against it. I talk privately to maybe 50 traders/investors and most just don't bother with the bb anymore in terms of talking seriously about shares/investing.


ains

ainsoph

There are some excellent threads (DAY, etc) on the other side but the threads for speculative shares (bombed out telecoms/pharms/etc with new potential) are populated by ignorant and abusive rampers and shorters.

I guess you are right on both scores but I get easily bored and in addition to my longer term interests I do like to bottom fish. TWT is a typical example - I like the longer term prospects and happy to hold for the D4E and beyond but they are also good for swing trading and even intraday because of newsflow or even the absence of newsflow. It is unfortunate that these kind of shares attract the wrong kind of poster/investor. Sadly everyone loses out as the more skilled or informed posters don't bother.


ains

worth a read

BT Q3 profit seen up
By Braden Reddall, UK telecoms correspondent


LONDON (Reuters) - BT (LSE: BT.L - news - msgs) is expected to report a rise in third-quarter earnings this Thursday, under a cloud of worries about growing competitive threats and the state of its pension fund in a slumping equity ADVERTISEMENT

market.


Ben Verwaayen had barely settled in to his new London office overlooking St. Paul's Cathedral when the new BT chief executive had to preside over the last set of third-quarter results.


The country's dominant telecom group had just suffered months of major upheaval, selling businesses as well as a record-breaking tranche of shares to cut a 30 billion-pound debt mountain by more than half.


Verwaayen, whose arrival was seen as the start of better times, had little specific to offer at last year's third-quarter results. But his plan for "substantially" cheaper high-speed Internet access would set the tone for BT's year.


Analysts do not expect next week's third-quarter results to prove momentous. But Verwaayen, as head of a business focused mostly on the less exciting but steadier UK domestic market, will be under pressure to deliver signs of growth in both earnings and the number of broadband Internet users.


"If boring and steady means it is on track to meet its targets, then that is a good thing," said David Brundish, telecoms analyst at JP Morgan (NYSE: JPM_pj - news) .


Verwaayen promised last April to deliver compound annual growth of 25 percent in earnings per share (EPS) and six to eight percent growth in revenue in the three years to 2005. However, he had to abandon the latter target three months ago when it became clear it may prove too ambitious.


Analysts expect revenue for the quarter to December of between 4.76 billion and 4.83 billion pounds, representing at the high-end growth of less than four percent over the third quarter last year.


Forecasts for earnings per share range from 3.5 pence to 4.0 pence, up from 2.4p last year, thanks to cost cutting and its debt reduction drive, which helped lower interest payments. Pre-tax profit estimates range from 460 million to 530 million pounds, compared with 381 million a year ago.


HOW MUCH NEED FOR SPEED?


BT slashed the wholesale price of broadband in half last April to less than 15 pounds per month, as part of a goal to have one million broadband customers on its network by mid-2003 and somewhere around five million by 2006.


Pierre Danon, chief executive of BT Retail, said on Friday that more than 100,000 broadband users had signed up to BT's network in January, putting the total at well over half a million.


But with cable rivals NTL (NYSE: NLI - news) and Telewest (LSE: TWT.L - news) clawing their way out of financial crisis, BT has formidable competition for broadband access. NTL and Telewest, though their networks pass by just over half of Britain's homes, boast more than three quarters of a million broadband users in total.


BT's traditional market for voice calls is also under threat from two strong retail players: number one UK supermarket Tesco (LSE: TSCO.L - news - msgs) and Europe's largest mobile phone retailer Carphone Warehouse (LSE: CPW.L - news) . Both recently announced plans to sell home phone services as well.


Furthermore, analysts have wondered for months how much BT will have to contribute to its pension fund to make up for stock market losses. Opinion is divided on the potential impact, but they agree that the uncertainty is weighing on the shares.


"Apart from exceptional Q3 results, the positive trigger towards our target price is more likely to come when the latest valuation of BT's pension deficit is published in May," SG Securities analyst Steve Trowbridge said of his 230p target.


BT shares were up two percent at 177 1/2 pence on Friday afternoon. The stock has lost about a fifth of its value over the past 12 months, but outperformed European peers in the DJ Stoxx European telecoms index by five percent in that time.

Edging up again today on low volume - less than a million shares in two hours


ains

NTL implies 1GB/day broadband cap
Monday 10th February 2003
From The Register


NTL has published a new user policy which defines a "normal" data download cap of 1GB/day.

Here is the spiel

ntl: home's broadband and dial-up services are intended for normal recreational or educational use by individuals and families and our pricing and network architecture have been designed accordingly. Customers who use the services more heavily than a normal home user will reduce the performance of the network for other customers.


"Normal use" of the service is defined as up to 1 gigabyte downstream of data transfer daily (which equates to approximately 200 music tracks, 650 short videos, 10,000 pictures or around 100 large software programmes downloaded per day).

In a statement on NTLHellWorld, the company's curious sheep in sheep's clothing website, NTL adds:

"The objective of this clarification of the policy is to ensure that customers continue to get a great broadband service at all times. The vast majority of customers will not be affected by this at all.

ntl will only be contacting the small percentage of customers whose use of the service PERSISTENTLY exceeds normal levels, thereby potentially reducing the overall product performance for THE VAST MAJORITY OF other customers."

For one customer's reaction, check out this protest site: www.dont-pay-ntl.co.uk. It explains in big red letters why the new terms are 90 per cent worse than before.

NTL's user policy makes for interesting reading too: it's here.

Online farmers are reaping the rewards
By Robert Uhlig, Farming Correspondent
(Filed: 11/02/2003)


Farmers are turning to the internet in increasing numbers to challenge the domination of the supermarkets. More than 300 million worth of farm produce was sold online last year.

Farm trade on the internet was unheard of five years ago, but last year one in 10 of Britain's 300,000 farms marketed produce on the internet, generating sales of 325 million, according to a study by the National Farmers' Union. The study scotched the image of farmers as often isolated and out of touch, relying on visits to local markets to catch up on news.

Nowadays, more than eight out of 10 farmers are connected to the internet, using it primarily for information, research, banking and news.

Growth in internet use grinds to a halt
By Robert Uhlig
(Filed: 10/02/2003)


The growth in internet use is grinding to a halt, according to research by Oftel, the telecoms watchdog.

It found that despite a huge take-up of high-speed broadband services, demand has levelled off now that half the population is online.

Last year, both dial-up and broadband net access from home remained static at about 42 per cent of the population in Britain, according to Oftel.

Hoping that the figure will rise, the Government will begin campaign in May to persuade people to connect to the internet. National television advertisements and direct mailing will be targeted at the over-55s, women and ethnic minorities - the groups that are currently under represented on the internet.

However, according to Jupiter Research, the independent analysts, there is little room for growth. It predicts that the number of internet users will continue to grow slowly to about 51 per cent of the population in 2007.

Ministers have been studying countries such as South Korea, where six out of 10 people have broadband connections at home, to determine why internet usage is slowing in Britain.

A team from Brunel University found that new approaches were needed for broadband services to appeal to the half of the population yet to go online. In Korea, broadband is targeted at mothers, stressing the value of broadband services to, for example, education.

The researchers from Brunel University concluded that internet service providers needed to make broadband a critical utility similar to electricity, instead of regarding it as a desirable luxury.

Volumes are picking up at 6.6 million - spread has narrowed and we have edged up a little

ains



NTL wakes up to broadband PR catastrophe

Unlimited "is a trade name"

By Mike Magee: Monday 10 February 2003, 11:35 Inquirer


SUITS AT NTL woke up this morning to find they had a PR nightmare on their hands and have apologised for the "poor communications" that generated the furore, which broke over the weekend.
Aizad Hussain, managing director of NTL:Home, apologised for "poor communication" of its new policy limiting its broadband connections to 1GB downloads a day.

He has written a little letter in which he claims NTL will be "very flexible" about the download limits, but claimed some customers had confused gigabyte limits with kilobit speeds.

One of the problems is that NTL advertised an unlimited service, and customers were up in arms about this. Hussain now defines this as having a "trade name" unlimited and he says its broadband service is no longer called unlimited.

He said the intention of NTL was only to limit very frequent or persistent "heavy network use" that would affect other customers. Now NTL will only contact customers who exceed the daily data limit for three or more days in a consecutive 14-day (fortnight) period, he said.

One telling line in the statement is that the new Ts&Cs will not affect gaming applications at all this is of particular interest because as we reported last month, NTL has a deal with Xbox Online here in Blighty, aimed ot undercut BT Openworld.

One gigabyte of data a day, he said, is equal to 100 large software programs, 200 music tracks, 650 short videos, 10,000 pictures and 20,000 web pages.

Customers won't be disconnected but will be advised to moderate their limits.

Triple figure growth in European online sales - Visa EU




10 February 2003 - Consumer confidence in the Internet remains buoyant with total EU e-commerce sales for the last quarter of 2002 up by 136% compared to the same period in 2001, according to data from Visa EU.

The card organisation says over the last three months of 2002 European Web sites sold over 2.5 billion to Visa cardholders online, with over 31 million transactions processed in total.

Recent strong quarterly growth has helped sustain the increase with online transactions in the last quarter up by 40% compared to the previous three months. Sales volumes also increased, with the amount spent online up by a third (33%) in the latter half of last year.

NTL seeks to clarify 1GB/day broadband cap
By Tim Richardson
Posted: 10/02/2003 at 12:42 GMT


NTL has been stunned by the outcry from its broadband customers over the cableco's decision to cap usage of its broadband service to 1 gigabyte a day.

The announcement was sneaked out on Friday but caused such an uproar that senior execs have been forced to step in and clarify the cableco's position.

A protest site set up on Friday calling for customers not to pay their NTL bills until the matter is resolved, has already received more than 30,000 hits and 100s of emails from angry users.

In a poll of 760 punters on the cableco's own pet nthellworld.com site, half said they planned to ditch NTL and find another broadband provider because of the cap.

Others argue the cap defeats the whole reason for having broadband and are looking at ways to get NTL to overturn its decision.

However, in an open letter on nthellworld.com, ntl:home MD, Mr Hussain admitted that the cap was "poorly communicated" but insisted that it would stay.

In a Q&A the company said: "Our objective is only to limit very frequent or persistent heavy network use that can impact other customers. Therefore we will ONLY contact customers who exceed the daily data limit for three or more days in any consecutive 14-day period.

"If you occasionally exceed your data limit, it will not be a problem. Remember our goal is to give freedom and easy usage to our customers. This rule ensures that you have peace of mind and that we are able to reduce the unfair prolonged usage by a small number."

Indeed, NTL insists that the limit has been imposed more as a guideline. It is not trying to penalise "ordinary" users. Instead, it wants to target persistent abusers of its broadband service, many of whom, its believed, are running businesses on what the cableco insists is a domestic service.

It's still too early to say whether NTL has managed to appease its hacked-off punters.

Reply concerning Telewest, to: mynameispaul and ainsoph (several posts)
I've been a TWT supporter in the early days, anything that wakes up BT had to be good IMHO.
However, TWT is still in the hands of the Bankers, I understand, and any deal is likely to wipe-out shareholders...(doesn't it always?, we're not even consulted!).
The TWT action-group was/is professional & well intentioned but I'm not aware it achieved a "result" - as usual us small shareholders are cannon-fodder for the City "big-guns" - of course it's wrong but we are not orgainsed "before the event" - that's where the power will be..... If FTSE250 Co. will not address our concerns, board-room pay, dividends, overseas adventures, co jet etc....there will be an outflow of 1-2% of sharecap ( that's POWER!)- something that Institutions might consider a bellweather.

In the final analysis the only thing that matters is will you/me/we make money on out investment today, or tomorrow in TWT.

Their track-record isn't good, paying too much for trenches and too little to getting traffic - so their debt became unsustainable. Pretty low-tech stuf really.
If they couldn't get it right then (when there were "connectees" just waiting to sign up, ) WHAT chance have they got now, with AOL, NTL, BT all vieying for the punter's attention?
It may be true that more people are to be encouraged to use broadband, but it isn't without cost and all I see is these telcos cutting at each other's margiins.
That can't be good for investors. If that's the case, and I see no end to it, won't investors be stuffed once again?

I hear what you say hangon and the truest comment you have made is the one concerning 'will we make money from here'. I think we will - the 3% talked about is likely to be the minimum that will apply in a d4e. Our past calculations were based on around a post d4e a share minimum - meaning the current shares would be valued at a minimum 3p. This compares favourably with todays price. Over any period of time I would expect this to increase as markets improved and TWT demonstrated true profitability.

Did we make a difference - have a look aty what MONI shareholders got - half on one percent.

Retail shareholders should take more interest and you are absolutely right in thinking there is a need to get involved early in protecting your investment.

Is the market overcrowded - Not many alternatives to BSkyB but cable is one of them and can also offer broad band - the must have of the near future imho.


ains

Moved up again ..... 275 on the bid now with heavy early morning volume


ains

AINS,

TWT up 12% nice, hoping RED next one up.

Cheers

Ash

I keep hearing about RED - guess I must have a serious look

02/11 08:43
Telewest May Make More Money Than It Spends by Fourth Quarter
By Dex McLuskey


London, Feb. 11 (Bloomberg) -- Telewest Communications Plc, the U.K.'s second-biggest cable-television company, may make more money than it spends by the end of 2003 after cutting costs, Managing Director Charles Burdick said.

The company expects spending on network and equipment in 2003 to be about 100 million pounds ($162.3 million) less than the 450 million pounds it probably spent on its network last year, Burdick said in an interview.

``Our plan says we'll be cash flow positive by mid-2004, but internally we're working toward the end of this year,'' Burdick said. ``It's a combination of good cost control, cutting capital expenditure fairly dramatically and the fact we're not paying interest on 3.5 billion pounds of debt.''

Telewest and NTL Inc., the No. 1 U.K. cable company, amassed about $26 billion of debt building networks and buying rivals to compete with Rupert Murdoch's British Sky Broadcasting Group Plc and BT Group Plc. Telewest will give bondholders 97 percent of the equity in return for all its bonds. NTL bondholders took control after the company reneged on repaying $10.9 billion of debt.

Burdick defined cash flow positive as profit after capital expenditure and interest charges.

The company may merge with NTL to compete with BSkyB, the U.K.'s biggest pay-TV company, and BT in providing faster Internet services, Burdick said. He hasn't discussed a merger with NTL recently, he said.

``I've always been consistent in saying we should merge,'' he said. ``The real battle out there is with BT and BSkyB, so my view has always been, once we figure out the liquidity situation, we should just get on with it.''

Telewest's shares, which have fallen 91 percent in the past year, closed yesterday at 2.5 pence on the London Stock Exchange.

The company may complete its reorganization plan by the end of the first quarter, Burdick said.

``These things always take longer then you think, but I'm hoping we'll be able to send something to our shareholders by the end of the quarter,'' he said.

volumes already over 8 million ...... up 10%



ains

Ainsoph,

Sorry I have changed my log in to Ash, for obvious reasons.
Well done for keeping the thread going with so much data on TWT.

Sorry the point I was making about Redstone Plc is the size of the market cap,if you remember TWT at the 0.65p low was valued at 18.677m market cap.

Now at 2.75p valued at 79.02m, having traded to as high as 136.489m market cap at 4.75p for a 3% of 1,260,000,000 t/o company.

RED is only 15.31m with 10.155m cash per 30.09.2002.

On RED you miss the huge Debt servicing costs, and let us say it got rated at 2.50 to 3 times t/o, based on 75m to 85m, big upside potential IMHO.

Beeson Gregory now their brokers.

I think might be a positioning play before BG hit the streets for RED IMHO.

Cheers

Ash

Anyone interested in joining my TAG please e mail my friend ainsoph at
ainsoph @blueyonder.com,. I cannot accept them myself, for obvious reasons

sounds interesting - as it happens I am very much into evg who now own BG ..... busy right now but will take a long look later this morning .... do I need another Telecom play? :-)) - They do say the sector is coming back in to favour



ains

NTL barraged with broadband complaints

Owen Gibson
Tuesday February 11, 2003


NTL: under fire over broadband limitations

Thousands of NTL subscribers to its high-speed internet access service have deluged the cable company with complaints after it imposed a limit on their use of its so-called "unlimited" service.

Customers are up in arms after NTL changed the terms and conditions of its internet services to limit the amount of music, video and web pages that they can download per day. Since the weekend thousands have deluged internet message boards and NTL chief executive Barclay Knapp with complaints.

The NTHellWorld website, a consumer site bought by NTL last year as part of a drive to improve customer service, has received more than 3,800 comments on the subject since Friday afternoon.

And a dedicated complaints website, www.don't-pay-ntl.co.uk, has also been set up to encourage subscribers to the broadband service not to pay their next bill or switch provider.

"This is an absolute disgrace. What are they on? This will cripple NTL," says one. Another customer labels the move an "outrage" while

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another adds, "I can't believe what I have just read. I have just signed up to broadband and the fact they are limiting it is not right".

According to those affected, the guidelines for the service were changed on Friday without their knowledge. Anyone downloading more than 1Gb of information per day for three days in the same fortnight will be blacklisted and risk having their connection terminated.

One gigabyte, equivalent to 1,024 megabytes, is a lot of information - an entire computer CD-rom takes around 600 megabytes of information.

NTL claimed it has taken the step to stop heavy users slowing down the network for everyone else, and argued that it was equivalent to downloading 20,000 web pages or 10,000 images a day.

"NTL's broadband and dial-up services are intended for normal recreational or educational use by individuals and families and our pricing and network architecture have been designed accordingly. Customers who use the services more heavily than a normal home user will reduce the performance of the network for other customers," it said in response to those who complained.

But broadband users who use their connection to download games, music and video claim that they will reach the new limit in just two and a half hours and are threatening to cancel their subscription and move elsewhere.

NTL has over 500,000 broadband subscribers to its 'Gold' service, which is 20 times faster than normal dial-up web access and its 'Silver' 512kb service, which is 10 times faster. They cost 35 per month and 25 per month respectively.

The uprising will worry NTL executives planning to make broadband the cornerstone of its "triple play" telephone, television and high speed internet proposition, which they hope will tempt customers away from Sky.

NTL chief executive Barclay Knapp said the move would not affect the vast majority of subscribers.

"We felt it was important to remind our customers of this policy as we were seeing a small but growing proportion of very heavy users sometimes degrading the service across the board for everyone - and some who abuse the service by, among other things, hosting commercial web sites from their homes," said Mr Knapp, who has recently led the company through a financial restructuring to halve its 12bn debt.

"Broadband is still in its early days as a technology, and we are trying very hard to find the right balance between service and cost so that our service can be truly universal," he added in an email to customers.

"NTL broadband is a good service and we want to keep it that way for all of our customers. It will not affect 99% of our customers. People can still surf for 24hours a day if they want to," added an NTL spokesman, saying that it planned to set up a "heavy users" group with those that had complained to try to find a way around the problem.

City first for broadband

EDWARD BLACK


EDINBURGH has topped a league of internet surfers with the Capital proving the most popular spot for high-speed internet use, according to new research.

The findings, from Telewest Broadband, indicate that as internet take-up develops in the UK, its Blueyonder broadband service is proving the most popular in Edinburgh.

Chad Raube, the director of internet services at Telewest Broadband, said the trend reflected the citys enthusiasm for things new.

He said: "Edinburgh, with its tradition for innovation, has enthusiastically adopted broadband from the off. We trialled our 1Mb broadband internet service in Edinburgh last year and the feedback we received was tremendous.

"By focusing on quality and consistently innovating, Blueyonder provides one of the best value residential broadband services in the UK today.

"Within our franchise areas, more people are taking Blueyonder than any other broadband provider."

According to researchers, broadband allows consumers to surf the internet up to 20 times faster than a traditional dial-up connection, without having to use a telephone line.

The service also allows people to download movies and music in an instant, send e-mails with large attachments and play games online with friends.

The south-west region of England, which includes Bristol, and the south-east of England follow closely behind Edinburgh in the league.

Telewest Communications is a communications and media group whose cables pass by 4.9 million homes and which provides a range of other services to 1.76 million houses.

The survey discovered that 8.1 per cent of homes in Edinburgh had adopted the Blueyonder broadband internet service as opposed to 8 and 7.2 per cent in the south-west and south-east of England respectively.

I am sue it will happen but over a longer time scale

ains


NTL and Telewest could merge next year

Owen Gibson
Tuesday February 11, 2003


Telewest: set to emerge from a financial restructure later this year

Telewest chief Charles Burdick has for the first time laid out a timetable for merging his company with rival NTL, predicting it could happen early next year.
Mr Burdick, who took over as managing director last year from former chief executive Adam Singer, predicted Telewest would emerge from a financial restructure in the second quarter of 2003, break even by the fourth quarter and possibly merge with NTL soon afterwards.

"Our plans show the second quarter of 2004 as cash-flow positive but I have the team focused on internal targets that move that up to the fourth quarter of 2003," he said.

"If Telewest meets that target, it will be the first cable company in the world to turn cash-flow positive."

NTL's recent debt for equity swap halved its 12bn debt and Telewest expects to emerge from a similar restructure, having halved its 5.3bn debt.

However, Telewest still has a few minor hurdles to clear with creditors and is relying on a 2.2bn bank loan agreed in January to see

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it through.

It would leave both companies free to complete the cycle of consolidation that has characterised the cable industry for the past decade but has left it with huge debts and playing catch up with a dominant BSkyB.

Telewest and NTL have admitted a merger would be a logical step in enabling them to compete with BSkyB and the two firms already work together in various marketing and sales capacities. However, they been hamstrung by their huge debts.

The only remaining stumbling block to a merger would be deciding which company takes management control. Mr Burdick insisted that, although smaller, Telewest would be in a stronger position.

"Look at the continuity of management at Telewest. We haven't done a major acquisition for three years and our restructure was much less disruptive to the organisation than theirs. So most people say we are in much better shape," he told the Wall Street Journal today.

In the last two quarters NTL's and Telewest's subscriber numbers have fallen, with the latter losing 25,000 customers.

"We've stood still for about six quarters but its not irreparable damage," said Mr Burdick, adding the company's focus would be on pushing its broadband service, which has 250,000 subscribers.

"I see a world where there's literally 100% broadband penetration in 10 years because of educational tools for kids, working at home, file sharing, music downloads and games," he said.

"All these are going to appeal to different niches in the population."

AFX-Focus) 2003-02-11 13:13 GMT: Telewest says to turn cashflow positive by year end, sees 2004 merger with NTL
LONDON (AFX) - Telewest Communications PLC said it is aiming to turn cashflow positive by the end of this year, six months ahead of its original forecast.
The company also attached a date of 2004, for the first time, for when it may merge with the UK's largest cable operator NTL Inc.

"The plans show we will be cash flow positive in the second quarter of 2004 but we have the team focused on internal targets for the end of this year," said a company spokeswoman.

The company will achieve these goals through tight cost control, pushing growth in broadband customers and cutting 100 mln stg from 450 mln stg earmarked for 2003.

Telewest expects to come out of a complex financial restructuring in the second quarter.

In August the group was forced, by a mountain of debt run up from building its cable network, to unveil a plan to swap 3.5 bln stg of its 5.3 bln stg debt for equity.

Analysts and investors have said, for at least a year, that once Telewest and NTL had rid themselves of debt a merger would be logical.

We have said that it makes sense to merge once both parties have come out of restructuring," said the spokeswoman.

"But it's not going to be a mad rush," she added.

NTL has only just emerged from Chapter 11 bankruptcy in the US after agreeing terms of an 11 bln usd debt-for-equity swap.

A merger with NTL would enable the combined group to take on the dominant satellite broadcaster British Sky Broadcasting in pay-TV and BT Group PLC in broadband internet.

There would also be cost-savings to come from joining forces.

Telewest shares have fallen from 75 pence in December to 2.5 pence on the back of news the group's debt-for-equity swap would leave shareholders with just 3 pct of the company.

At the height of the boom in TMT stocks three years ago, Telewest was worth more than 14 bln stg, compared with just 20 mln stg today.

Chief executive Adam Singer resigned last year and former finance director Charles Burdick took over.

In the last two quarters Telewest has seen net subscribers fall by a total of 25,000.

But Telewest had about 250,000 broadband subscribers in November and new subscribers are signing up at a rate of around 50,000 a quarter.

tf/jc



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Fair old volume @ over 20 million and a long time since we saw 3p on the offer



ains

More ISPs 'to impose download limits'
14:21 Tuesday 11th February 2003
Graeme Wearden


With broadband networks increasingly 'swamped' by P2P traffic, experts predict that by the end of the year most ISPs will limit how much data users can download
The widespread and growing use of peer-to-peer networks is likely to force broadband operators to restrict the amount of data their subscribers are allowed to download, according to analyst group Jupiter Research.

Jupiter Research warned this week that file sharing is growing "at a phenomenal rate", and that the sheer volume of music and movie files being transferred between users is putting a huge burden on broadband service providers.

According to Jupiter, some broadband ISPs are finding that over 50 percent of the traffic on their networks is caused by P2P file-sharing.

"Although not the only factor in driving Internet users to broadband, file-sharing has proven to be broadband's first 'killer application,'" said Dan Stevenson, analyst at Jupiter Research, in a research note. "As well as being a big problem for record labels and the Hollywood studios alike, Internet service providers are beginning to suffer too -- under the heavy weight that file-sharing imposes on their networks."

As a result of the increased traffic, these operators will probably be forced to limit the amount of data its broadband customers are allowed to download from the Net. Should they exceed this limit, they will be charged extra.

"Not wanting to take on the file-sharing networks in court, the best solution for broadband service providers to address this issue would be to impose monthly data limits on their subscribers," Stevenson advised.

Jupiter predicts that by the end of 2003 such data limits will be "the rule, not the exception."

Such a move is likely to prove unpopular with broadband users, though, who are likely to feel that data limits are at odds with the idea of an unlimited, always-on service.

NTL caused a large amount of controversy over the last few days after introducing data limits for its broadband service. It plans to target people who regularly download more than 1GB of data per day.

Back in October 2001, BT also caused a storm of protest when it blocked the ports used by some peer-to-peer applications. It said the move was an attempt to ensure it offered a decent service for all users, but did back down after many customers complained.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Telewest and NTL eye merger as profitability approaches

London, February 11 2003, (netimperative)



by Richard Agnew

UK cable operators Telewest and NTL could be set to merge early next year if their respective refinancing programmes go according to plan.


Telewest MD Charles Burdick said the long-awaited move may go ahead if his firm emerges from financial restructuring and reaches break even by the fourth quarter of this year as planned.

Both firms, which operate in different geographical areas and have cooperated on marketing initiatives, have in the past admitted that a merger could allow them to consolidate and compete more effectively with major rivals BT and BSkyB.

But Telewest is now reliant on a 2.2bn bank loan it gained last month for funds, and it has yet to be decided which firm's management would take control. NTL, which declined to comment, has also just completed a similar deal to cut the 12bn it owed.

Burdick told the Wall Street Journal today that Telewest, once it has finalised a deal with its creditors to halve its 5.3bn debt and reduced interest payments, is now concentrating on reaching a positive cash-flow position by Q4 this year, and the merger could follow shortly after.

He said: "Our plans show the second quarter of 2004 as cash-flow positive but I have the team focused on internal targets that move that up to the fourth quarter of 2003. If Telewest meets that target, it will be the first cable company in the world to turn cash-flow positive."

Users call for anti-NTL protest
By Tim Richardson
Posted: 11/02/2003 at 16:30 GMT


Angry NTL customers are trying to drum up support for a public demonstration of defiance against the cableco following its decision to cap its broadband service.

Some are calling for a "mass cancellation" of their service on Valentine's Day (this Friday) while others want to use the day simply to disconnect from the service in a bid to register their dissatisfaction.

Either way, the newsgroups are buzzing with suggestions about how to make NTL understand the unrest felt by its broadband customers.

They include:


A public demonstration outside NTL's offices

Withholding payment

Massively exceeding the 1 gig a day limit but ensuring that this does not breach guidelines that say people will only be targeted if they exceed the daily data limit for three or more days in any consecutive 14-day period.

At the moment, there doesn't appear to be any co-ordinated campaign of action that would cement the opposition to NTL's decision to cap the service.

Instead, many people have taken their own decision by cancelling or downgrading their services in protest at the move.

Others have complained to Oftel, the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) and the BBC's flagship consumer affair programme Watchdog. There have even been calls for the resignation of senior execs at NTL over the affair.

It's clear that NTL has badly misjudged opposition to this move.

Oh dear.....just looked in on ADVFN. The teachers have left and the kids are wrecking the classroom.

regards

There you go ..... look in here for my thoughts on current situation later



Cash-in by cable SUN
TELEWEST, Britains biggest TV and phone cable company, expects to be generating cash by the end of the year.

This is six months earlier than planned.

Telewest, which has 1.3million cable TV and 1.6million phone customers, also expects to complete a financial reorganisation by the end of June.

Managing director Charles Burdick said the company could merge with rival NTL next year, again earlier than expected. The shares rose 0.25p to 2.75.

The Herald


Telewest raises possibility of merger with NTL
MARK SMITH
CHARLES Burdick, managing director of financially troubled cable firm Telewest, yesterday said the company may merge with rival NTL, the UK's largest cable operator, at the beginning of 2004.

NTL, which emerged from a debt-restructuring and Chapter 11 bankruptcy last month, declined to comment on Burdick's remarks in the European edition of the Wall Street Journal.

Both companies have had a rough ride in recent years.

Telewest, like Nasdaq-traded NTL before it, fell victim to debts accumulated during 1990s expansion drives.

Telewest, the UK's second-largest cable firm which employs about 1000 people in Scotland, said it expects to emerge from a 3.5bn debt-for-equity swap in the second quarter as it tries to get approval from all its creditors for the plan.

Both Telewest and NTL have said that a merger would be logical as the two companies attempt to compete with satellite television operator BSkyB and with BT.

-Feb 12th






Scotsman

Telewest may see black in 2003


TELEWEST, the UKs second largest cable-TV company, may make more money than it spends by the end of 2003 after cutting costs, according to managing director Charles Burdick.

The company expects spending on network and equipment in 2003 to be about 100 million, less than the 450 million it spent last year, Burdick said. Telewest may still merge with larger cable-TV company NTL, he added.

"Our plan says well be cash-flow positive by mid-2004, but were working toward the end of this year. It is a combination of cost control, cutting capital expenditure and were not paying interest on 3.5 bn of debt." Telewest and NTL amassed about $26 billion (16 bn) of debt between them building networks and buying rivals.

Looks like the classroom is getting transferred eh????? (ainsoph with a small 'a')

To the poster earlier who addressed a question to me hi, sorry for the delay in getting back to you.

Its immpoosible to keep up with sheer vol of posts both here and at advfn on the TAG twt thread, (plus I do an occaisional update over at 3i.)

Ainsoph and I do not know what good we achieved except one thing, Telewest were very very aware of us.............and its fair to say wary, and that was BEFORE the d for e full details were released. We aimed to stop an energis, ie a complete colapse and was very public about it. On that basis it looks like we were successful although in fairness we do not know if our public presence made any difference or not.

Soon now the TAG's work will be done, but we will kep an interest until the d for e mechanism finally happens and "new" twt shares trade.

Ainsoph will answer other questions I am sure

Telewest-NTL merger possible: Burdick
By electricnews.net
Posted: 11/02/2003 at 14:17 GMT


UK cable company Telewest expects to be cash-flow positive by the fourth quarter, and a merger with NTL could be on the cards, the firm's managing director has said.

Telewest boss Charles Burdick has predicted that the company will begin generating money in its fourth quarter, according to a report in the Wall Street Journal. This would follow the completion of the company's debt refinancing plan that has seen 97 percent of Telewest taken over by creditors.

More significantly, Burdick has said that at the beginning of next year, a merger could occur with NTL, which runs cable networks in the UK and Ireland. For its part, NTL declined to comment on the possibility, but speculation over the two firms combining their operation has been lingering for months.

It is generally thought that a merger between the two companies could create the only viable competition to satellite TV company BskyB and its ever-expanding subscriber base. A merger between Telewest and NTL would also establish a more formidable competitor to BT in the fixed-line consumer and small business broadband market.

Since the two companies have few overlapping operations, it seems unlikely that regulatory hurdles would hold back such a combination. Thus far, the overwhelming debt that the companies have accumulated has been the main obstacle to a merger, but with much of that debt now gone, industry talk of a merger between the two firms has resumed.

In its bankruptcy plan, NTL was divided into two distinct companies, NTL UK and Ireland, and NTL Europe. The former company also exchanged about STG7 billion in debt for control of the firm by creditors. A similar plan on the part of Telewst is set to be completed by the end of March, which will see STG3.5 billion of its STG5.3 billion in debts forgiven in return for handing control of 97 percent of the company to lenders.

In his update on Telewest's restructuring, Burdick said the plan should be completed in the second quarter. Burdick also said that Telewest could be the first cable company globally to turn cash-flow-positive. "Our plans show the second quarter '04 for cash-flow-positive, but I have the team focused on internal targets that move that up to the fourth quarter of 2003," he is quoted as saying in the Wall Street Journal.

NTL in Ireland, previously known as Cablelink, employs about 480 and it is the biggest cable provider in Ireland, dominating the Dublin market and along the east coast.

ElectricNews.Net

Telewest broadband customers offered digital photo service
12/02/2003
Editor: David Minto europemedia

On the day BT revealed that it is to bring the Yahoo UK Plus service to its broadband customers, cable operator Telewest has announced it is to link up with digital photography web services provider PhotoBox.

Telewest estimates that around half of its 250,000 broadband subscribers currently own a digital camera. PhotoBox will provide users to register for free with an initial 30Mb of space to upload and store images. Customers are able to order prints and personalised gifts (such as T-shirts and birthday cards), with storage space increasing to 100Mb after the first order.

Broadband snapshot shows cable most able


[Computer Buyer] 15:59

Oftel report shows cable staving off DSL as the access method of choice.
'It's pissing on ADSL,' is how John Moorwood, Consumer PR manager at Telewest Broadband, described it. And the latest figures from Oftel that provide a snapshot of UK Internet access as at the end of December 2002, suggest it is true.

The coverage of the broadband technologies is comparable - with 14m homes able to connect via ADSL, and 13.3m via cable. But of those 1,360,000 who have signed up for broadband, 769,000 took the cable option - around 57 per cent. And these figures do not include the numbers for Telewest's Blueyonder broadband, whose figures won't be released for another two weeks. So the cable percentage will definitely be higher still.



Oftel did not offer comment on the figures, however Telewest's Moorwood does expect the gap to close, given ADSL's increasing coverage of the population as more exchanges are enabled. 'We'll always be the urban warriors,' he said, 'so no doubt ADSL will catch up.'

The cable dominance is particularly notable given that they are now one of the more expensive ways to connect, as ADSL resellers slash prices in the clamour for custom. In Europe, ADSL connections are on a par with Germany in terms of price. But when you include cable services, the UK is second only to Sweden as the most expensive in Europe and the US.

The reason we're prepared to pay that little bit more for cable, according to Moorwood, is that the cable companies can guarantee the product they offer, as they own all the equipment, including the networks. An Oftel survey on ADSL connections, released at the end of last month showed that 50 per cent of subscribers had experienced problems with 'getting connected, with connections being slower than expected, or from poor helplines'.

As a nation, we are a single point behind the European average, with 42 per cent of homes having Internet access.

Matt Whipp

Telewest revival renews NTL merger rumours
[MacUser] 15:27

Telewest shares jumped 10 per cent yesterday after the company's managing director predicted that the cable operator would make a trading profit in the fourth quarter of 2003.
The news renewed suggestions that Telewest may merge with rival cable operator NTL in 2004. Talk of merger before now has always been overshadowed by the vast debts both companies had incurred whilst swallowing up the UK's cable franchises

However, Telewest is expected to complete the restructuring of its 5.3bn debt within the next four months, whilst NTL recently announced the completion of its own rescheduling package.

NTL and Telewest - under the Blueyonder banner - are the UK's two cable broadband suppliers. As they do not offer competing alternatives - they are each restricted to their own geographical areas - but face strong competition from the expanding ADSL network, monopoly regulators are not expected to block any merger.

Simon Aughton

Interesting article in the April edition of PC World showing how to share a bb connection within the home or small office.

Recently I re-jigged my own TWT account which covers telephone - TV and bb .... very impressed with overall service from the helpline and account staff - many hundreds of % better than this time last year. Included a curtsey call today to remind me of date when changes were taking place and to ensure I wanted to go ahead.

I had a chat about their latest promotional/pricing material and fed back some thoughts of my own.

As a shareholder and customer - very impressed.


ains

BT rivals question broadband figures

London, February 13 2003, (netimperative)



by Richard Agnew

BT was accused of "muddling" its broadband user figures today, after citing increasing penetration as evidence for potential renewed growth in revenues.


In its results for the last three months of 2002, the company posted a 37% rise in pre-tax profits to 521m, but saw its shares drop 4% this morning due to concerns over growth and a potential hole in its pension scheme.

The firm posted a less-than-expected 1% increase in sales to 4.7bn, but sought to reassure investors that "record broadband sales" in January of 25,000 per week, giving it a total of 650,000 end users at the start of this month, signalled renewed potential for growth.

Chief executive Ben Verwaayen said: "We generated our highest ever broadband sales, with in excess of 25,000 per week in January, launched a major market awareness campaign, reduced wholesale and retail connection charges and lowered the exchange upgrade trigger levels, demonstrating our strong commitment to broadband Britain."

But the company was accused by rivals of presenting a confusing picture by adopting overall ADSL market figures - its wholesale customer base rather than that of its ISP arms BT Openworld and BT Retail - as its main indicator.

Reacting to the results, Telewest Broadband MD Gavin Patterson said: "BT is muddling its numbers with a confusing combination of business and residential customers. It's using over 100 ADSL resellers to stake a claim in broadband Britain, but still trailing in our wake."

The overall ADSL market, including customers of BT and ISPs such as AOL and Freeserve, was 650,000 at the start of February, according to figures from BT Wholesale. But the overall broadband market, including ADSL, satellite, cable and wireless users, according to Oftel's latest figures, stood at 1.4m by the end of December.

Meanwhile, BT Retail, whose broadband user base is now believed to have reached around 100,000, posted an operating profit of 379m on sales of 3.3bn. BTopenworld, whose subscriber base stood at 244,000 at the end of December, posted a loss of 8m on sales of 75m. The two arms, which have since merged, have now gained over half of the ADSL market.

Elsewhere, BT's debt mountain was further reduced by 195m to 12.9bn, and has since been cut further by January's sale of the company's stake in Cegetel for 2.6bn.

However, the firm warned it could face a shortfall of up to 1.5bn in its pension fund, although an official valuation of the fund will not be calculated until May.

www.bt.com

News - February 14,2003
NTL & Telewest Snub 3.4Ghz Auction ISP

By:mark.j @ 9:57:AM - News Comments - Apparently neither of the UKs primary cable operators (NTL and Telewest) are likely to take any part in the government's May 3.4GHz broadband wireless auction:

"We've got enough on our plate at the moment," Tony Grace, managing director of Telewest Business, explained. Grace added that this decision won't necessarily prevent Telewest from offering wireless broadband services in the future.

"I think you'll see a lot of partnerships formed, as companies work together and share the initial investment in these broadband technologies," Grace added.

It is also understood that NTL has no plans to bid for a 3.4GHz licence. NTL has shown considerable interest in wireless broadband, and is currently conducting a trial of a consumer broadband service in London.

Despite this the government is still confident that the auction will be a success, much as they have been with all of their past attempts; didnt most of them fail? More @ ZDNet.

Sarah Arnott [13-02-2003] infomatics


Pair sign five-year deal for managed virtual private network
Building society Bristol & West has said that its 4.5m network upgrade will quadruple available bandwidth and underpin the move towards browser-based computing.
Bank of Ireland UK Financial Services, which owns Bristol & West, signed a five-year deal with network provider Telewest Business in November to supply a managed virtual private network using Internet Protocol.

The society is now rolling out the technology to 140 locations, which should take until April.

The ability to set quality of service levels on an application-by-application basis is a key benefit of the new system, according to Jon Lethbridge, head of IT strategy and planning at Bank of Ireland UK Financial Services.

"With the old system, everything that goes up and down the pipe is treated the same," he explained.

"But some applications are more important than others. For example, systems involved in savings transactions should take precedence over cashiers looking at the intranet.

"With the new service we can manage the traffic and make sure that key applications get a high quality of service, fitting the others in around them."

Being able to prioritise network traffic underpins Bristol & West's move towards browser-based computing, with multiple applications accessed through a standard browser.

"Browser sessions clogged up the old network very quickly, but this technology allows us to manage that traffic and deliver a better service," said Lethbridge.

The increased bandwidth will also allow the company to deliver images across the network.

Traditional paper forms, such as mortgage applications, can now be replaced by electronic versions which can be accessed from a central repository.

"The bottom line is that we have some new applications and some new styles of using technology, and the existing network didn't support them," explained Lethbridge.

The project is expected to pay back in 12 months by recouping on supplier costs. "We are managing to upgrade our capacity without extra cost," he said.

Legal action mulled over NTL BB cap
By Tim Richardson
Posted: 14/02/2003 at 15:19 GMT


Angry NTL customers are considering legal action over the cableco's decision to cap its broadband service.

The Register understands that lawyers are currently examining the possibilities of setting up a "group action" against the cableco.

The fact that a legal team is mulling court action shows the depth of feeling among customers and is a sure sign that the row over the 1 Gig/day capping is unlikely to fade away quietly.

Shares are edging up and it seems unlikely I will be able to add/buyback at 2p or less and guess I will look to add at sub 2.5p .... I am sure we are getting close to a d4e proposal in detail and a merger will happen in due course but think end of year timing is a little premature

ains




February 15, 2003

Banks say Telewest merger with NTL would require 1bn
By Dan Sabbagh, Telecoms Correspondent TIMES



A MERGER between NTL and Telewest, the cable telecom companies, could happen as soon as the end of this year but would require the injection of as much as 1 billion of cash if the deal is to win the support of both parties lending banks, banking insiders said last night.
The two companies are coming under investor pressure to open talks soon after Telewest completes its 3.5 billion financial restructuring some time in the early summer.

It is felt that the cable industry needs to unite quickly to fight off intense competition from BT and BSkyB.

Financiers said that the new money is required because a number of banks have lent heavily to NTL and Telewest debts which have remained unimpaired during both companies respective debt-for-equity swaps.

If the two came together, some bank credit committees are unlikely to sanction such a large exposure to a single company, meaning that between 600 million and 1 billion would have to be raised to refinance the overdrafts.

NTL and Telewest do not overlap and although they co-operate on a number of minor matters, an analysis circulating in the cable industry has concluded there are between 250 million and 300 million of annual capital and operational savings that could be wrought from a tie-up.

Currently, it is understood that there are no merger talks between the two companies and relations between Barclay Knapp, president and chief executive of NTL, and Charles Burdick, Telewests managing director, are thought to be cool. Of the two, Telewest is keener to strike a deal because its finances are in better shape and its top management team more stable.

Telewest declined to comment yesterday, but earlier this week Mr Burdick was reported as saying that the company would be the first cable company in the world to turn cashflow positive at the end of this year and that its restructuring was much less disruptive to the organisation than the $11 billion (6.8 billion) one completed by NTL last month.

A spokeswoman for NTL also refused to comment. She said it was not the companys policy to discuss its view on a tie-up with Telewest.

The need for a cash injection could be an opportunity for a strategic investor such as Liberty Media, Telewests largest investor, to increase its interest in UK cable. Libertys 25 per cent holding in Telewest will be diluted to about 11 per cent as a result of the companys restructuring and the American investment group controlled by John Malone is expected to see its three board seats reduced to just one.

Most of Telewests new shares will be controlled by bond investors, who overlap with the investment group that rescued NTL. The fund controlled by Bill Huff, NTLs acting chairman, will have about 10 per cent of the reconstructed Telewest which mirrors the size of his holding at NTL.

Telewests restructuring will see bondholders take 97 per cent of the company, with existing shareholders being left with the remaining 3 per cent.

Ainsoph a copy of a post on both advfn and the 3i site below.

By the way on the advfn site various people have started to impersonate you, therefore I have posted a comment on the TAG thread there to inform people that they should ignore "virtual" "new" ainsops and contact you via the TAG website or email on the thread header for direct TAG info. I also indicated you were not posting there at present

cut and paste below

The latest position with twt is encouraging and shows signs of moving to a conclusion where we can at least be moderately confident (geopolitical risks aside) twt will survive, and with us on board albeit in a much reduced capacity.

I had always said that this twt deal was the best of a bad job (debt for equity) and I still get angry when I think of all the (quite frankly) downright "disinformation" received from certain official quarters. However life moves on and the world today is a very different place from that of the year 2000/2001. Providing the debt for equity deal continues to progress/complete and Telewest continues to survive the TAG's role will come to an end. We came into existence to prevent an Energis style collapse emanating from the debt for equity and to date that has been averted. We will remain around until the process is complete.

It will be, sad to relate, a long long time before some of us re-coop our initial investment, indeed as one poster commented a year or so ago we may well have to hand our shares on to our grandchildren before the "real" value reaches the equivalent of 1 again.

However short of completely unknown events I believe we have avoided administration. Thats a start. Another milestone will be reached when we can all make a decision to cash our twt shares for a reasonable equity stake to invest elsewhere (if that is our wish) In my case that milestone is about 12p or so.

I will continue to look in here occasionally and will post as and when real news develops.

The TAG will be wound up/I will resign at the conclusion of the debt for equity deal. Best wishes for the future

Paul

Hi Paul ..... your post prompted several people to mail me privately asking where they could find me for the future and I have pointed them in the obvious direction of the website and here ..... I do occasionly post on iii and TMF .... and even HS when the occasion warrants.

The opening post covers my current situation - I hold maybe a million shares + and have a chunk of profits from trading that I am looking to reinvest/speculate. I was hoping for sub 2p in a dip but have raised the target to sub 2.4p.


ains


latest news

Telewest Foreshadows NTL Merger


By Mike Farrell
Multichannel News
2/17/2003



The complete text of this article is available only to subscribers.

Abstract: Telewest Communications plc, the United Kingdom's second-biggest cable operator, said it would reach cash-flow positive status by the end of this year six months earlier than originally expected and said that a merger with NTL Inc., the No. 1 U.K. MSO, could happen in 2004. Talking to Dow Jones Newswires in London last week, Telewest managing director Charles Burdick said an ear...

February 16, 2003

Broadband shines amid the telecoms gloom
The number of homes and firms with high-speed internet access is 1.5m and rising, says Paul Durman of the S Times



The cable-television companies, NTL and Telewest, also offer broadband, although a different variety known as cable modem. Between them, the cable companies have about 800,000 broadband customers. After a slow start, Britain now has nearly 1.5m homes and small businesses with broadband facilities.

Browsing websites using a broadband connection is a much quicker and more pleasant experience than with a traditional dial-up connection. It is less frustrating, and users are inclined to spend more time on the internet.

Gavin Patterson, managing director of Telewests consumer division, says: People are just doing more of what they did before. Time online is about four times what it was in the dial-up world. Some people are spending more time online than theyre spending on TV. Theres more chat, theres more e-mailing, more photography, more web-browsing. And it is made for the adult market.

The 10 most popular websites among Telewests Blueyonder broadband customers include seven that offer adult entertainment.


full story @ http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2095-578757,00.html

There is an encouraging article in todays Sunday Times business section about broadband growth. Telewest are mentioned favourably. It was also quite amusing to note that Telewest commented that out of their 10 most popular websites, 7 were of an "adult nature"...........

I always said the two things that are guarenteed to make money on the net is sex and money..:)

NETIMPERATIVE COMMENT: Sky should fear the cable guys

14/February/2003

Latest figures from Oftel, BT, and a statement by Telewest CEO Charles Burdick all point to one thing - cable is on the move. After a couple of years of financial hell, both NTL and Telewest are at last preparing for their long-expected merger and it seems there can be only one loser, young Sky.


As BT unveiled yesterday, it claims more than 50% of the ADSL broadband market with an estimated 350,000 users signed up under either BT Retail or the fast disappearing BTopenworld in a total market of 680,000 ADSL users. A strategy of determined stubbornness towards local loop unbundling, among other things, has left it in prime position and with few competitors.

However, the real success story is cable broadband. Oftel says there are 769,000 end users of cable broadband services and that's before Telewest reports its new figures very soon. Combined, NTL and Telewest are available to 13.3m homes, the vast bulk of which can access broadband services if they so choose. And the likelihood is, that so choose they will.

It has long been thought that if only the two cable sisters could address their ugly, nay monstrous debts, they ought to be able to press home a distinct advantage - the potential for users to put their TV, phone and internet access costs onto one bill and with one supplier. BT and Sky, spotting the threat, have spent the past two years seeking ways of joining forces to offer an all-in-one style package of their own, but a true fit has been impossible.

Thus, especially as broadband interest snowballs, consumers are finding that cable is by far the simplest option - costs are somewhat more manageable too. For BT, safe as houses in its monopoly world of phone line exchanges, this is an irritance but barely a real bother. It has always known that its only option was to do what it could to hang on to the local exchanges for as long as possible and exercise its marketing power to make its ADSL package the most obvious.

For Sky, on the other hand, the likely dominance of cable puts an almighty spanner in the works. While Sky Digital - on which it has done a fantastic job - has been the most viable option for iTV users, it could claim dominance of both content and delivery. As cable becomes more populated, it will gradually be left with only its (costly) content and, as the balance of power shifts, you can bet the cable companies will want to press their advantage when it comes to content negotiations.

Even worse for the satellite kings is that, once Telewest is able to clear its debt with the banks - as it surely will - it is clear to at last join forces properly with its estranged cable partner and, together, they pose a significant power. The geographical overlap of the Telewest and NTL networks is negligible enough to keep integration costs - and interference from the Competition Commission - to a minimum and their combined promotional budgets will be the subject of much adland attention.

Charles Burdick says Telewest could be cash-flow positive by the end of this year. With its whopping interest payments removed under its financial restructuring, it should be a good deal more than that. And once it is, a ball Sky would rather remained flat will indeed start rolling.

ainsoph

Thanks for posting the above. That is the most bullish commentary on TWT's operational prospects I have seen. Perhaps there are real chances of the 3 to 4p we expect to see (on confirmation of restructuring) growing significantly in the next year or two.

I think there is every chance jaffa ...... My guess currently is maybe 5p - on the assumption of a deal that is acceptable. That would equate to an old share price of say 150p. Talk of a merger and/or good figues from the company at that time will easily support this kind of price. I do not see the bondholders selling out in the near future after the d4e



ains

Telewest looking into 606 Interactive problem
18:01 GMT, Monday 17th February 2003 -- by James Welsh
Telewest is looking into fixing problems experienced on its digital cable service with the BBC's 606 Interactive service "as a matter of urgency", the cable operator told Digital Spy today.

Word has seeped out that angry NTL customers, whom are opposed to the operators recent bandwidth cap on broadband services, are to gather outside this weeks Internet Industry Awards in London:

Those behind the direct action are hoping that a demo outside the event will help raise public awareness while causing maximum embarrassment to the cableco.

Users had hoped that a wave of protests planned for Valentine's Day would help make NTL reconsider its decision to cap broadband use to 1Gb a day. At this stage, it's still not known whether the protests - including the threat of mass disconnections from the service - materialised to any great degree.

The Register notes that an online petition against the cap has now garnered some 2,700 digital signatures.

morning ains - TWT quiet again today.

very much so jeetha ....

recently average daily volumes have been close to 12 million but yesterday we had 2.5 million and just 578K this morning ..... I have them on alert and will be interested if there is a dip


ains

Tuesday 18th February 2003


Broadband UK Internet connections reach one in ten
[Computer Buyer] 12:32

The Office of National Statistics has covered the month of December 2002 in its latest monthly report on UK Internet connectivity.
The headline figure is that the total number of subscriptions for access to the Internet actually fell - month on month - by 1.1 per cent. This is attributed to seasonal factors involving the Christmas holiday. On a yearly basis, however, Internet connectivity grew 7.4 per cent compared with December 2001.

Of more interest is the statistic that 10.1 per cent of subscriptions to the Internet now involve fast dedicated access (broadband or fixed lines). The Office of National Statistics reports that the yearly growth for permanent connections was 262.7 per cent, with an increase of 7.3 per cent from November to December 2002.

By contrast, the relative decline of dial-up connections - which include ISDN - has continued. The figure for December 2002 stands at 89.9 per cent, down from the 97 per cent of all subscriptions in December 2001.

Make no mistake, however - this is not to say that one in ten people now enjoy broadband. The official figures relate to the nature of Internet subscriptions. Nevertheless, the stats provide a useful and consistent indication of the take up of broadband.

Alun Williams

Volumes were 3.6 mill yesterday - which is about a third of the current daily average - 430K in two hours today but shares still holding up with sets a little uninspiring .... still have cash to spend

ains



BSkyB is leading the way in the media industry, being one of the few media companies tipped to be upgraded, after Moodys raised its outlook of its long-term debt rating from stable to positive, says The Financial Times.

relatively quiet again this morning with just a million traded - aa always sets determines the pace


ains


NTL Insults Customers Over DL Cap

By:mark.j @ 9:49:AM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]NTLs reason for not informing its broadband cable modem service customers of the new download limit was because it didn't think they were intelligent enough to understand it!:

So says Kingsley Smith, the campaigner behind the Don't Pay NTL, who met Bill Goodland, NTL's Internet director, and Steve Upton (Technical/Network Manager) in Hook yesterday to discuss the cableco's decision to cap its broadband service.

According to Mr Smith, the decision to cap the service was taken by Mr Goodland. And it was he who decided not to tell customers because he "didn't think they were 'Tech' enough to understand".

So exactly how technologically minded do you have to be to understand a 1GB daily download limit? More @ The Register.

a million sell at 235 away from sets

Telewest in ad deal with Real Media

London, February 20 2003, (netimperative)



by Richard Agnew

Telewest has extended its deal to use interactive marketing firm Real Media's software for serving adverts delivered to its digital TV subscribers.


The cable operator has been using Real's Open AdStream platform, which allows broadband providers and web publishers to manage advertising revenues, since 2000.

Director of e-commerce and interactive services at Telewest Chris Townsend said: "Open AdStream's delivery and scalability are critical attributes as we continue our digital television platform development."

UK cable counterpart NTL also uses the platform.

Barely a crowd, yet apparently half a dozen NTL customers gathered outside of yesterdays ISPA awards event in London.

Not surprisingly they weren't there to support their provider, instead a demonstration was held against the operator because of its recent broadband usage cap:

The plucky group of protesters was barred from entering the hotel but instead targeted those people turning up to the glitzy event by handing out leaflets condemning the cableco's move.

One of the protesters braving the cold night told The Register: "We will not give up our fight."

It's hoped that the protest group will soon be able to present a petition of nearly 3,900 signatures to both NTL and the Government's e-minister. We salute all those involved. More @ The Register.

ains,

Trialing L2 at the mo, is there a good site where I can look up queries... I'm trying to check that my understanding so is correct.

Cheers.

not come across one but help is usually good in terms of technical queries - lots go on one day courses to get a feel

Fri 21 February 2003 12:28PM GMT

Telewest scoops Slough Council voice comms deal
Where next? Reading, Aldershot, Bracknell... Didcot, Yateley...



Slough Borough Council has stripped out its heterogeneous voice communications infrastructure and replaced it with a single system from Telewest Business in a bid to cut costs and ease the management overhead.


The council is replacing its old telephone system with Telewest's Centrex Virtual Private Network (VPN) service, which will provide it with advanced telephony services, hosted and managed by Telewest's digital exchange.


Sue Harling, head of IS and IT director for Slough Borough Council, said that some of the savings will come from lower circuit rental and call costs - the organisation will not be billed for internal calls, even if they are made between different council buildings in the borough.


The council has nearly 1,600 extensions, and new ones can be put in place during the contract period without any additional capital cost.


Harling added: "The new service provides comprehensive management and accounting information analysis and data including the reporting on performance indicators."


Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Graham Hayday

Radio rises above ad slump

Julia Day
Friday February 21, 2003

Radio has again bucked the trend, recording a 2.5% growth in advertising in the past year and a 14.8% growth in sponsorship and promotions.
Advertisers ploughed 563m into promoting their products on the radio last year, increasing the amount of money they spend on radio ads by 2.5% at a time when investment in TV ads is expected to remain flat.

But the area of radio sponsorship and promotions had a particularly successful 2002, with revenues in the sector growing by a massive 14.8%.

Radio advertising saw consecutive year-on-year increases for every quarter of last year, with revenue in the fourth quarter up by 4.2% year on year to 147.6m.

The government was by far the country's biggest spender on radio ads, committing 19.9m to the medium.

Meanwhile BT, Sainsbury's and News International all spent between 8m and 9m on radio ads, according to the latest figures published by the Radio Advertising Bureau.

Sainsbury's and News International upped the the amount of money they spent on radio.

The supermarket increased its spend from 2.6m in 2001 to 8.6m in 2002, saying radio was a cost effective means of advertising, and the publisher of the Sun and the Times more than doubled its spend from 4.1m to 8.4m.

Telewest, Toyota and Ford also significantly increased the amount of money they spent on radio ads.

"Given the continued economic uncertainties, we are very pleased to report 2.5% growth in radio revenues during 2002," said Michael O'Brien, the director of marketing operations at the RAB.

"With TV revenues expected to be flat during the same period we are confident that commercial radio will yet again have increased its share of total advertising spend," he added.

The advertising association is expected to report its fourth quarter and full 2002 year revenue figures for the whole of the industry, including TV and radio advertising, next month.

Ains - any idea when TWT, reporting its finals?
thanks

last year it was the 1st march ..... but not announced yet



ains

I thought it was supply and demand, that's makes this prices
demand has always succeeded supply
then why aren’t..... the mm, running out of stock yet!

Hi jeetha ...... nearly added a few late yesterday but held off until Monday or so. Very much manipulated at this time - by traders on and off sets.

This is interesting and although benefits a competitor of a kind - cannot se any reason why TWT shouldn't follow suit.


ains


Bassett is to receive broadband
BROADBAND is now avail-able for internet surfers in Wootton Bassett after a cable company has extended its network to the town.


The town's telephone exchanges have not been upgraded to enable the delivery of broadband services to residents with a BT line, but residents can get the service through cable provider NTL.


So far 158 people have registered their interest on the BT website but the company needs 350 people to subscribe before it is economically viable for the company to upgrade the service.


However NTL has no such obstacles to residents who want to take advantage of high speed internet access and a permanent on-line connection.


Neil Ryder, 50, runs his business from home in White-thorn Close and believes NTL contacted him after an article in the Evening Advertiser which highlighted the problem of getting broadband to those living in a non-urban area.


He said: "Twenty-four hours after the article appeared I had a phone call from NTL saying they would be installing broadband next week.


"They say they can't guarantee connecting everyone in Bassett but it just shows that the power of the Press can get things done.


"I do malign NTL quite a lot and I have to change my tune somewhat.


"If people want Broadband they should ring NTL and see what they can do."


Now Mr Ryder is looking forward to sending and receiving information, including large files, at a much faster rate.


Matt Light, field sales manager for Swindon at NTL, said: "I have a team going into Wootton Bassett for the next couple of weeks to go out and about and let people know they can get broadband if they want.


"We have got a network in most of the town so most people in Wootton Bassett should live close to where there is a fibre optic cable. If people want broadband then they have to check they live in a serviceable area.


"Broadband services have been available in Wootton Bassett for 18 months. When I read the article in the Adver I gave Mr Ryder a ring and said he could have broadband by next week."


Mr Light added that people do not have to be NTL customers to subscribe to broadband services.


NTL offers three services at different speeds, the slowest is 128K broadband for 14.99 a month plus a 25 installation charge, 24.99 for 600k and 34.99 for 1 megabyte but there is currently no installation charge for the faster speeds.

Hi ainsoph and others, an opinion..........

I am not an experianced Chartist yet but I do follow simple movements up and down together with resistance/support and moving averages.

If you pull up a 6 month chart of twt and draw in a 50 and 100 day moving average the chart tells me its possibly what is called "a golden cross". This is when both the 100 day and 50 day moving average is rising and the 50 day moving average has crossed the 100 day moving average.

I am not posting the chart up because I do not wish to confuse this issue but could somebody take a look at this

Paul

Not sure my charts show a golden cross Paul but I tend to use different indicators .... will have another look later

Internet Central has announced the UK's first 1Mbit and 2Mbit broadband services available through BT's 1100+ ADSL-enabled exchanges.

The Midlands-based ISP is offering the wires-only ADSL connections in four flavours, starting at 29.99 per month for 1Mbit and 39.99 per month for 2Mbit. Both speeds have a contention ratio of 50:1, making the services suitable for both home and SOHO (small office, home office) users. A fixed IP address is included.

The service will launch on 3 March and should be available to anyone capable of receiving broadband through a BT exchange. There will be a minimum 12 month contract. More information on the range of services and pricing available will be available from Internet Central after launch, though pre-orders are being taken. Existing ADSL users will have to wait until mid-April before a migration service is available.

Previously broadband services at these faster speeds have only been available through Cable operators NTL and Telewest or through localised, non-BT network providers such as Bulldog. However Internet Central holds a Regional Telecommunications Officer licence that allows it to circumvent some restrictions placed on mere ISPs and provide faster ADSL connections with an acceptable contention ratio.

Ainsoph have noticed tag website down yesterday, have we been hacked or is it a server fault

Yes - it has been down for a couple of days - cannot get in to the admin page - have mailed Ace but not had a reply yet - will try and again in a while



ains

Volumes are exraordinary low - 642K - tight intraday trading range.

received new consumer mailer today on their Telephone offers - free connection and 26 a month for free calls all month excepting premium numbers .....



ains

fyi


NEW YORK (AFX) - News Corp and Liberty Media Corp, after planning a joint offer to take control of General Motors Corp's Hughes Electronics Corp, are no longer working together, the Wall Street Journal quoted people familiar with the situation as saying.
News Corp is now going it alone while Liberty is also considering an independent bid, the sources said.

Liberty sent in its own team this week to look at Hughes's books as part of the due diligence process. News Corp sent a team in earlier in the month.

"Liberty has made it clear it's considering proceeding, on its own, and definitely isn't working with News Corp.," one person familiar with the issue was quoted as saying.

Regulatory and tax considerations have persuaded News Corp to decide it no longer needs a partner in any takeover of Hughes, the Journal added.

newsdesk@afxnews.com

3.4GHz auction: All systems go
17:45 Thursday 27th February 2003
Graeme Wearden


Details about the new wireless broadband auction have hit the Web ahead of a government announcement on Friday. All the auction needs now is some bidders
The forthcoming 3.4GHz wireless broadband auction has been given a provisional starting date of 26 May.

The government is expected to announce full details on Friday, but the Radiocommunications Agency (RA) published the information memorandum on its Web site on Thursday. A deadline to register interest for the 3.4GHz auction has been set at 14 April -- although this could change. The early date for this deadline is designed to help the government weed out unsuitable candidates.

The RA has revealed that the auction will run for two weeks, and that any licences that are left over after 6 June will still be available for at least another year.

Fifteen 3.4GHz licences are on offer -- seven covering metropolitan areas, seven covering rural areas, and one for Northern Ireland. This distribution has caused some controversy, especially in Wales where politicians and industry figures fought in vain for two Wales-only licences.

The government hopes that companies will use 3.4GHz to offer wireless broadband services in rural areas. However, there are concerns that the auction may flounder because large telcos decline to take part in it. BT, NTL and Telewest are all expected not to take part.

This has left the government hoping that smaller players will take part, and the DTI explained on Thursday that this could include Regional Development Agencies. "A Regional Development Agency would be able to take part in the auction, as long as they did so in partnership with a company," a DTI spokesman told ZDNet, explaining that a public-private partnership between an RDA and a commercial operator would be acceptable.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Hi Ainsoph,

So THIS is where you've been hanging these days!

Will keep an eye here.... although 'the other site' is still home for me!

Robodo :)

Hi Robodo ..... a little quiet here at the moment but getting busier and less spam :-))


ains





Do blue movies make blue chips? S. Telegraph
(Filed: 02/03/2003)

Even in recessions, there's one thing that always sells - sex. The public's insatiable appetite for vice never seems to diminish. And thanks to commercial sex becoming mainstream, the porn industry worldwide is bigger than ever.

Estimates of the scale of the world's X-rated market are hard to come by, but it is probably worth at least $15bn. The US represents two-thirds of that - and it is also by far the largest producer of pornographic material.

The industry now includes not just top-shelf magazines but also porn videos and DVDs, television channels, sex shops, lap-dancing clubs and internet sites.

The sex business is populated with larger-than-life entrepreneurs and a number of surprisingly innovative companies. Even today 10 per cent of all economic activity of the web is derived from "adult" sites, and many new net features are pioneered by such companies.

Margins in the business can be substantial because few large media competitors are willing to participate overtly in such a controversial business. Moreover, the content is usually cheap to produce compared with Hollywood blockbusters.

Mainstream companies such as BSkyB, NTL and TeleWest all profit considerably from the adult channels carried on their systems. Even international hotel groups make attractive margins from porn pay-TV in their guest rooms. The high street is steadily getting into the vice trade.

For the investor there are a handful of public companies heavily involved in adult entertainment. The best known is Playboy Enterprises, quoted on the New York Stock Exchange and still controlled by the founding Hefner family.

It calls itself a multimedia business, with magazine publishing, pay-TV channels, websites and licensing income. Revenues last year were $277m. It expects operating income to double in 2003. Its shares are about $9 and trade on a fairly modest multiple but earnings have been erratic. Hugh and Christie Heffner control the votes.

A newer rival is Private Media Group. This is based in Barcelona but quoted on Nasdaq and valued at about $50m. The chairman, Milton Berth, owns a majority of the stock.

The group produces hard core internet sites, subscription and pay-TV channels and DVD and video films. It has sales of about $40m. The shares have fared badly and have fallen from $7 to below $2, as profits have declined sharply in the past two years. It is not most investors' idea of a blue chip.

Probably Europe's largest porn business was started by a female entrepreneur called Beate Uhse, whose eponymous company is quoted in Frankfurt. She died last year aged 81.

She was a pioneer of the trade, opening the world's first sex shop and expanding her empire to a market value of almost Eu450m (300m). Its major activities are retailing - it has more than 200 stores - and mail order of sex items. Last year the company opened its first outlet in Britain.

The shares seem highly rated, but the business does appear more professionally run than many in the sector. It is dominant in its German home market.

Another quoted American company is New Frontier Media. It expanded rapidly on the back of adult material on the net and the shares took off. However, the company recently suffered the departure of its chief executive and various write-offs. Its shares have sunk to $0.77, giving it a market value of $15m. It has sales of about $40m and appears to break even.

There are no quoted "adult" companies in the UK. The business here is dominated by families such as the Golds, who are reputedly worth 400m. They own the Ann Summers and Knickerbox chains among other assets.

Paul Raymond is a successful porn publisher, but most of his considerable wealth has derived from property in Soho. Some say he is a billionaire.

Other major players include David Sullivan, who publishes the Sport newspapers and has an involvement in Birmingham City football club. He used to own sex shops and premium rate phone lines, and now has websites.

Richard Desmond, the owner of a profitable soft porn TV business, appears to be gaining respectability since his Northern & Shell group bought Express Newspapers.

Perhaps the best safe play in the naughty sector is the eminently well-run Limited Brands, the owner of the very sexy Victoria's Secret chain of "intimate apparel" shops.

This is a huge US business with 4,000 stores under various identities, including chains such as Bath & Body Works. It enjoys revenues of over $9bn. The business is run and controlled by the admired retailer Leslie Wexner, and the stock sells for about 11 times earnings, with a yield of 3.5 per cent.

So you can buy these shares and cash in on the boom in raunchy lingerie without feeling too guilty.

Luke Johnson is chairman of Signature Restaurants

Government U-turn on BBC digital channels
By Damian Reece (Filed: 02/03/2003) S Telegraph


The government is preparing to make a dramatic U-turn in broadcasting policy by allowing the BBC's controversial new digital channels to be shown on analogue television.

The Department of Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) is considering rule changes that will allow digital broadcasters such as NTL and Telewest, the cable companies, to carry BBC3, BBC4 and News 24 on their analogue services. At the moment they can only be shown on digital platforms.

Critics argue the move will deter people from taking up digital television and delay the Government's own plans to switch off the analogue signal by 2010.

The BBC's Board of Governors, which is keen for as many people as possible to see the new digital channels, has already approved the plan.

The BBC is spending 200m a year on its digital services, but has been criticised for broadcasting programmes drawing tiny audiences.

The DCMS was approached with the proposal by NTL, which has 1m analogue customers. Government officials are now working on proposals that would allow the channels to be shown by all digital broadcasters with analogue customers.

A spokeswoman for NTL said: "Obviously we are encouraging people to take up digital TV services. However, these analogue customers are licence fee payers . . . and we think they should have access to the BBC's digital channels."

The DCMS is also concerned that certain parts of the country cannot yet receive digital services.

The change of rules would require digital broadcasters to agree not to offer analogue customers any of the extra services that come with BBC3 and BBC4. These include interactive, text and audio services.

The DCMS is also proposing that digital broadcasters would take all the BBC's new channels without imposing extra charges on viewers.

The BBC confirmed it was happy for its digital channels to be shown on analogue services. "The more viewers that can receive the channels the better," said a spokeswoman.

However, other broadcasters, such as BSkyB, which has invested more than 1bn on its digital satellite platform, are expected to question the plan.

Note this part

'However, it is important to stay on good terms with the media mogul, as he is a large investor, and shareholders must approve the restructuring plans before they can go through'



Mogul battle hampers Telewest rescue
Bankers' attempts to wrest power from a US tycoon are delaying debt restructuring at the cable group
By Heather Tomlinson and Clayton Hirst Indy
02 March 2003


UK cable company Telewest is locked in negotiations with US cable tycoon John Malone to try to reduce his control over the company. The talks are contributing to a delay in restructuring plans that will see 3bn of debt cancelled in return for diluting shareholders' interests.

The company had hoped to have completed the restructuring by the end of March, but it could now be as late as the end of June, say company sources.

Mr Malone has "relationship agreements" with Telewest that give him certain vetoes over the company's actions, such as the appointment of the chief executive, the extension of the board, acquisitions and the level of borrowing.

Mr Malone owns 20 per cent of the company's shares through Liberty Media. He also owns bonds, and after the restructuring his stake will be diluted to 11 per cent. It is understood that the banks and bondholders are arguing that he should cede his veto rights, as it will give him unfair control over the company.

However, it is important to stay on good terms with the media mogul, as he is a large investor, and shareholders must approve the restructuring plans before they can go through. Mr Malone owns investments in broadband and cable around the world, including the Discovery Channel and QVC.

A spokesperson for Telewest confirmed the presence of the vetoes but declined to comment on negotiations. However, it is believed that there is hope for a breakthrough. The vetoes only apply if Mr Malone's stake rises above 15 per cent, and therefore he would have to invest more to be able to use the vetoes.

Other issues delaying completion are a compromise with Deutsche Telekom, which has a 293m convertible bond due this November and had hoped for preferential treatment. Four banks, including Crit Agricole, are also in dispute over 33m they are owed over foreign exchange deals. However, the company has secured a 2bn lifeline from the banks, which will give it room for manoeuvre when it finishes the talks. The debt restructuring of fellow UK cable company NTL also took longer than expected, and with a large group of diverse interests, the talks are understood to be particularly complex.

Tomorrow, Telewest reports full-year results and is expected to follow the route of NTL by announcing that it will be concentrating on getting revenue from existing customers rather than gaining new ones. Both companies hope the demand for high-speed internet access will fund their renaissance. In November, Telewest said it hoped to be cashflow positive by the fourth quarter.

There are hopes on both sides that the two companies will one day merge, to produce a force that can effectively take on BSkyB, the satellite TV company. But it is now expected that this will not happen this year.

Both Telewest and NTL were burdened with debt to fund a mass road dig for cable throughout the UK. However, demand for the services has been lower than expected.

Telewest's shares now trade at 2.6p, a far cry from the heyday of the technology boom when they were valued at 563p.
2 March 2003 19:20

Ainsoph;.......... I note that you do not post on ADVFN any more - is there a reason ?
TWT results tomorrow ? I thought they would have announced a date first ?
So....... what does TAG think of this latest twist to the this ever ongoing saga ?
Regards Boobly.

hi boobly

I assume results are tomorrow but as you say they are not preannounced .... should get more details on any delays maybe.

I don't think the comments on Malone are necc. bad - although none of us are likely to be keen on the delays. In many ways his interests are also ours - at this time.


ains


fyi

by Neil Wilkes
The Extreme Sports Channel will launch for Telewest's digital customers next month, it has been announced.

The deal means that the channel -- a 24-hour station dedicated to "extreme sports and lifestyle" -- now has distribution on all three major pay TV operators in the UK, following previous launches on Sky Digital and NTL Home.

"The Extreme Sports channel is an exciting and innovative channel with an established brand," said Gavin Patterson, MD of Telewest's consumer division. "We always aim to offer the best choice to our viewers at the best value and are delighted to welcome the channel aboard the Telewest Broadband platform."

Extreme Sports will be part of the Essential package on channel 527 from March 21.

Liberty Media bails on QVC

Firm says it will exit joint ownership of shopping channel, giving Comcast option to buy 42% stake.
March 3, 2003: 7:51 AM EST



ENGLEWOOD, Colo. (Reuters) - Liberty Media Corp., a media holding company controlled by cable mogul John Malone, said Monday it will exit its joint ownership of the television shopping network QVC it shares with Comcast Corp.

Under terms of the joint ownership agreement, the two companies must determine a fair market value of QVC within 30 days. Comcast will then have 30 days to elect to purchase Liberty's 42 percent stake in the network; if Comcast opts not to buy the stake, Liberty then has 30 days to buy Comcast's stake.

If Liberty passes on the buy-out, both companies are required to try to sell QVC. Bidders would be required to offer cash, a promissory note with a maturity of not more than three years, publicly traded equity securities, or some combination of those options.

Shares of Liberty Media (L: Research, Estimates) gained 17 cents Friday to close at $9.19 and Comcast (CMCSK: Research, Estimates) shares rose 72 cents to $28.09.

Telewest revamps gaming service

London, March 3 2003, (netimperative)



by Chris Lake

Telewest Broadband has launched a revamped version of its online gaming service to provide subscribers with access to web-based tournaments and events for 2 per a month.


The move will see Telewest providing gamers with 130 dedicated servers and the ability to create teams, access events, public leagues and tournaments. Games on offer include Medal of Honour, Half-Life and Unreal Tournament.

Enhanced features set to be rolled-out in the coming months include subscriber-only optimised servers and high score tables.

The company, through its www.bygames.com site, will allow blueyonder customers to use its service for 14 hours per month for 2, with non-subscribers being charged 3.

The market for server-based gaming is expected to grow rapidly over the coming years. Research from DFC Intelligence suggests 116m players will access games via the web by 2006.

www.bygames.com

Intrigued by why there is concern re Malone's veto which he achieves given a holding of 15%+ yet his diluted holding - as prescribed to date - is 11%. Or is this as reliable as the Independent's statement that the TWT results are today.

cable news
Telewest revamps gaming service
16:26 GMT, Monday 3rd March 2003 -- by James Welsh
Telewest announced today that it has revamped its already-successful Blueyonder gaming service to include new features, and a new pricing structure.

Chad Raube, Telewest's Director of Internet Services, said: "blueyonder gaming is defining the future of multiplayer gaming with our unique user-controlled game and server booking system, attracting interest from as far afield as Japan and the US."

And, in a requisite swipe at BT, he added: "With BT withdrawing its multiplayer gaming servers, we're committed to offering our gamers one of the best online gaming experiences available today."

The new service will offer a subscription package in addition to its free servers. For 3 per month - 2 for Blueyonder customers, subscribers get 14 hours of server time each month to book or launch user-controlled game servers; the ability to create clans; league and tournament systems; access to subscriber-only servers running the most popular games; and access to community forums.

The cable operator also promises to add "additional enhanced features" to the service in the coming months, including rankings, more optimised subscriber-only servers and subscriber-only forums. The company claims it is one of the most popular European multiplayer gaming sites, with 1500 simultaneous players every day and a member base of around 60,000.

Blueyonder is one of Telewest's most successful operations, with Telewest ensuring not only is the broadband service up to scratch in the main, but that there is sufficient content to attract people to switch from a dial-up solution - including Blueyonder's own dial-up service - to the higher-priced broadband option. Gaming seems to be one of the areas in which Telewest is concentrating, something confirmed when it was also announced today that Blueyonder is sponsoring Gamepad, a show on Bravo - a channel owned by Telewest's own content division, Flextech.

John Orriss, Blueyonder's head of marketing, said: "Sponsoring Gamepad offers us the opportunity to connect with a young, male audience that fits closely with a major segment of the blueyonder broadband target market.

"Online gaming is one of the high growth areas propelling broadband usage and is an application which benefits enormously from the greater speed which a broadband connection offers."

Cable deal gets clearance

London, 3/3/2003, (venturedome.com)




A private equity consortium including Apax Partners has won approval from the European Union to buy six cable TV networks from Deutsche Telekom.


The deal, worth up to 2.1bn euros, will allow the vendor to reduce its 64bn euros debt pile. Since being appointed in November last year, Deutsche Telekom CEO Kai-Uwe Ricke has sold stakes in real estate, a satellite operator and an Internet business.

Apax, along with Goldman Sachs Capital Partners and Providence Equity Partners, will gain control of the cable networks of six German states including Bavaria and Berlin. The networks serve more than 10m German households.

The sale price either represents a bargain for the private equity firms, or shows how far the telecoms market has slumped depending on your point of view. Last year Liberty Media Corp of the US attempted to buy the same networks for 5.5bn euros, but was prevented from doing so by German antitrust regulators.

Apax raised a 4.4bn euros fund in 2001, while Goldman Sachs' GS Capital Partners 2000 fund is worth $5.25bn. Providence manages more than $5bn in funds and focuses on the media and telecommunications sectors.




Copyright venturedome.com 2003

March 04, 2003

Liberty Media to sell QVC stake
From James Doran, Wall Street Correspondent



LIBERTY MEDIA, the television and telecoms company controlled by John Malone, has put its $5 billion (3.2 billion) stake in the QVC shopping channel up for sale to raise cash for a potential bid for DirecTV.
The move marks the clearest indication yet that Liberty is preparing to make an autonomous bid for DirecTV, a satellite broadcaster owned by Hughes Electronics, rather than pursuing a joint bid with The News Corporation, parent company of The Times.

Liberty owns 42 per cent of QVC. The remainder is owned by Comcast, a cable TV and internet company.

Liberty announced yesterday that it wants to quit the joint venture, triggering a 30-day period of talks during which the two partners must determine a fair value for QVC. Under the terms of the arrangement, both sides must decide whether to take full control of the shopping channel or find a third-party buyer for the whole company.

Analysts believe QVC, which sells catalogue-style goods on its TV channels in the US, UK, Germany and Japan, is worth about $11.1 billion, valuing the Liberty stake at more than $4.6 billion.

Liberty already has more than $2 billion in free cash on its balance sheet and access to billions more via the sale of hedged positions and other investments to help it to fund a go-it-alone bid for DirecTV.

A spokeswoman for Liberty said that the company hoped the sale would go ahead at the end of the month but declined to comment about what the proceeds would be used for. At this point it is too soon to say. Because of the terms of the contract we have to be prepared to purchase QVC if Comcast doesnt.

Comcast declined to comment but a source indicated that the company would negotiate very hard to get the 42 per cent of QVC it does not own for a reasonable price and would be prepared to walk away if necessary. This is not a done deal by a long stretch, the source added.

DirecTV was put up for sale late last year when federal regulators scotched plans for it to merge with EchoStar Communications because of competition issues. News Corp, which made an unsuccessful attempt to woo DirecTV in 2001, is widely expected to bid for it.

Looks like TWT and NTL will have to wait until Dr Malone sorts this;
But the synergies there after look even stronger :

QVC on media mogul's shopping list
Lauren Chambliss in New York, Evening Standard 4 March 2003

MERICAN media mogul John Malone is trying to force one of his largest-ever deals past beleaguered media group Comcast by buying out its stake in TV shopping channel QVC.


Four years into a five-year agreement with partner Comcast, Malone's Liberty Media has triggered an option over the home shopping operation. That offers Malone's minority stake in the operation to Comcast but, with the latter struggling for cash, the move is widely seen as putting Malone into position to take over QVC.


Under the agreement, Comcast will get first crack at Liberty's 42.2% share, worth up to $7bn (4.4bn), but Comcast is not in good enough shape to splash out. It is still digesting a $50bn purchase of AT&T Broadband and just reported a loss of $274m on $21bn in revenue last year. Analysts say Comcast would like to keep QVC in its stable but may have to raise cash instead.


If Comcast does not buy QVC, Liberty has the option to purchase its partner's stake in the channel, which rose from obscurity to $4.3bnin revenue in a decade, making it one of the most profitable cable channels ever.


Either way, analysts believe Malone cannot lose. He either gets all of QVC or a pay-off that will enable him to make a run at another media property he covets. One option is a final push, along with fellow US investor Bill Huff, to force a merger of distressed UK cable operators NTL and Telewest. But, more likely, given Malone's recent, partial withdrawal from European investments, is a tilt at General Motors' Hughes Electronics, which owns a stake in satellite giant DirecTV.


Malone and News Corp chief Rupert Murdoch had teamed up to buy GM's DirecTV but the partnership recently disolved and they are thought to now be considering rival bids.


Malone is also backing Barry Diller's continuing effort to buy Universal Studios from Vivendi. The former holds a 20% stake in Vivendi's entertainment arm and wants to merge some of his Liberty Media assets with its studio and cable properties.


His takeover moves will have a ripple effect in the US entertainment industry, as Liberty Media has a stake in AOL Time Warner, Vivendi and News Corp. Malone has spent the past few years trying to buy cable properties in Germany, Britain and the Netherlands but the consummate deal maker failed to produce a mega-marriage there.

Share price is very much stuck at this time ..... still looking to add a few


ains


Telewest abandons plans to sell Flextech

Owen Gibson
Tuesday March 4, 2003

Telewest chief Charles Burdick has abandoned the idea of selling programming arm Flextech and instead plans to bring it closer to the heart of the company

through a series of new measures, including a possible name change.

He feels his channels Bravo and Trouble would benefit if they had an umbrella identity similar to Sky's family of channels or even the BBC's, which are collectively branded UKTV.

And he is aware that the name does not have anything to do with TV - Flextech began life as an oil services company but the then chief executive, the late Roger Luard, began building stakes in the pay TV market, starting with the Children's Channel.

Mr Burdick has been jealously eyeing the close relationship between Sky's channels, such as Sky One and Sky Sports, and the Sky Digital broadcast network. The two are liberally cross-promoted and virtually indistinguishable from one another in the eyes of the viewer.

By contrast Flextech owns a range of pay TV channels, including Trouble, Bravo and FTN, but very few viewers make the connection between the channels and Telewest. It also has a 50% stake in the UKTV joint venture with the BBC, which numbers UK Gold, UK History and UK Living among its channels.

Flextech merged with Telewest in 2000 to create the UK's second largest cable group behind NTL but the two arms of the company have been run virtually autonomously ever since. Now Mr Burdick plans to bring Flextech much closer to the heart of the company to the benefit of both parties.

It has already started promoting more cross pollination between the two sides of the company, with Telewest Broadband being advertised more often on its channels and broadband service Blueyonder sponsoring programmes on Flextech channel Challenge TV.

It also plans to make it clearer to viewers that Flextech channels are owned and run by Telewest, including using the Telewest name in programme credits and channel idents.

As the company pushes broadband as a central part of its business, Mr Burdick also believes content and creative staff from Flextech will become increasingly important in the battle to sign up high speed subscribers.

Telewest admitted last year it would consider selling Flextech if a suitable offer came in, as it battled to stay afloat while initiating a complex debt for equity swap to halve its 5.3bn debt mountain.

But with the financial restructure almost completed, Telewest believes it has enough cash in the bank to see it through and Mr Burdick is determined to hold onto the programming arm.

He believes the company could much better utilise its broadcasting arm to attract and retain customers and that it also has a number of other important fringe benefits which, in the long run, could help Telewest maintain a strong presence in any merger negotiations with NTL.

A strong stable of Flextech channels will also prove invaluable when negotiating carriage agreements with Sky, he believes, giving the company some leverage.

Mr Burdick, a former AOL Time Warner executive who took over the running of Telewest from cable veteran Adam Singer last year, said last month that the two cable giants could merge as early as the first quarter of next year.

He is also looking for a new managing director to run Flextech after Jane Lighting quit the company to replace Dawn Airey as chief executive of Channel 5.

Ms Lighting left Flextech last week and Telewest's finance director, Mark Luiz, is taking charge of the company while her replacement is sought. Programming boss Lisa Opie is seen as one of the strongest internal candidates.

Half million homes buy Freeview adapters

Audiences for digital TV service Freeview now outstrip those of its ill-fated predecessor ITV Digital.

The number of homes with the service is now estimated at almost 1.4 million, after sales of roughly half a million adapters, marketing director Andy Duncan said.

The BBC teamed up with BSkyB and Crown Castle to launch free-to-air service Freeview following the demise of ITV Digital.

The aim is to drive forward the take-up of digital television, and Mr Duncan said the service is now appealing to families who previously showed little enthusiasm.

BBC3, the last of a number of free digital services offered by the corporation, was launched last month.

Mr Duncan, speaking at the FT New Media & Broadcasting conference today, said Freeview was the most important thing the BBC did last year.

"It provides a key missing piece of the jigsaw in moving to a fully digital Britain," he said.

"There is now a major new way for millions of our licence fee payers to receive all our services and the Freeview format appeals to the very audiences that had previously been least likely to go digital".

He said no one could have predicted the number of digital terrestrial houselds would be nearly 1.4 million.

"Overall this now leaves Freeview bigger than the highest ever ITV digital levels."

A Freeview adapter for an existing TV costs around 99 but many homes which held on to their old ITV Digital boxes can receive the service.


Story filed: 14:43 Tuesday 4th March 2003

Telewest gears up for multiplayer gaming
12:38 Tuesday 4th March 2003
Graeme Wearden


Blueyonder games subscribers can now book 14 hours of server time each month - ideal for creating personalised competitions with friends
With multiplayer Internet gaming set to be one of broadband's 'killer applications', Telewest has relaunched its online gaming service.

The cable firm announced on Monday that it has now added several new features to blueyonder games -- as well as introducing a subscription fee of 3 per month, or 2 per month for customers who also use blueyonder as their ISP.

The blueyonder games servers run many multiplayer computer games, including Unreal Tournament, Counter-Strike and Command & Conquer. Paying customers will now be able to book up to 14 hours of server time per month, letting them create games and competitions with their own choice of settings to which they can just invite their friends, or open up to the public.

Only the player who books the server is actually "billed" for the time, in a system the Telewest likens to the booking of a tennis court.

Paying subscribers will also be able to create their own teams, or clans, and post comments in blueyonder games forums.

It will also be possible to take part in blueyonder games for free -- but this option doesn't include any bookable server time or the ability to post in the forums.

"Blueyonder gaming is defining the future of multiplayer gaming with our unique user-controlled game and server booking system, attracting interest from as far afield as Japan and the US," said Chad Raube, director of Internet services at Telewest Broadband, in a statement.

"With BT withdrawing its multiplayer gaming servers, we're committed to offering our gamers one of the best online gaming experiences available today," Raube added, referring to the news in January that BT was closing its Games Domain Multiplay service, although Games Domain does still offer some multiplayer online games.

Telewest is planning to bring more new features soon, including subscriber-only optimised servers for the most popular games, and subscriber rankings.

Before it rejigged the service, Telewest charged blueyonder games subscribers up to 10 per month.

Just topped up again at 2.39

ainsoph, this share is a dog! how many fekkin threads do you need to open up for spouting the same old shite?

Very low volumes and a move south by a tick or two - also looking to add a few


ains



Freeview surpasses ITV Digital in four months

London, March 4 2003, (netimperative)



by Philip Buxton

Freeview, the BBC's replacement service for the defunct ITV Digital is in 1.4m homes - 200,000 more than the ITV Digital service could claim - just four months since its launch, according to new BARB figures for March due out this week.


Andy Duncan, director of marketing and communications for the BBC, revealed the figures at today's FT Broadcasting and New Media Conference adding that a new campaign promoting the service would be revealed at the end of this week. The growth means that Freeview can claim 3m viewers, prompting Duncan to describe the service as a valuable third platform in the digital TV market, behind satellite and cable.

The service, which was launched in October backed by a major campaign on BBC channels, was sprung after the BBC won the digital TV licence previously held by ITV for the ITV Digital service that collapsed last year. At its peak, ITV Digital had 1.2m subscribers.

The take-up of Freeview has been sparked, said Duncan, by a clear marketing strategy aimed at potential digital viewers generally ignored by Sky and the cable giants. He said that existing digital services were aimed at the populist ABC1, 18-35 consumer, leaving less technologically literate groups largely untapped.

He said, however, that Freeview was 'complementary' to the commercial digital services and that he could forsee households using cable or satellite services, alongside Freeview for other rooms.

Duncan added that the Beeb was now happy with its range of services for the forseeable future having launched a bevvy of new channels in the past twelve months, culminating in the new BBC Three, launched last week.

However, criticism continues to flow over the funding of digital services through the licence fee, while many license fee payers still do not use digital services. Duncan estimated that 15m UK homes are still without any form of digital TV service.

Hmmmmmmm ..... sounds like a good match for Malone

ains





BILL HUFF March 05, 2003

Telewest rescue fears as investor breaks ranks
By Dan Sabbagh, Telecoms Correspondent



TELEWESTS biggest bondholder, the American vulture investor Bill Huff, has broken ranks with the companys other major creditors in a move that threatens to delay the 3.5 billion capital restructuring.
The move reflects a more aggressive stance being taken by Mr Huff, who is also the newly appointed chairman of Telewests cable rival, NTL.

Mr Huff had been working with a committee of Telewest bondholders on a debt-for-shares swap that would give bond investors 97 per cent of the company. He has abandoned the committee, which is advised by UBS Warburg, and is now dealing directly with Telewest.

It is not known if Mr Huff, or one of his representatives, wants a seat on the Telewest board. Although his position at NTL does not render a board seat at Telewest illegal, it would make it impossible for him to decide on any matter where there was a conflict of interest.

As the two companies co- operate across a range of issues, Mr Huff would be prevented from taking part in many operational decisions. He would also be blocked from participating in any talks about a merger between the two companies.

It is widely expected that Telewest will merge with NTL in the next two years to beef up the cable industry so that it can head off the competitive threat from BT, the telecoms group, and the broadcaster BSkyB.

If Mr Huff does demand a board seat, other investors are also expected to demand board representation, which would leave the company with little prospect of attracting genuine independent directors. A recruitment process is scheduled to begin shortly.

Next week Mr Huff and analysts from WR Huff Asset Management, his investment company, will begin an extra round of due diligence on Telewests operations. As a result, Telewests other major investors, including Liberty Media, Microsoft and Deutsche Telekom, will also be given the opportunity to revisit the companys books.

Mr Huff says that he holds about 20 per cent of the companys bonds, twice as much as previously thought, although the claim is impossible to verify because there is no precise record of who owns which bonds. If he does have such a quantity his negotiating position is powerful because a one-fifth holding is just short of a blocking minority.

Telewest hopes to conclude its restructuring through a court-sanction scheme of arrangement, which requires 75 per cent approval of every class of investor. If Mr Huff were to withold consent and take a few others with him, he could ensure the scheme collapsed.

NTL, which has just emerged from its own restructuring, has only one independent on the board, the former television executive David Elstein, out of a total of six.

Telewest refused to comment.

Are the Papers making their own news again or has telewest just invited Big Boys to go over it's books, before results?

"Next week Mr Huff and analysts from WR Huff Asset Management, will begin an extra round of due diligence on Telewest’s operations. As a result, Telewest’s other major investors, including Liberty Media, Microsoft and Deutsche Telekom, will also be given the opportunity to revisit the company’s books".

It's an interesting situation ...... I sume it's by no means certain who will come out on top. I always felt that TWT were keen to divorce themselves from Liberty - if they could.

Wide spread and virtually no volume this morning.


ains

Telewest launches poignant wireless broadband trials

London, March 5 2003, (netimperative)



by Chris Lake

Telewest Broadband has begun trials of a new wireless broadband product to promote cable-free internet access in the home in a move that signals the company is prepared to set itself up as an all-in-one home internet provider.


The company has provided a self-installation kit to a number of existing digital television subscribers in the North West who will give feedback on the ease of use and value for money of the new product.

Customers taking part in the trial can link the Netgear wireless access point with their set-top box, making use of the in-built cable modem to provide a wire-free home networking experience.

While Telewest is still laden with huge debts, it is predicting break-even for the end of this year and is now at a crucial point for deciding its strategy; whether to become a simple cable utilities provider or go further and aim to become the provider of internet access throughout the home. The trial signals that it is testing out the latter.

The new wireless connection will support 512Kbps and 1Mbps services and follows on from the release of a wired self-installation pack that was launched in January, for 12.50. The Netgear wireless kit is preconfigured with security settings to prevent drive-by hacking.

Telewest director of internet services Chad Raube said: "[The trial] will introduce the every-day surfer to the benefits of wireless technology, while ensuring the process of installing and maintaining the connection is as simple as possible."

I am interested in this and guess lots of others will be ...



Telewest trials wireless BB for the home
By Tim Richardson
Posted: 05/03/2003 at 10:23 GMT


Telewest has brought forward trials of a new self-installation wireless connection that gives its punters the freedom to get broadband anywhere in their home.

Around 500 existing Telewest digital TV punters in the North West region are being recruited to take part in the pilot.

The kit behind the trial lets punters access their blueyonder broadband service via a wireless access point and the cable modems embedded in their digital set-top box.

The self-install pack pack includes a pre-configured Netgear wireless access point and enables a connection for both Telewest's blueyonder 512kbp/s
and 1Mbp/s broadband services.

Pricing details have yet to be announced.

If successful, then a full commercial roll-out of the self-install wireless connection could be pencilled in for the summer.

In January, Telewest unveiled a wires-based self-install product for its broadband service that makes use of cable modems embedded in its digital TV set-top boxes.

NTL appoints new CFO

London, March 5 2003, (netimperative)



by Chris Lake

Former BP/Amoco VP Scott Schubert has been brought in by NTL as its new CFO, following the cable operator's emergence from bankruptcy protection in January.


Schubert, currently executive VP and CFO of US network technology firm WilTel Communications, will report directly to CEO Barclay Knapp and will be based in Hook, Hampshire, at the company's operational headquarters.

His appointment becomes affective from 1 April, when he will become part of NTL's executive management group.

Schubert has 25 years experience of financial leadership gained within companies including Williams Communications and BP/Amoco, where he integrated the two companies' financial operations after they merged in 1998.

NTL completed its financial restructuring in January, whereby its lenders exchanged almost $11bn in debt for equity.

BC close to cable deal

London, 5/3/2003, (venturedome.com)




Private equity firm BC Partners is being tipped as the likely buyer of Deutsche Bank's cable TV unit Telecolumbus for around 500m euros.


BC faces competition for the deal from Apollo, DB Capital and the same consortium (Apax Partners, Providence Equity and Goldman Sachs Capital Partners) that recently acquired Deutsche Telekom's German cable TV networks for up to 2.1bn euros.

While BC is the most likely buyer, a final decision is not due until the middle of next week at the earliest. BC is believed to have signed some form of co-operation agreement with the Apax/Providence/Goldman grouping.

"That would be the best solution because there would be no cartel problems but both sides could profit from each other," said a source close to the negotiations.

Deutsche Bank bought Telecolumbus for 720m euros in 1999 and has long been trying to sell it. A proposed deal with Liberty Media Corp of the US last year was pulled when Liberty was blocked by German antitrust regulators from buying the Deutsche Telekom cable assets.

Deutsche is believed to have written down the value of its investment in Telecolumbus by around 200m euros. WestLB, Credit Lyonnais, ING and Rabobank have all been linked with the provision of debt finance for the deal.

MP to raise broadband cap issue in parliament
05/03/2003
Editor: David Minto

The Labour MP and former Paymaster General Geoffrey Robinson has said he will raise awareness in the House of Commons of NTLs decision to cap broadband usage, according to a report from The Register.

Mr Robinson paid an hour-long visit to Kingsley Smith, the driving force behind the DontPayNTL web site and campaign, after his mother, Sue, wrote to her constituency MP.

Mrs Kingsley is understood to have argued that NTLs restriction on downloads was undermining Tony Blairs strategy for Broadband Britain.

PARIS (AFX) - Groupe Air France SA said it will increase all its airfares by 3 pct from March 6 in response to the increase in the price of aviation fuel.
It said the rise is in line with increased prices already announced by its suppliers.

note one thing from several posts back ainsoph, quote to the effect if Malone wished to retain veto he would need to expand his eventual stake from around 11% to 15%.............hmm would he do this, and would it be via corporates or equity??

Not enough equity at the current or notional 3% D4E but maybe there is a slim chance of him negotiating something better. The good thing is we will get to vote ...... one day


ains





UPDATE 1-NTL hires Scott Schubert as CFO
Wed March 5, 2003 10:15 AM ET
(adds quote, detail, background)
LONDON, March 5 (Reuters) - British cable TV group NTL Inc said on Wednesday that Scott Schubert, chief financial officer of once bankrupt U.S. telecoms company Williams Communications WTEL.O , would become its chief financial officer on April 1.

Schubert is the first executive hired since NTL itself emerged from Chapter 11 bankruptcy in January. In addition to his job at Williams, Schubert was worked 23 years at U.S. oil company Amoco and oversaw its integration with British giant BP Plc BP.L .

"He has over 25 years of broad financial leadership experience, including the past four years in the telecommunications and media industry, and is therefore well equipped to exploit the opportunities at NTL as we focus on delivering profitable growth and returning to service excellence," Chief Executive Barclay Knapp said in a statement.

NTL shares were 0.5 percent higher at $10.05 in early New York trade.

Schubert is not the first executive from WilTel, as Williams is now known, to cross the Atlantic for work. Matthew Bross, senior vice president and general manager at Williams, joined NTL's larger rival BT Group BT.L in November as the former fixed-line monopoly's first chief technology officer.

NTL and Britain's other cable group, Telewest Communications Plc TWT.L , spent heavily on acquisitions and network upgrades and had to undergo balance sheet surgery over the past year. John Gregg, former CFO of NTL, lost his job as part of the debt restructuring.

William Huff, a leading bondholder in both NTL and Telewest, has taken over as NTL's acting chairman until a permanent replacement for NTL co-founder George Blumenthal is found.

The Times newspaper reported on Wednesday that Huff had broken ranks with the other members of a committee of Telewest bondholders working to put the finishing touches on its financial restructuring. He abandoned the committee to work with the company directly, the paper said.

Shares in Telewest fell 7.5 percent to 2.21 pence.

Telewest backs Essential with mailer

Staff, Marketing 06-03-2003 07:00

LONDON - Telewest Broadband has started a 750,000-strong mailing campaign to promote its 'Essential' digital TV and phone package.

The campaign is the first by agency Rapier to promote the cable firm's digital TV offering, for which it has 1.76m customers.

The creative comes in the shape of an Ace of Spades, with the strapline 'A pack full of Aces', to convey the breadth and quality of choice of its 47 digital channels.

The 'Essential' package costs 50 to install, then 8.50 a month for customers who opt for its Telewest 321 fixed-line phone service at 10 a month.

Telewest hired Rapier to its 6m ad business late last year, as it refocused its marketing away from brand-building toward customer retention.

interesting background comment on Malone from the FT today





Malone returns to his American roots
By Peter Thal Larsen in New York
FT.com site; Mar 05, 2003


John Malone is turning his attention back to the US. Following a fruitless two-year campaign to buy European cable assets, the veteran media investor is once again hunting for deals in the market where he made his name.

Liberty Media, Mr Malone's holding company, this week started a process which could lead to it taking control or selling out of QVC, the home shopping business it jointly owns with Comcast, the dominant US cable operator.

At the same time, Mr Malone is studying a bid for Hughes Electronics, the satellite TV operator controlled by the car group General Motors. He has also been sniffing around the US media assets of Vivendi Universal, the cash-strapped French group.

In many ways, the current media landscape is ideal for investors who, like Mr Malone, have spare cash, an eye for value and an appetite for risk. Valuations are depressed, and most of the large media conglomerates are more interested in selling rather than buying.

But Mr Malone's attempts at dealmaking reflect more than just opportunity. They also signal the pressure on Liberty Media to exercise direct control over more of its investments.

Throughout the merger boom of the late 1990s, Mr Malone was mostly a seller. He sold his TCI cable business to AT&T for a rich price in 1998. He swapped his stake in Ted Turner's broadcasting group for shares in Time Warner, ending up as one of the largest shareholders following the merger with AOL. His stake in Gemstar-TV Guide, the television programming group, was exchanged for 18 per cent of Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation.

While most of these deals were well-timed, they left Liberty Media with an increasing proportion of its assets tied up in passive shareholdings in large, publicly traded companies. Over the past three years, Liberty Media stock has underperformed the media sector by 22 per cent.

Furthermore, the stock trades at a substantial discount to the value of its investments. Analysts currently estimate the gap at about 30 per cent.

This is not just of interest to investors. Mr Malone faces an increasing risk that the US government will determine Liberty Media to be a holding company - a move that would limit its room for maneouvre and probably increase its tax bill. Given Mr Malone's famous aversion to tax, that is an outcome he is keen to avoid.

So Mr Malone has good reason to be looking for investments that he can control. "He has been chastised for not being an operator in an operators' world," says one former associate. "The Warren Buffett investment style is not getting him any credit."

The bigger question, however, is whether Mr Malone still has enough influence to get his way. Although still a powerful shareholder - he was partly responsible for the removal of Steve Case as AOL's chairman earlier this year - he is no longer able to exercise as much leverage as when he owned a cable operator.

With $3bn of cash on its balance sheet and a further $5bn of hedges which could be easily cashed in, Mr Malone can clearly afford to buy Comcast's 58 per cent stake in QVC. Owning 100 per cent of the business would also allow him to borrow against QVC's substantial cash flows. On the other hand, he may be more interested in negotiating a settlement.

As always, Mr Malone is keeping the people on the other side of the negotiating table from him guessing about his real intentions. His reputation may not be what it was, but it would still be unwise for anyone to underestimate him.

03/06 08:51
NTL Seeks to Sell Irish Cable Unit, Irish Independent Says
By Thomas Molloy


Dublin, March 6 (Bloomberg) -- NTL Inc., the biggest cable- television company in the U.K. and Ireland, is seeking to sell its Irish unit, the Irish Independent said without citing anybody.

NTL, which bought the Irish unit for the equivalent of 674 million euros ($739 million) in 1999, may sell it for about 100,000 euros, the newspaper said.

The company's Irish operations supply cable television to 350,000 viewers in Dublin, Galway and Waterford. It had a pretax loss of 24.3 million euros in 2001, the newspaper said.

NTL was split into two units in January. Bondholders took 100 percent of NTL's U.K. and Ireland unit and 86 percent of its European businesses last year after NTL defaulted on bond payments in Europe's biggest-ever corporate bond default.

Wide spread and almost no trading ....





Cable firms look to gaming

By Jane Wakefield
BBC News Online technology staff


Gaming via set-top box could be the next step for cable TV companies keen to transform the niche image of online gaming into a mass market money-spinner.

Cable needs to capture gaming market
Former managing director of broadband for Telewest, Dr David Docherty, has urged cable firms to take advantage of their bandwidth to become the provider of choice for the networked home.

Game consoles could either be plugged into the cable set-top box or linked wirelessly to provide players with a high-speed connection via the TV.

Gaming has already proved a winner for the satellite broadcaster Sky, with more than 1.3 million people paying to play games every week through its Sky Active service.

Smart pipe

Linking up handheld computers, gaming consoles, MP3 players and other net-enabled devices to the cable pipe is the next step for debt-laden cable firms, said Dr Docherty in a speech at the FT New Media and Broadcasting conference in London.

The internet-driven media cornucopia hasn't gone away just because investors have gone in search of other prey

David Docherty, former Telewest director
"It could change the dynamics of multi-player gaming from geeks on PCs to the mass market," he said.

"Everyone knows how obsessive young males are about gaming," he added.

Making the cable pipe smart and ensuring it remains more than a "sub-scale utility" is essential if the cable firms are to shake off their debt and become more than just providers of telephone, internet and TV services, he said.

"The general view is that cable is screwed but beneath the mountain of debt there is a perfectly functioning business," he said.

"The internet-driven media cornucopia hasn't gone away just because investors have gone in search of other prey," he added.

The satellite broadcaster Sky is already offering games via its set-top box.

It has seen the popularity of its interactive Sky Active service rise following the success of paid-for games such as Tetris, Battleships and Space Invaders.

The service also added the popular Tomb Raider game in December.

Sky now has more than 1.3 million gamers a week and 40% of these are women.

Spaghetti junction

Dr Docherty also believes that the flat-rate charge for broadband offered for cable companies is unsustainable as the amount of bandwidth users require for things such as music downloads increases.

Ntl has already capped its broadband service in a move that has angered users. Telewest, as yet, has no plans to introduce capping.

Telewest, has, however, begun to embrace the ideas of cable as the bandwidth of choice for the future networked home.

It has begun trials in the North West of England of a wireless broadband connection that will allow users to hook up their PCs via a wireless card in the back of their set-top boxes.

"We are looking at getting PDA's, consoles and PCs sharing the same information so that the cable connection recognises you as the same person," said a spokesman for Telewest.

"It will get rid of the spaghetti junction of devices in the home," he added.

NTL Ireland not for sale, says UK parent
Thursday, March 06 14:03:24

(BizWorld)

British cable TV provider NTL has denied that it is putting the former Cablelink business in Ireland up for sale.

"There is not truth to that story, none whatsoever," a spokesperson for the company told BusinessWorld.
The spokesperson was responding to a report this morning that NTL Ireland, which has more than 350,00 customers, was up for sale and would fetch little more than E100,000 on the market. NTL bought Cablelink in 1999 for E674m.


The report said that NTL, which only recently emerged from Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection after completing a USD10.9bn debt for equity swap, wants to dump the Irish business and focus on its core business in the UK.

Potential buyers for the business include venture capital firm Apax Partners and Irish entrepreneur Denis O'Brien, it added.

Cable companies advised to tap into online gaming
06/03/2003
Editor: David Minto

The former managing director of Telewest, Dr David Docherty, has urged the cable industry to move forward in making online gaming attractive to the masses, according to a report from the BBC.

Speaking at a media conference in London, Dr Docherty said that aggressively promoting online gaming services through the cable network could form the fist step of moving cable away from being known simply a as sub-scale utility. Enabling handheld computers, MP3 players and other net-enabled devices to be linked up to a smart cable outlet is the only serious way cable companies can shift their debt burdens, Dr Docherty suggested.

In contrast to the cable companies, Sky Digital has already begun to tap the potential of online gaming with over a million people paying to play Tetris, Space Invaders and other games each week.

Dr Docherty also contended that, with the growing popularity of data intensive services such as streaming media, a flat-rate charge for broadband is ultimately unsustainable.

Volume is high due to what looks like two rollovers involving a million and a half ....



ains

hmmmmmm ..... always someone to stop a good idea


10:27 Friday 7th March 2003
Graeme Wearden


Pressure from the Ministry of Defence means that 5.8GHz probably won't be licence-exempt, which some claim will make it harder for wireless to close the digital divide
Community broadband activists and some in the telecoms industry are concerned that the rollout of wireless broadband networks in rural areas could be hampered if, as widely expected, the government decides to license the use of part of the 5GHz band of the radio spectrum.

In January, the government announced that it was deregulating most of the 5GHz band, making it legal for people to run wireless local area networks such as 802.11a hot spots without buying a licence, registering the network, or paying a fee.

It also said that it was still looking into the feasability of allowing organisations and commercial operators to run fixed wireless networks in what it called "band C" -- between 5725MHz and 5875MHz.

Band C is currently primarily used for military radar, and the Ministry of Defence (MoD) has refused to allow this spectrum to become licence-exempt. Instead, the MoD is insisting on a number of restrictions, including forcing operators to register all their users and pay a fee to the Radiocommunications Agency (RA).

There has been growing concern within the broadband community since this was made public a few weeks ago. Wireless is key to the rollout of high-speed Internet services in parts of the UK where fixed-line services such as ADSL aren't available.

Several groups of local activists have already launched fixed broadband networks running at 2.4GHz -- which the government deregulated last summer -- and some of these people believe that 5GHz would be an even better frequency at which to run a community network, if it was licence-exempt.

The RA warned key members of the wireless broadband sector several weeks ago that band C would be what it called "light licensed" spectrum, a move that "left people stunned", according to one source close to the issue.

Intellect, which represents over 1,000 IT and telecoms companies, confirmed that there is concern within the industry about the implication of making band C licensed.

"It could jeopardise the business case for using 5.8GHz," Graham MacDonald, Intellect's senior radio executive, told ZDNet UK, adding that there was a significant danger of extra costs being passed on to users.

A final decision about band C hasn't officially been made yet, but it appears that the MoD is in a strong negotiating position over the future of the spectrum.

"The MoD, who are the primary users at present, aren't unhappy about sharing the spectrum with civilian users as it will reduce their licence fee, and should also mean that equipment prices fall," a RA spokeswoman explained.

The MoD, though, is insisting that any equipment used at 5.8GHz should support dynamic frequency selection (DFS), which means a user's connection will automatically change to another channel if it detects military radar, and transmit power control (TPC), which ensures that a network transmits at the lowest power level possible.

MacDonald confirmed that some companies believe they could be seriously disadvantaged by these restrictions. The MoD is also insisting on exclusion zones -- near key radar sites -- and some form of licensing or registration scheme, so that networks can be eliminated if they interfere with military radar.

"The MoD will block [the opening up of 5.8GHz] if we don't do these things," explained the RA spokeswoman.

The idea of having to pay to use spectrum that many people had expected would be licence-exempt has led to particular concern in some quarters, though. If wireless is the key to achieving a true Broadband Britain, then the government could be seen as putting more obstacles in the way of rural broadband activists by forcing additional costs and responsibilities upon them.

The RA says that if network operators are indeed forced to pay licensing fees and to register every user, then the process will be as easy as possible.

"It'll be simple and fully electronic. We don't want to be pushing pins into a map," said the RA spokeswoman.

The fee structure could even be designed in favour of small rural networks, she added. "It could be disproportionately cheap for smaller users, such as those with fewer than 100 users, and more expensive for larger ones."

Even this might not be enough to satisfy some, though, including one insider who commented that "it's licensing, without any quality of service guarantee."

The RA confirmed that anyone launching a 5.8GHz network would have to be aware that it wouldn't be prudent to guarantee any service levels, as there's nothing to stop someone else also setting up their own rival system and causing serious interference. "We won't prevent people wiping out each other's networks," explained the RA spokeswoman.

The RA expects that its work on 5.8GHz should be completed by the summer, with the issue being treated as a top priority.

NTL broadband price increase rumour
Friday 07 March 2003, 5:20:35 AM
United Kingdom
Written by Sarah Brown
It has been suggested that cable company NTL could be increasing the price for their 128k broadband service by as much as 3 to 17.99 from 1st May 2003.


However, postings at nthellworld suggest that the price increase is currently nothing more than a rumour, and one or two postings at Digital Spy claim that the company will be implementing the price increase, and could also up the price for its digital TV packages.


There is no doubt that confusion surrounds the issue, and, according to The Register, NTL has described the rumours that it is to increase the price of its 128k service from May 1 as nothing more than "speculation."

Freeview is 'key TV battleground'

Jason Deans media guardian
Friday March 7, 2003

BBC-backed digital terrestrial service Freeview could be the key battleground in deciding whether the corporation or BSkyB dominates UK broadcasting in the future, according to AOL Time Warner's most senior UK television executive.

If the BBC can persuade millions to buy Freeview set-top boxes and give the service's 30-odd digital channels widespread terrestrial distribution, viewers would be less willing to pay for BSkyB's offering, Andy Bird, the co-president of AOL Time Warner subsidiary Turner Broadcasting System International, has warned.

But he added that BSkyB was playing a clever game, getting involved in the marketing of Freeview and taking channel capacity on the service, and was the "one organisation that has the physical, financial and intellectual bandwidth to stand up to the BBC".

"I believe the future of British television lies more in the hands of [BBC director general] Greg Dyke and [BSkyB chief executive] Tony Ball than anyone else. The game is a battle of the giants... one which may well be played on a pitch called Freeview," Mr Bird said, speaking at a Royal Television Society dinner last night.

"If Greg can get Freeview to work and become more widely distributed, then he has a better argument in the charter renewal process. If Freeview works, it's feasible that the UK will start to resemble Germany, with 28-30 widely distributed terrestrial channels," he added.

"These channels command serious revenue streams and provide a wealth and variety of programming, including things like sports rights. When you have a market dynamic such as exists in Germany today, the appetite for a pay TV platform [such as BSkyB] is greatly diminished."

Mr Bird said ITV, Channel 4 and Channel Five did not have the "financial muscle" or the bandwidth to compete with the BBC. "So they are getting and will continue to get marginalised."

BSkyB was in the best position to mount a serious challenge to the BBC, he argued.

"Sky being the smartest kid on the block is also playing both sides and is perfectly poised to dominate commercial TV in the future.

"They're in the marketing alliance for Freeview, they have channel capacity on Freeview and best of all, they can buy Channel Five to give them an analogue window if needed," he said.

Mr Bird oversees channels including CNN International, movie service TCM and Cartoon Network.

(REUTERS) Microsoft, Sony set for European online gaming war
Microsoft, Sony set for European online gaming war

By Bernhard Warner
LONDON, March 7 (Reuters) - Sony <6758.T> and Microsoft
will open a new front in their computer games battles
in Europe later this month, trying to win over trigger-happy
recruits to the online gaming platforms they view as the next
big growth segment in the industry.
Though small now, online gaming is seen as an important
emerging market for video game console makers. It enables them
to charge players subscriptions to engage fellow gamers anywhere
in the world in a dark alley shoot-'em-up or simulated bombing
run on enemy camps.
Market research firm ScreenDigest predicts online gaming
will surpass $1 billion in Europe by 2006. Sales of online
gaming kits in the U.S. have exceeded expectations with Sony
selling more than 500,000 and Microsoft more than 350,000, the
companies said.
Japan's Nintendo <7974.T>, the second biggest video game
console maker in Europe behind Sony, and ahead of Microsoft,
said in January it would begin its own online gaming trials with
customers this month in Europe. But it said it would not make
significant investments in the area until consumer broadband
Internet access hits a higher critical mass.
SONY TRIALS BEGIN
On Friday Sony Computer Entertainment Europe announced
consumer trials for its PlayStation 2 broadband network gaming
platform will be started on March 31 in Britain, followed by a
commercial launch expected later this spring.
Similar trials will kick off in Germany, France and Spain in
mid-April. Italy, Scandanavia and the Benelux region will start
in late May. By the autumn Sony will sell PlayStation 2 network
adaptor kits needed for online gaming throughout Western Europe,
the company said.
Microsoft, a relative newcomer to the video game console
wars with its Xbox, has a few month's headstart on Sony in
Europe. It began European Xbox Live online trials in November
and a commercial launch is slated for March 14.
"Xbox Live and online gaming in general is the next big
trend in the industry. Ultimately, it has the potential to be
more broad-based in its appeal than traditional console gaming,"
Robbie Bach, chief Xbox officer for the U.S. software giant,
told Reuters.
Bach said trials indicate that online gaming attracts
individuals outside the core gaming demographic of male
teenagers, an important development if Xbox is ever going to
catch up on PlayStation 2's installed base of over 50 million
units worldwide
Bach said Xbox has sold over eight million units worldwide
since its launch in the autumn of 2001 with 5.4 million selling
in the U.S. and 1.8 million in Europe.
Having designed its Xbox machine as a broadband-ready device
capable of multi-player action, Microsoft sees online gaming as
the one serious feature to close the gap on PlayStation 2's
dominance and generate badly-needed gaming revenues. Analysts
say Microsoft loses money on every Xbox sold.
CALLING ALL ISPs
The online gaming turf war isn't over just the hearts and
minds of gamers. Sony and Microsoft are enlisting European
Internet Service Provider and cable broadband partners to help
market, and, in the case of Sony, provide computer server
capacity and handle some billing activities.
Microsoft has signed on 15 ISP partners across Europe,
including BT Group in the UK, Wanadoo in France
and T-Online in Germany.
Sony is still forging deals with ISPs across Europe; in
Britain its partners include BT, Telewest , NTL
and Freeserve. The British trials are seen as an important
proving ground for the viability of online gaming, the company
said.
Ray Maguire, managing director of Sony's UK video games
unit, said the trials, in which the company hopes to recruit
thousands of game players across Europe, will shape the nature
of the eventual commercial offering.
Unlike Microsoft, Sony is not charging players subscriptions
for multi-player gaming. Both companies say the business model
is still open for change.
For ISPs online gaming is seen as an enticement to winning
new consumers and a way to increasing average revenues per user.
"It will accelerate broadband adoption in the UK and provide
a further boost to the exponential growth of the total gaming
market," Maguire predicted.
Sony will sell its adaptor kits, which includes a headset
and a multi-player-ready version of "SOCOM: US Navy Seals," for
40 pounds ($64.15) in the UK. European prices haven't been
established.
Microsoft will sell its adaptors, which also includes a
headset, trial versions of three online games and a free annual
subscription for gameplay for 39 pounds in the UK and 59 euros
in Continental Europe.
((Writing by Bernhard Warner, editing by Greg Mahlich;
bernhard.warner@reuters.com; Reuters Messaging:
bernhard.warner.reuters.com@reuters.net; European Equities Desk
+44 20 7542 2490))

Interesting ..... I tried to buy a few five minuts ahead of the close but couldn't get a price ....


07 March 2003

Arena Leisure Plc

attheraces launches on Telewest Broadband

Arena Leisure Plc ("Arena"), the racecourse operator, gaming technology provider
and media rights owner, is pleased to announce that from today attheraces, its
horseracing and gaming joint venture in partnership with BSkyB and Channel 4,
will also broadcast its daily racing programme on Telewest digital television
(channel 534). The channel will be available as part of Telewest's digital TV
starter pack.


attheraces is currently being shown on Sky digital (channel 418) and ntl cable
(channel 908) and this new carriage agreement adds a further 830,000 digital
homes to attheraces' audience reach, raising the number of UK households now
capable of receiving the attheraces broadcast to over 8.5 million.


attheraces launched its first racing coverage on Sky on May 1st 2002 and then
added ntl in October 2002. attheraces broadcasts racing seven days a week, 17
hours per day from 49 of the 59 racecourses in the UK, including all the premier
tracks. Racing from North America is also now shown seven nights of the week. An
interactive digital TV betting service was launched on attheraces' Sky channel
in October 2002.


Ian Penrose, Group Managing Director of Arena Leisure, said:


"This is another positive step forward for attheraces and comes at a time when
racing's major festivals are about to start. The television audiences for
attheraces are growing steadily, and the strong levels of audience interaction
already achieved on our Sky digital, internet and telephone platforms are a
testament to the quality of the attheraces product and betting opportunities. We
look forward to offering our full interactive betting services to all broadcast
channels carrying attheraces during 2003."

18:51 GMT, Friday 7th March 2003 -- by Neil Wilkes
Fashion TV will launch on Telewest's digital lineup later this month, it has been announced.

The 24-hour station will be available to subscribers of the Supreme pack on channel 281 beginning March 21.

"Telewest Broadband always aims to cater for the widest range of interests our customers may have," said Gavin Patterson, MD of Telewest's consumer division. "The launch of Fashion TV will give our subscribers access to the latest fashion news and gossip so they can always stay on top of the trends."

Today's announcement is the latest in a string of recent launches on the platform. Earlier today, racing channel 'attheraces', plus the long-awaited extra Sky Movies screens all joined the lineup, and will be followed on March 21 by Extreme Sports.

I had a problem with my blueyonder service this morning - browser wouldn't go anywhere although email worked ..... two phone calls and around 15 minutes later it was up and running again. although one of the calls to the technical help desk was no longer a freeline (now 0845 national rate) they were helpful and knowlegeable ......

ains

From the end of March, Sonys PS2 Broadband trial in the UK will commence, the Japanese firm revealed yesterday. Partners include BT, NTL, Telewest and Freeserve, though it will be possible to connect through almost any broadband service, like Xbox Live.

Heres the official word on this trial:

To join the PlayStation 2 network gaming trial community, consumers must have a PlayStation 2 and a broadband connection. They must register their interest to participate in the trials by visiting uk.playstation.com and completing an online questionnaire. If subsequently accepted as a trial member they will then be able to purchase a 'starter kit' comprising: PlayStation 2 Network Adaptor, SOCOM USB Headset, and a special on-line only version of SOCOM: US Navy SEALs, the first network console game with voice communication between players. The PlayStation Network starter pack will be priced at 39.99 (plus postage and packing 5.00) and will be available through the PlayStation online shop (uk.playstation.com) only to players accepted onto the consumer trial.
Of course, this announcement also means that the PS2's online services in the UK and throughout Europe, will be for broadband connections only, unlike in the USA, where a standard dial-up connection is also supported. This will no doubt mean that some gamers will be unable to connect, though will also perhaps encourage others to make the investment in high-speed internet access.

By Luke Guttridge

FYI


ITV applauds BBC decision to ditch Sky

Owen Gibson
Wednesday March 12, 2003


Clive Jones: ITV will 'review all options'

ITV has welcomed the BBC's decision to launch its own free to air satellite service and hinted it may follow suit when its contract with BSkyB comes up for renewal in August 2004.

Joint managing director Clive Jones said ITV had long believed the prices charged for carriage were too high, and that ITV would "review all options" before renewing its contract with Sky.

"We understand entirely why the BBC has felt it necessary to take this course of action and wish them every success," said Mr Jones.

"The public service broadcasters have long argued that the price Sky charges for conditional access is too high.

"ITV currently needs Sky's conditional access facilities in order to deliver the best regional service to viewers," he added.

"However the 17m per annum that ITV pays for this service bears no relation to its actual cost. This is the fault of a regulatory regime that allows a dominant market player to extract monopoly prices from customers without fear of recourse from the

ADVERTISEMENT

regulator."

Along with the BBC, ITV has been lobbying the government to reinstate a "must carry" clause in the forthcoming communications bill that would limit the amount they pay Sky to carry their channels.

The long running debate centres on the fact that, according to the draft bill, the BBC and ITV are required to offer their channels to Sky but the satellite broadcaster is not bound to carry them.

Effectively this allows Sky to charge the BBC and ITV the same amount as it charges other commercial channels to appear on the platform.

But the BBC and ITV argue they should pay a reduced charge in view of their status as public service broadcasters.

The BBC estimates it will save 85m over five years, more than previously thought, as a result of broadcasting its own signals rather than paying Sky to do so.

Sky argues that it is only fair that the BBC and ITV pay a market rate for their transmission space, in the same way as they do for water and electricity, and that the amount they charge is governed by EU regulations on "fair and non-discriminatory" pricing.

Mr Jones said ITV would push the House of Lords to amend the communications bill to take account of the special nature of public service broadcasters but warned that if it failed it would consider other options when its contract with Sky came up for renewal in autumn 2004.

"In the meantime we will review all options and follow developments with interest," he added.

ITV is in a difficult position. It didn't broadcast on Sky at all until 2001 because shareholders Carlton and Granada believed it would help their own doomed ITV Digital service. As a result ITV lost viewers and advertising revenue and is now tied to a contract with Sky for the next 18 months.

Channel 4 also welcomed the move but was more circumspect in its criticism of Sky.

The C4 chief executive, Mark Thompson, said the broadcaster had a "satisfactory broadcast arrangement in place with BSkyB for some years ahead" but that the BBC's move could help bring down costs in the long term.

Because it operates two pay-TV channels, Film Four and E4, Channel 4 could not broadcast on a free-to-air satellite network and needs the conditional access infrastructure supplied by Sky.

ains
are you still running that TAG scam, what a money maker that was for you, pretending to help out the por shareholders and ramping the share like mad,
no wonder Concorde is your choice, what a man.

splat cockroach, hic heheheh

JOHN MAJOR

Dropped a little today and coming within range for adding a few ..... volumes continue to be low.




Digital chiefs start auction TV channel
By David Hellier Indy
13 March 2003


Sit-up, a television group run by two founders of ITV Digital, is launching a second live television channel later this year in a move that appears to defy the gloom currently engulfing much of the media sector.

The new channel, which will be called price-drop.tv, will aim to build on the success of the company's existing auction channel, bid-up.tv, which claims to be second only to QVC in the television shopping market-place.

The summer launch of price-drop.tv, which will introduce a falling price mechanism into an auction situation, follows a recent 5m private financing round. On price-drop.tv, the price of goods bought by customers will fall gradually until there are none left.

The company, which is 32 per cent owned by the cable group Telewest, is aiming to reach a 100m turnover target in 2003, the group's third year.

Sit-up was formed by Ashley Faull and John Egan who both quit ITV Digital more than a year before its collapse (when it was still known as Ondigital) to set up on their own.

They have studio space in Acton, west London, and plan to hire 100 new staff to service the new channel, which will be available on launch in more than 10 million households via SkyDigital, ntl home and Telewest.

The group recently appointed Robin Klein, a former managing director of marketing and home-shopping at Arcadia, as a non-executive director.

John Malone of Liberty Media resigns due to scheduling, will be replaced by Pauline Richards.
March 13, 2003: 2:29 PM EST



NEW YORK (Reuters) - Cendant Corp., the travel and real estate services provider, said Thursday that John Malone, chairman of Liberty Media Group, has resigned from its board of directors.



The New York-based company said in a faxed statement that Pauline Richards, 54, chief financial officer of Lombard Odier Darier Hentsch (Bermuda) Ltd., a trust company business, will replace Malone.

Cendant Chief Executive Henry Silverman said Malone's schedule at Liberty precluded him from devoting more time to Cendant. He said Liberty (L: up $0.32 to $9.00, Research, Estimates) and Malone have no current plans to sell Cendant (CD: unchanged at $12.06, Research, Estimates) shares.

Separately, Cendant said Richards will replace former Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney on the board's audit committee. Mulroney, who has been a director since December 1997, will remain on the board as a member of its corporate governance committee, Cendant said.

Cendant's brands include the Days Inn and Ramada hotel chains, the Century 21 and Coldwell Banker real estate brokers, and the Avis and Budget Group car rental firms.

Malone to take control of UPC

Owen Gibson Guardian
Friday March 14, 2003


John Malone: will emerge with 65.5% of Europe's largest cable firm

Europe's largest cable company UPC has had its financial restructuring plan approved, allowing US media mogul John Malone to take full control and suggesting he will soon turn his attentions to UK firms Telewest and NTL.

A Dutch court today approved the plan to restructure UPC's 63bn debt burden, one of the final formalities in the resurrection of the bankrupt company.

It will result in Mr Malone emerging with 65.5% of the company in return for erasing two thirds of its debt. Existing shareholders will be left with just 2% of the company.

In common with other cable companies around Europe, including NTL and Telewest, UPC was pushed to the brink of collapse after overspending on acquisitions and building its network across the continent.

UPC racked up an enormous debt rapidly when it bought cable networks in the belief the combination of digital television, telephony and fast internet access would prove a popular with consumers.

But it was hamstrung by high prices, technical issues and customer

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service concerns which, combined with the u-turn in investor sentiment following the dotcom crash, pushed back the launch of services and the time it would take to make a profit.

Mr Malone bought into UPC last year when it was on the brink of collapse by purchasing its majority shareholder, UnitedGlobalCom.

Many analysts saw it as the first step Mr Malone's an attempt to build a European cable empire to rival the one he built in the US 25 years before selling at the top of the market to AT&T.

He is expected to play a key role in the eventual merger of NTL and Telewest in the UK.

The Telewest managing director, Charles Burdick, believes this could take place as early as the beginning of next year.

Through his company Liberty Media, Mr Malone already holds a 25% stake in Telewest, which is close to completing its own financial restructure in an effort to halve its 5.3bn debt.

Mr Malone has been described by fellow mogul Rupert Murdoch as the "Warren Buffett of the media" - a reference to his considerable investment skills - and he is widely thought to have been biding his time in an effort to buy into European cable at the right price.

Mr Malone is the second biggest shareholder in News Corporation and is expected to either partner or go head to head with Mr Murdoch in the battle for DirecTV, the biggest satellite company in the US, owned by General Motors.

I beg forgiveness if this has already been asked but the old memory cells aint what they used to be! Did Telewest ever sell their share of SMG, and if so to who and for how much?

Regards,

Wordy

6 November 2002

Following the approval of the Company's shareholders given at an EGM on 4 September 2002, Telewest has placed its
entire 16.9% shareholding in SMG with institutional investors. The placing was managed by Schroder Salomon Smith
Barney. The shares were placed at a price of 85p per share and the placing will realise proceeds of 45.1 million.

33 million of sale price was due in repayment to Toronto Dominion on terms of guaranteed loan.

Telewest Communications plc confirms they will be announcing their Preliminary
and 4th Quarter results for the period ended 31st December 2002 on Thursday 27th
March 2003.

As previously reported on Digital Spy, Fashion TV, the Extreme Sports Channel and Discovery Health have all secured carriage on the service from March 21.

These will now be joined by foreign language channels Deutsche Welle and Leonardo on channels 830 and 832 respectively, both available in the Supreme pack, as well as Discovery Kids and Discovery Wings on channels 721 and 221, also in the Supreme pack.

MTV's latest music channel TMF will join the Starter pack on channel 303, whilst Reality TV will launch on channel 146 in the Supreme package.

"Excellent content is a must for consumers and this is another example of how we are improving the range and depth of channels," said Gavin Patterson, MD of Telewest's consumer division.

"We are giving our customers the very best choice and value available and the launch of these new channels illustrates our commitment to quality content."

Earlier this month saw the long-awaited launch of the additional Sky Movies screens on the service

Seem to be holding their own again -





17:22 GMT, Monday 17th March 2003 -- by James Welsh
Telewest has announced today it is launching a new international calling package designed to undercut arch-rival BT.

For 3 per month, customers can subscribe to "Talk International", lowering standard international rates to 2p per minute for "popular destinations" such as the USA, Germany andthe Netherlands; and 3p per minute for those further away such as Australia and New Zealand. A 6p connection charge applies to all calls.

David Hobday, Telewest's deputy managing director, said: "We're tearing up the rule book once again, demonstrating that people don't have to accept what they're given.

"We're proving it doesn't have to be expensive to keep in touch with friends and family abroad with calls to many international destinations now costing the same as a local daytime call."

2002 - the first year of broadband

London, March 19 2003, (netimperative)



by Chris Lake

Two new reports have revealed that consumer uptake of broadband exploded during 2002, paving the way for a four-fold surge in connections throughout Europe by 2006.


A report published by the Office of National Statistics discovered the number of households that connected to the high-speed internet in 2002 grew by 256%. 'Always-on' permanent connections now account for more than one in ten internet connections in the UK.

The report linked the growth to the ubiquitous marketing campaigns that have been implemented by the likes of BT in order to increase mass market awareness of the high-speed internet, as well as falling prices.

Meanwhile, the latest Datamonitor study into European broadband adoption suggests there will be a four-fold rise in connections by 2006, when 41m households across Europe will have access to the high-speed internet.

By that time, the UK is likely to have surpassed France to make it the second largest broadband-connected country after Germany.

Datamonitor believes that prices need to fall to the equivalent of $25 per month before consumers adopt the faster internet en masse.

Datamonitor said the online content market, which will be driven by broadband, will be worth about 3.4bn by late-2006, when Europeans will spend an average of $76 per year on content and services. The content market is estimated to be worth about $350m in 2003.

DTV in more than 40% of UK households

London, March 19 2003, (netimperative)



by Philip Buxton

More than 40% of UK households have digital TV, according to new figures released by the Independent Television Commission (ITC) today.


Though using estimates for DTV penetration by both ntl and Telewest, the new figures point to continued growth in interactive TV, largely boosted by the success of BBC's Freeview, which the Beeb said last month had reached 1.4m households. The ITC confirmed those figures with estimates that 1.3m houses had Freeview by the end of the year.

The Commision also said that the growth, if continued, would mean that DTV would overtake internet penetration in the UK later this year.

The figures are good news for the government which is still hoping to switch off the analogue TV signal from 2006 and wants to offer its own services over iTV.

The ITC said that digital television penetration in the UK was estimated to have increased to 41.4% of households at the end of 2002, the first time digital penetration had exceeded 40% in the UK.

It added that growth in DTV had also been sparked by the continued success of Sky's digital satellite services. Digital satellite added a further 227,000 pay subscribers compared with last quarter and has an estimated 6.3m subscribers in the UK.

Including analogue services, overall multi-channel penetration is estimated to have increased to almost 47% or 11.5m households. By the end of 2003 it is likely that the majority of households in the UK will have access to more than the five terrestrial services.

shares still in a very tight trading range - wars - markets or sector news seem to have no effect

ains





ENGLEWOOD, CO (AFX) - Liberty Media Corp said it plans to raise some 1.5 bln usd through the offering of 20-year exchangeable senior notes, which are exchangeable into shares of AOL Time Warner Inc, Liberty Media series A common stock, cash or a combination thereof.
Liberty said it may raise a further 250 mln usd through an option granted in connection with the offering.

Liberty plans to use the net proceeds of the offering, which is open to qualified institutions only, for general corporate purposes.

It expects the first issuance under the offer could be consummated as early as next Wednesday.

michael.pai@afxnews.com

by Neil Wilkes
Continuing its drive to add more channels to its lineup, Telewest has held talks with US news channel FOX News, Digital Spy can report.

Whilst a carriage agreement has yet to be reached, a spokeswoman for the cable company said that "initial discussions" had been held for carriage of the channel, which is currently only available via Sky Digital in the UK.

: Liberty in bond move
By Peter Thal Larsen in New York
Financial Times; Mar 21, 2003


John Malone yesterday moved to add to his growing cash pile as Liberty Media, the investment company he controls, announced it would raise $1.5bn by effectively mortgaging its shareholding in AOL Time Warner.

Liberty Media said it planned to issue bonds that can be exchanged into shares in AOL Time Warner. The company has a 4 per cent shareholding in the media giant which is worth around $2bn.

The move gives Mr Malone more financial firepower as he considers plans to increase control over some media investments. Liberty has triggered a process that may lead to it buying the shares it does not own in QVC, the home shopping channel controlled by cable giant Comcast. The two must agree a valuation by the end of the month.

Mr Malone has also expressed an interest in making an offer for DirecTV, the satellite TV operator put up for sale by car group General Motors. However, media executives are sceptical whether Mr Malone will ultimately press ahead with a bid against Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation. Liberty owns 18 per cent of News Corp.

Liberty has long taken a policy of hedging or mortgaging the value of its public investments to raise cash without triggering the tax payments it would incur if it sold the shares.

AOL said Liberty's move provided "more clarity" about its intention regarding the shareholding.

Mr Malone is under pressure to narrow the discount between Liberty's market capitalisation and the combined value of its holdings. The company is also at risk of being classified as a holding company by the US tax authorities if it were to sell any more of the assets it controls. Taking control of QVC or Liberty would reduce that risk.

Liberty expects to complete the bond issue by next Wednesday.

worth remembering that digital means more income ..... shares coming within trading range maybe


ains


Digital TV set to overtake internet

Dominic Timms INDY
Friday March 21, 2003


Freeview: broadcasts to 1.3m homes

Britain's appetite for digital television is growing so quickly the medium will overtake the internet in terms of penetration by the end of this year, according to the independent television commission.

The ITC said more than 10 million homes - 40% of the population - had digital TV at the end of last year. In comparison, 11 million homes were connected to the internet.

"If current growth rates are sustained, digital TV take-up is on target to exceed internet penetration in the UK later this year," said the ITC.

The TV regulator said the increase in the number of digital households was the result of a better than expected take-up of Freeview and the continued growth of Sky Digital.

Sales of the boxes used to access Freeview, the BBC service that replaced ITV Digital last autumn, reached 300,000 at the end of last year.

Freeview now broadcasts to an estimated 1.3 million homes, comprising those that have bought Freeview boxes and those that still own the estimated 1 million ITV Digital set-top boxes, which still operate despite the collapse of the service.

Sky Digital added a further 227,000 subscribers in the last three months of last year, taking its total customer base to 6.3 million.

However, the number of homes using services that supply digital TV down high-speed phone lines, such as Video Networks' Home Choice, fell by more than 27%.

Just 12,000 subscribers now use such services, according to the ITC.

The regulator predicted most UK homes - including those with analogue cable services - would have access to multichannel TV within eight months

Chris Tryhorn Guardian
Friday March 21, 2003


John Malone: looking at possible acquisitions

John Malone's Liberty Media has stepped up its acquisition ambitions by announcing a plan to raise up to 1.1bn in extra funds.
The money would be released through 20-year bonds ultimately exchangeable for some of Liberty's 4% stake in AOL Time Warner.

Liberty's share in the media combine is currently worth 2bn and it could use the money raised from the bond sale to bid for a number of possible targets. These could include the remainder of shopping channel QVC, the US entertainment assets of Vivendi Universal or US satellite broadcaster DirecTV - also an acquisition target of Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation.

"There was an opportunity to sell these debentures at attractive prices and we have additional liquidity to pursue some of the transactions we're looking at," Liberty spokesman Mike Erickson said.

"If none of those transactions occur, we have additional cash we can put to use elsewhere."

The timing of Liberty's move coincides with uncertainty about the future of QVC, in which Liberty has

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a 42% stake. Liberty announced on March 3 that it would unwind its partnership in QVC with cable operator Comcast, in order to allow both companies to consider their options.

Liberty's plan also comes just two days after News Corp announced a similar $1.35bn bond-share swap, effectively remortgaging its stake in BskyB, and could herald a battle for DirecTV - the US's largest satellite broadcaster with 17m viewers.

News Corporation has long set its sights on DirecTV and last month dropped its plans for a joint bid with Liberty, whose boss, Mr Malone, is an ally of Mr Murdoch and the second largest shareholder in News Corp after the Murdoch family.

Mr Murdoch is now thought to be focusing his energies on a solo deal, and covets DirecTV as the potential missing piece in his dream of creating a global satellite broadcasting business. He has referred to it as "the big exception" to his present policy of eschewing deals.

Last year regulators blocked a bid from Charlie Ergen's Echostar for DirecTV - which is owned by Hughes Electronics, in which General Motors has a 30% stake.

interesting



Dixons aiming to sell a million Freeview boxes
By Saeed Shah
22 March 2003


Three million Freeview decoders will be sold this year, suppliers and retailers now believe, with Dixons understood to be ready to order 1 million digital terrestrial set-top boxes.

Dixons wants at least 1 million of the Freeview boxes to be sold through its stores in order to maintain its market share.

Sources at set-top box manufacturers yesterday confirmed that the industry now believes there will be 3 million sales this year, as Freeview is proving to be a sensational success. Dixons' buyers are now talking to the main manufacturers, which include Grundig, Nokia and Pace.

A Freeview decoder provides multi-channel television, with 30 channels, through an ordinary rooftop aerial, without households needing to take out a subscription. The service is a joint venture between the BBC, which has eight channels on it, BSkyB, which supplies three stations, and Crown Castle, which broadcasts the signal. To gain access to Freeview channels, consumers need to buy a decoder, the cheapest of which cost about 90.

At least 600,000 of the boxes are now believed to have been bought since Freeview was launched at the end of October. There are also up to 1 million boxes of the defunct ITV Digital service in households, which should allow consumers to pick up the new service.

The Freeview boxes sold out in the lead up to Christmas. Retailers and manufacturers were caught out by the popularity of the new service, which seems to be attractive both to "digital virgins" and to some pay-TV subscribers.

Dermot Nolan, director of TNS, a media consultancy, said: "The evidence is that Freeview is hammering basic cable [subscriptions]. It offers something very similar to the basic cable package. Also, it is proving popular in pay-TV homes, including Sky homes, for second and third [TV] sets."

BBC research shows that 15 million homes do not want to take pay-TV but everyone will have to switch to a digital service over the next few years. The analogue service is due to be switched off by 2010.

A spokesman for Dixons declined to comment on its set-top box order. However he said: "Freeview boxes are very popular. At this price, they fall into the category of an impulse buy."

The two other big set-top box retailers are Argos and Comet. The Iraq war is thought to be another reason why the Freeview boxes are proving a hit, as the service offers three 24-hour rolling news services, from the BBC, Sky and ITV.

Technology UK
03/23 08:29
Murdoch's News Corp Plans $7 Bln Bid for DirecTV, Observer Says
By Elisa Martinuzzi


London, March 23 (Bloomberg) -- Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. will bid to buy DirecTV, the largest U.S. satellite broadcaster, for about $7 billion as soon as this week, the U.K.'s Observer newspaper reported, without naming sources.

Hughes Electronics Corp. is seeking a buyer for its satellite business, whose Latin American unit filed for bankruptcy last week. Murdoch is set to bid for DirecTV with Liberty Media Corp.'s John Malone, who owns an 18 percent stake in News Corp., the paper reported.

News Corp. earlier tried to buy General Motors Corp.'s 30 percent stake in Hughes Electronics Corp. News Corp. withdrew its offer in October 2001 when it was outbid by EchoStar Communications Corp., the No. 2 satellite service after DirecTV. EchoStar in December abandoned its purchase of Hughes after it was rejected by federal regulators.

Liberty Media last week said it may use the $1.5 billion it raised in a convertible bond sale to fund acquisitions. Executives at News Corp., which last week also raised $1.5 billion by selling equity-linked bonds, have said they might buy a controlling stake in Hughes.

hmmmmmm

DISGRACEFUL Mar 22 2003 D Record


Telewest death card is bad deal for Scots





CABLE TV giants Telewest have scrapped a 1million advertising campaign that "cursed" customers.

They sent out 50,000 ace of spades playing cards - traditionally known as the death card.

Superstitious Scots swamped operators and advertising watchdogs with complaints.

Now Telewest will instead send out the ace of diamonds, which is linked with good luck.

Gillian Love, 34, of Airdrie, Lanarkshire, thought she was the victim of a prank when she received her Telewest cards. She said: "I opened the letter from Telewest and found the cards advertising their TV packs.

"But when I turned them over, all 16 of the cards had the ace of spades on the back of them.

"I got a real fright. I have always linked the ace of spades with bad luck or even death.

"I'm not surprised Telewest are scrapping the idea because it seems to me to be in pretty bad taste. Someone hasn't done their homework by the sounds of it.

"I thought the meaning of the card was pretty well known."

A spokeswoman for Telewest admitted they had no idea of the significance of the ace of spades.

She said: "The advertising campaign featured cards with the ace of spades on the back.

"But we started receiving calls from customers who pointed out the significance of the card. We have replaced the card with the ace of diamonds which we are assured symbolises good luck.

"We apologise to any of our customers who may have been upset by the cards and hope we haven't caused any alarm."

Astrologer Lynne Ewart said: "The ace of spades is held with suspicion because it always used to be associated with the spade you use to dig a grave.

"It represents a fateful encounter and is the card with most potential for negativity."

Earlier this week, a poll revealed that Scots are the most superstitious people in Britain.

Must admit I prefer and expect later rather than sooner .... the two networks are not always compatible and both had previous problems in integrating past mergers and acquisitions

ains



NTL goes cool on Telewest tie-up
By Jason Nissand Heather Tomlinson INDY
23 March 2003


The long-awaited merger between NTL and Telewest, the two heavily indebted cable TV groups, won't happen this year and may not happen at all.

NTL has told its cable TV rival it is not interested in pursuing a merger at the present time. The two had been expected to resume their on-off merger talks once Telewest completes its debt restructuring. But Telewest will not be able to give a firm date for completing the complex debt deal when it announces full-year figures this week. Meanwhile NTL, which recently emerged from US Chapter 11 bankruptcy, has gone cool on the merger plans.

One reason for this is that NTL has hired three senior managers, including former Orange finance director Simon Duffy. There is also opposition from banks that think two troubled companies merging will mean double trouble.

One source close to NTL said: "There is unlikely to be a deal this year. The management will want to get bedded in at NTL. The banks might not support a merger, because they have limits on one single exposure."

NTL had a bad experience merging Cable & Wireless Communications and is reluctant to take on another large integration job in the near future.

Telewest orders new iTV games

London, March 24 2003, (netimperative)



by Chris Lake

Flextech, Telewest's content division, has licensed a six new interactive television formats from Two Way TV in a bid to keep audiences hooked during programmes.


Flextech will add five new titles to its Games Lounge channel, including racing, cards, puzzle and dice games, as well as a new programme-linked format called Cash Call Bonanza.

With the ability to be overlaid on top of programmes, Cash Call Bonanza encourages viewers to collect and match a series of icons that appear on screen during shows - players pay a small fee to give them a chance of winning a prize.

The cable television operator has indicated that it will use the Two Way TV-devised game on channels including Challenge And Living. Two Way TV, a developer of content for interactive television, has already created play-along games for programmes such as Play Your Cards Right, TV Scrabble and 100%.

Flextech and Two Way TV have been working closely to develop interactive features for audiences for the past year.

I see they are down quite a lot today ains, are they cheap enough to buy yet do you think? Is 2.5p a good price to get in with a spread of 10%, is this a trading chance?


Dave

At 2.5p to buy - they don't apear down to me but you must make your own decisions on when or if you trade them .....


Markets are down nearly 3% on war news


ainsoph

Helps to increase the customer spend which virtually all goes into the bottom line


ains




Telewest to trial 2Mb home service
By Tim Richardson Register
Posted: 25/03/2003 at 07:52 GMT


Telewest is to trial a 2Mb broadband cable service aimed at home users.

The cableco is looking to recruit around 1,500 customers of its existing 1Mb broadband service and upgrade them to the 2Mb service.

If the trial proves successful, then the 2Mb service could be made available for people in Telewest franchise areas later this year.

Pricing for the new service has yet to be confirmed.

In a statement Gavin Patterson, MD of Telewest Broadband, said: "We've already proven there's a need for speed, with ten per cent of our blueyonder Internet customers taking the 1Mb service.

"Not every internet user will want a 2Mb connection, but we're now well on the way to offering a menu of broadband services to suit different requirements, while BT perseveres with its one trick pony."

Telewest described the 1Mb service when it launched last June as being like "viagra for your PC, providing a mind-blowing Internet experience." Which is nice.

2Mbps broadband on the way from Telewest
10:15 Tuesday 25th March 2003
Graeme Wearden


The cable firm is keeping up pressure on broadband rivals with a service that's four times faster than BT's consumer ADSL product
Telewest announced on Tuesday that it is planning to offer a 2Mbps broadband service later this year.

A trial version of the product will be launched this week. Telewest is inviting existing users of its 1Mbps service to join this trial at no extra cost, but only 1,500 places are available.

Pricing details for the commercial service were not available at the time of writing. A Telewest spokeswoman explained that the company plans to analyse feedback from its triallists before setting a price.

According to Telewest, a 2Mbps connection will allow home Internet users to "experience a business-class Web connection, with blistering downloads for music, films and software, an ability to effortlessly share large files and potential for near-TV quality video pictures."

Last year the cable company launched a 1Mbps broadband service, which has been taken up by around 10 percent of its users.

"Now it's time to shift up another gear, offering our customers the option of going even faster with the natural bandwidth benefits of a cable connection," said Gavin Patterson, managing director of Telewest Broadband, in a statement.

NTL also currently sells a 1Mbps cable broadband service, while Bulldog recently launched a consumer ADSL service that gives a 4Mbps connection at off-peak hours, but is only available in London.

BT Wholesale, though, currently only offers a 512kbps consumer broadband product and appears to be devoting its attention more towards launching slower products rather than faster ones, given its recent focus on Midband and a forthcoming 256Kbps broadband product.

Telewest users who are interested in joining the 2Mbps trial should click here for more information.

Malone makes homecoming plans

Legendary deal-maker is turning his focus back on US

David Teather in New York and John Cassy
Tuesday March 25, 2003
The Guardian

Behind (almost) every powerful media mogul is another powerful media mogul - and his name is John Malone. In the UK he is best known as a major shareholder in Telewest and a possible kingmaker in a merger between the cable group and rival NTL. However, he is beating a retreat from a European cable industry that buckled under multi-billion pound debts last year and is refocusing on the US, where he is expected to wield his legendary deal-making skills in a looming round of consolidation in the media sector.

The future ownership of satellite broadcaster DirecTV and Vivendi Universal's entertainment assets is rarely discussed without John Malone's name being mentioned. The publicity-shy Mr Malone is one of the most prolific investors in the industry. Through his Liberty Media company he holds 18% of Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation, 4% of AOL Time Warner, 3% of Vivendi Universal and 20% of Barry Diller's USA Interactive. But recent moves by the billionaire tycoon, despite setbacks in Europe, suggest he is once again as interested in the mundane business of owning and operating assets as he is in being a financial engineer.

Last week he announced plans to raise $1.5bn (960m) by effectively mortgaging his AOL stake, raising expectations that he might seek greater control over some of his investments or launch a bid for assets that have been up for sale by debt-laden media groups.

The holder of a doctorate in mathematical modelling, he is also well known for the bewildering complexity of his deals. Liberty Media, spun out of telecoms group AT&T in August 2001, is the fourth version of the business. It has twice been a tracking stock since being created in a rights issue by Mr Malone's Tele-Communications Inc in 1991 (and then reacquired by TCI in 1994).

Mr Malone, 62, was one of the first pioneers of the cable industry, setting up TCI in 1973 before selling it with astute timing in March 1999 to AT&T for $54bn. During that time he earned the sobriquet Darth Vader for his ruthless negotiating. He has also been described as an "inscrutable hard-ass".

Liberty has been linked to a possible bid for the US film and television assets of Vivendi Universal alongside Mr Diller, who stepped down as chief executive of Vivendi's entertainment arm last week. It is also preparing a bid for Hughes Electronics, parent of DirecTV. A bid would set Mr Malone in direct competition with News Corporation, which could make an offer as soon as this week, according to reports.

Mr Malone, who owns the Starz Encore and Discovery cable networks, wants DirecTV for much the same reason as Mr Murdoch. Cable channel owners need their own distribution networks to use as a strategic weapon against other cable or satellite firms.

Reorganising


Earlier this month Liberty triggered a clause that will reorganise its interests in QVC, the home shopping channel. Liberty has given its partner in the channel, cable company Comcast, notice that it either wants out of the venture or full ownership. Liberty could sell its share to Comcast for around $6bn, a sum it could add to its war chest. It already has around $10bn in cash and non-core assets that it could easily muster.

Alternatively, Liberty could take full ownership of QVC at a time when valuations are depressed and Comcast is under pressure to reduce its debts - a typically opportunistic strike by a wily investor. The shift in strategy appears to be driven by Liberty's flagging share price. The company is trading at a steep discount to the shares in its portfolio. Analysts also believe that owning operating businesses will make the company a more attractive investment.

Shares in Liberty have lost roughly a third of their value in the past 12 months. But there are also tax reasons for wanting to bulk up. Companies with more than 40% of their assets in investment securities need to register as an investment firm, making them subject to tighter restrictions and higher taxes.

Liberty is refocused on the US after a frustrating foray into the European cable industry that has dulled some of the edge of Mr Malone's reputation. That perhaps won't disappoint Mr Malone too much - he lives on a ranch in Colorado, hates flying and rarely travels outside the US. Liberty's head office in a suburb of Denver is far from the media hubs of New York and Los Angeles, let alone London.

An attempt to bludgeon his way into the German market was prevented by regulators while his investments in cable companies in Britain and the Netherlands have turned sour. Amsterdam-based UPC, the largest cable company in Europe, is going through a financial restructuring that will leave Mr Malone with a 50% share.

"When we were first looking at Europe the pie was quite big; unfortunately it isn't anymore," said Mike Erickson, head of investor relations at Liberty. "Fundamentally we're an opportunistic company and opportunities are now cropping up in the US that weren't there before." Mr Erickson said Hughes and the Vivendi assets were both "something we are looking at" ahead of what appears to be a busy year of deal-making.

In Britain Mr Malone attempted to drive a merger between Telewest and NTL but backed off after being sued by their respective bondholders. He is likely to emerge with 11% of Telewest after it too comes out of a financial restructuring. He could again make an attempt to dominate the British cable industry if the two attempt a merger next year. At that point a fresh injection of capital would be welcomed. "We'd evaluate that opportunity just like any other investment," Mr Erickson said. "If the price and future value-creation opportunity was right we might participate."

But there is another reason why Liberty might be cleaning up its balance sheet. Tidying the QVC relationship, buying operating businesses and cutting stakes in companies where it can not exert control could be a wise move in a post-Enron environment where transparency is a virtue.

The difficulty of understanding Liberty Media could be a further reason why the shareholders who were happy to climb aboard for the ride in the late 1990s, when fewer questions were asked, are now staying away.

Liberty Media's tentacles spread across the world. John Malone's business interests include:

Europe

Telewest, UK cable (of which he holds about11%)
Chorus Communications, Irish cable (50% holding)
The Wireless Group, UK radio (30%)
UPC, pan-Europe cable (50%)

US

Sprint, telecoms (20%)
AOL Time Warner (4%)
Viacom, cross-media group (an undisclosed percentage)
Vivendi Universal (3%)
News Corporation (18%)
Discovery Communications, owner of Discovery Channel (50%)
USA Interactive, e-commerce operation (20%)
QVC, shopping channel (42%)
Hughes Electronics, owner of DirecTV (under 1%)

Japan

Jupiter Programming, cable (50%)
Jupiter Telecommunications (36%)


South America

Sky Latin America, satellite (9%)
Cablevision, Argentina cable (39%)
Pramer, Argentina satellite (100%)

Why is it only ainsoph posting on this thread? Does anyone care?

What a way to speak of ains, he is head of TAG , that`s how much he cares,

TAG no longer exists & has not existed for about a month now!
This despite the need, more than ever, for a strong shareholder presence.

Unfortunately someone hacked into the server and the files were destroyed - apparently ACE never kept copies amnd therefore little if anything that can be done at this time. Ace has sold his stake but I still hold mine.



ains

FT


Liberty covets QVC shopping channel income
By Peter Thal Larsen in New York
Financial Times; Mar 26, 2003


Liberty Media yesterday suggested that it was mainly interested in taking control of QVC because of the home shopping channel's cashflow.

"We already own a large chunk of it and have the ability to shelter a large part of its income," Dob Bennett, Liberty's chief executive, said yesterday. "It would be valuable to us to have a large cash-producing asset."

John Malone, Liberty Media's chairman, earlier this month triggered a process that may give the company the chance to take control of QVC by buying out cable operator Comcast's 57 per cent shareholding in the business. Analysts believe QVC is worth $13bn-$14bn.

Mr Bennett stressed that Liberty would only take control of QVC at the right price. But he once again stressed that the company wanted to increase the proportion of assets in its portfolio that it controls.

"We want to have more operating businesses so we are able to access the cashflow that could support our debt and other activities," he said.

Aside from QVC, Liberty is also considering making an offer for DirecTV, although it remains unclear whether Mr Malone will bid alongside or against Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation. It would also like to combine its Starz/Encore premium cable channels with Vivendi's US media operations.

Mr Bennett was speaking as Liberty reported a $5.3bn net loss for last year, mainly because of a $6bn write-down on the value of its public investments, which include stakes in AOL Time Warner and News Corp.

Mr Bennett said it was "hard to tell" whether Liberty would be able to find a single solution for its multiple disputes with Comcast.

Aside from the negotiation over QVC, the company is also locked in a legal battle with Comcast over the terms of a distribution deal for Starz on the cable operator's systems.

results tomorrow

Ains,

any idea / rumor / guess / thought / prediction etc. if there will be an announcement regards the restructure..

nothing of consequence ..... I would expect the customer spend to be good but wonder about the churn rate as they have been pushing prices up.

I would expect an update but nothing very new on D4E - I am stil holding and looking to buy back my ST trading shares but was hoping for 2.2 or less



ains

It will be interesting to see the churn rate. I believe they introducted a new credit checking process to stop bad payers. I guess we will see if this has had an impact.

This is true - you have to pay by card when you open an account - this has been very effective by all accounts


ains

Ains, What is L2 like for TWT. So are you not prepared to top up unless it hits 2.2? What's the likeihood if any of it shooting up tommorrow do you think? perhaps to 3p or are you thinking of less then positive news maybe hence falls to 2p or just above. Thanks.

stv .... I have a plan .... and stay with it .... made me lots so far on this share :-))

I think we could easily see 3p tomorrow omn the right figures and/or news

L2 is getting busier with 200k trades either side -probable manipulation



Buy orders Sell orders
Num(%) Num Vol(%) Vol VWAP Vol Vol(%) Num Num(%)
1% (50.00%) 1 (50.00%) 200,000 2.40 - 2.50 200,000 (50.00%) 1 (50.00%)
5% (50.00%) 1 (50.00%) 200,000 2.40 - 2.50 200,000 (50.00%) 1 (50.00%)
10% (50.00%) 2 (62.50%) 400,000 2.35 - 2.52 240,000 (37.50%) 2 (50.00%)
15% (54.55%) 6 (42.46%) 1,020,000 2.29 - 2.67 1,382,533 (57.54%) 5 (45.45%)
50% (46.15%) 6 (39.82%) 1,020,000 2.29 - 2.68 1,541,533 (60.18%) 7 (53.85%)
100% (33.33%) 6 (36.73%) 1,020,000 2.29 - 2.71 1,757,233 (63.27%) 12 (66.67%)
all (31.58%) 6 (35.45%) 1,020,000 2.29 - 2.78 1,857,233 (64.55%) 13 (68.42%

Do you know what time the results are out and hence if +ve need to buy now right? Thanks.

I dont know timing - but could be they wait for US open ...... might buy a few later today if they did - 2.5p at this time

The results will be announced at 07:00 tomorrow - when the bond market opens.

When the last preliminary results were announced can you tell me the mkt reaction?

I wouldn't pay too much attention to that - things are a lot different now.

In my view the only 'real' thing that is going to move this price significantly upwards is confirmation of the agreement of the restructure plans.

What's L2 showing. Offer has moved up & hence I probably should not have kept waiting. Thanks Ains/Baldrick, too late for me now so hope can get in tommorrow @lower level.

last figures were on the 7th nov - and the shares lost against the opening price

vols picking up now and as always only a few peeps want to sell



ains

I expect the headline losses to be pretty dire. This to reflect further massive writedowns in asset value.
The end game being to make TWT a slimmer & meaner company post restructure.
Whether or not existing shareholders participate in the future of the company, is open to question.

Existing shareholders are in line for the minimum 3% already discussed ..... don't see this changing on the downside



ains

Existing Shareholders are in line for the minimum 3%, only if agreed to by Bondholders.
This figure was speculatively put forward by TWT Directors at the time of restructure announcement. It was never agreed to by Bondholders.
Since Telewest are now officially in default, neither the Directors or Shareholders have any bargaining powers, on what ratio restructure will be.
That will be down to the 'generosity' of Bondholders.

thats just nonsense ...... it is already agreed that shareholders will have the vote on the package for D4E including Liberty - we sre not about to vote for nothing. We don't need the generosity of the bondholders - they do not run or own the company and you have made a complete mistake in saying the bondholders didnt agree - that's where the 3% figure came from ........


ains

HIGHLIGHTS

- Broadband leadership
- 297,000 broadband subscribers today
- 10% of customers subscribe to triple-play (up from 3%)
- EBITDA before exceptionals up 19% year-on-year to 379m
- Headcount reductions of 1,450 delivered
- Capex down by 27% year-on-year
- Exceptional non-cash charge of 1,643m for asset impairment
- Financial restructuring discussions continue

Commenting on the results, Charles Burdick, managing director of Telewest
Communications, said:

'We continue our focused strategy designed to accelerate cash generation, future
profitability and provide a platform for growth. These results demonstrate the
progress we have made. Costs (before redundancy payments) and capex are
significantly down and revenues, EBITDA and EBITDA margin are up. We now have
297,000 broadband customers and approximately 80% market share in our cabled
areas.

'Our efforts are now focused on sustaining our leadership in broadband, building
a profitable customer-base, great customer service and controlling costs. We are
building on our strengths in local access to the residential and business
customer; the power of bundling multiple services; and our unique position in
content through our ownership of Flextech.

Management and staff have responded well in very difficult circumstances and I
am confident that the right strategies and steps have now been taken to deliver
the vision for this company.'

Telewest takes 1.6 billion pound asset writedown
27/03/2003 07:27


LONDON (Reuters) - Telewest Communications, Britains second largest cable group, has reported 19 percent growth in core 2002 earnings and but has taken a 1.643 billion pound non-cash asset impairment charge.

The writedown pushed Telewest to a net loss after exceptionals to 2.218 billion pounds for the year to December 31. The company also said talks on its 3.5 billion pound debt restructuring were continuing.

Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) rose to 379 million pounds from 319 million the year before. Analysts had forecast EBITDA of between 372 million and 391 million pounds.


2003 Reuters

03/27 02:01
Liberty Media to Pay Starz Encore Chief Executive $275 Million
By Adam Steinhauer


Englewood, Colorado, March 27 (Bloomberg) -- Liberty Media Corp., the company controlled by billionaire John Malone, said the head of its Starz Encore cable-television networks exercised options requiring Liberty to pay him about $275 million.

John Sie, chief executive of Starz Encore Group, exercised 54 percent of the ``phantom stock appreciation rights'' he held in the unit he runs, Liberty said Tuesday in a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. The options' estimated value of $275 million may be adjusted after an appraisal of Starz Encore's business, Liberty said.

Sie is reducing his investment in the Starz Encore group of movie networks as its cash-flow growth slows. Comcast Corp., the biggest U.S. cable-TV system operator, is withholding some payments that Starz Encore claims it's owed and is suing Starz Encore in a contract dispute over programming costs.

``Certainly there are some issues at Starz that they need to work through, especially with Comcast,'' said James Stephenson, a fund manager at Bel Air Investment Advisors in Los Angeles. Bel Air held 703,073 Liberty Media shares in December.

Sie, who exercised his options in December, ``believes that the best years for Starz Encore Group are still ahead,'' Starz Encore spokesman Eric Becker said in an e-mail.

The growth of digital-cable systems, which carry more channels, and introduction of video-on-demand services will benefit Starz, Becker said.

Sie exercised the options to ``diversify his portfolio'' after 12 years at Starz Encore, Becker said.

Liberty said it will pay Sie with a combination of cash and Liberty stock.

Comcast Dispute

Starz Encore's operating cash flow won't rise this year and its revenue will rise at a percentage rate in the ``low single digits'' at most, Liberty said Tuesday. That assumes that Comcast continues to pay the rate it has agreed to under its own agreement with Starz Encore.

Comcast bought AT&T Corp.'s cable-TV unit last year. Starz claims that Comcast owes it the higher rate that AT&T had agreed to pay to carry the networks on the former AT&T cable systems.

Starz's operating cash flow rose 19 percent to $371 million last year. Englewood, Colorado-based Liberty defines operating cash flow as earnings before interest, depreciation, amortization and some other expenses.

QVC, Vivendi

The dispute over Starz Encore's rates may be settled in Comcast's negotiations with Liberty over their jointly-owned QVC shopping network, analysts said. Liberty has exercised an option requiring Comcast to either buy Liberty's 43 percent stake in QVC or give Liberty the option of buying Comcast's majority stake.

``The question is, will they resolve it in the suit or will they resolve it in a bundle of issues they have with Comcast?'' said Robert Routh, an analyst at Natexis Bleichroeder Inc.

A Comcast spokesman didn't immediately return a phone call seeking comment.

Liberty Chief Executive Robert Bennett has said the company may buy a controlling stake in Vivendi Universal SA's U.S. entertainment assets. Those include the Universal film studio and the USA and Sci-Fi cable TV networks.

Liberty might combine those assets with Starz Encore, Routh said.

Liberty shares were unchanged at $10.09 yesterday in New York Stock Exchange composite trading. The stock has fallen 16 percent over the past year.

BBC

Telewest makes a 2.2bn loss


Cable company Telewest has managed to stem its losses but it is still deeply in the red.
It made a net loss of 506m ($798m) in the past financial year, an improvement on the 801m loss the previous year.

But it also wrote off a large sum because the value of its assets had fallen - and that took the overall loss to 2.2bn.

The managing director, Charles Burdick, said the results showed the company was making progress.

He said Telewest was leading the way with broadband connections in its cabled areas and was focusing on holding on to that lead.

03/27 07:28
Telewest Fourth-Quarter Loss Widens on Writedown, Sales Decline
By Dex McLuskey


London, March 27 (Bloomberg) -- Telewest Communications Plc, the second U.K. cable-television company in a year agreeing to hand bondholders control, said its fourth-quarter loss widened as sales fell and it lowered the value of its network.

The net loss swelled to 1.8 billion pounds ($2.84 million), or 63.3 pence a share, from 1.3 billion pounds, or 46.5p, a year earlier. Revenue fell to 327 million pounds from 333 million pounds, the company said in a Regulatory News Service statement.

Telewest and bigger rival NTL Inc. amassed about $26 billion of debt building networks and buying rivals to compete with British Sky Broadcasting Group Plc and BT Group Plc. Telewest will give bondholders 97 percent of the equity in return for 3.5 billion pounds they're owed. NTL bondholders took control after the company reneged on repaying $10.9 billion of debt.

Telewest added 46,046 Blueyonder faster Internet customers in the quarter and lost 11,024 cable-TV subscribers, it said.

The fourth-quarter loss included an exceptional charge of 1.6 billion pounds, including 1.49 billion pounds to write down goodwill at the cable and TV content units, the statement said.

The year-earlier loss included a 1.13 billion-pound charge to write down the value of the Flextech unit, which provides TV programs to broadcasters. Flextech also has a joint venture, UKTV, with the British Broadcasting Corp.

Telewest shares yesterday rose 4.4 percent to 2.6 pence in London, valuing the company at 75 million pounds.

Good morning Ainsoph

Hi

seems that we got what the market expected .....


ains


Article detail

View article raw |





(AFX-Focus) 2003-03-27 08:11 GMT: Telewest says confident of successful outcome to restructuring talks - UPDATE
(Updating with cashflow forecast from chief executive)
LONDON (AFX) - Telewest Communications PLC said it was confident of a successful outcome to talks aimed at securing a rescue package for the heavily-indebted cable TV, telephone and internet group.

The comments came as the company unveiled a full-year net loss of over 2 bln stg following a large asset write-off.

Telewest said negotiations with creditors over a plan to swap 3.5 bln stg of its 5.2 bln debt for equity were continuing.

"Negotiations are continuing with the bondholder committee, the company's senior lenders and certain other major stakeholders with a view to the completion of the restructuring," it said.

And it added: "The board of directors have confidence in the successful conclusion of a restructuring of the company's balance sheet."

The news came as the company revealed that a 1.64 bln stg asset write-off led to a net loss of 2.29 bln stg in the 12 months to December, wider than the 1.94 bln loss it racked up the previous year.

Its net loss excluding exceptional items came in at 506 mln stg, narrower than 2002's 801 mln loss.

EBITDA (earnings before interest tax and debt amortisation) rose to 379 mln stg from 319 mln.

Chief executive Charles Burdick told reporters during a conference call that the company is on track to become cash flow positive by the end of the year, six months ahead of the group's original schedule.

Nick Goodway, Evening Standard 27 March 2003

ABLE company Telewest was left nursing a 2.2 billion loss last year, including a 1.6 billion writedown of its assets, following its failure so far to secure a debt-for-equity swap.




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Managing director Charles Burdick is confident the financial restructuring will happen and that it will at least see Telewest through to being cashflow positive.



But in the meantime lawyers and accountants advising on the balance sheet restructuring managed to clock up fees of 22 million in the last year.


The odds on Telewest merging with rival NTL have lengthened recently as major bondholder Bill Huff has withdrawn from restructuring talks. Burdick said: 'Our efforts are now focused on sustaining our leadershipin broadband, building a profitable customer base, greater customer service and controlling costs.


Turnover rose 2% to 1.35 billion with earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation* up 19% to 379 million. But even before exceptional charges net* losses were 501 million. Capital spending fell from 653 million to 477 million but net debt crept up from 5.1 billion to 5.3 billion.


Telewest now has 297,000 broadband customers and 183,000 of them subscribe to the triple play of internet, telephone and television.

LONDON, March 27 (Reuters) - Telewest Communications Plc, Britain's second largest cable company, said on Thursday there were no major obstacles to its 3.5 billion pound ($5.5 billion) debt restructuring.

"Because I've made predictions of timing in the past, I'm going to hesitate making any further predictions," Managing Director Charles Burdick told reporters on a conference call. "But we're getting closer."

"It's slow, steady progress. I'm anxious to do this as quickly as possible. It takes a lot of different parties to come to the table, but there are no major obstacles in place."

Having cut just completed 1,450 job cuts, Burdick said there would be more by the end of 2003. "We ended the year at just over 9,000 employees, and we would expect that to be reduced in the range of several hundred through attrition," he said.

Copyright 2003, Reuters News Service

Charles Burdick interview on www.cantos.com

updates with comments on job losses)
LONDON (AFX) - Telewest Communications PLC said it is confident of a successful outcome to talks aimed at securing a rescue package for the heavily-indebted cable TV, telephone and internet group.

The comments came as the company, which has racked up debts of over 5 bln stg after an ill-conceived expansion drive, unveiled a full-year net loss of over 2 bln stg following a large asset write-off.

Telewest said negotiations with creditors over a plan to swap 3.5 bln stg of its 5.2 bln debt for equity are continuing.

"Negotiations are continuing with the bondholder committee, the company's senior lenders and certain other major stakeholders with a view to the completion of the restructuring," it said.

And it added: "The board of directors have confidence in the successful conclusion of a restructuring of the company's balance sheet."

The overhaul is expected to leave its embattled shareholders with just 3 pct of the company.

At the height of the boom in telecom and media stocks three years ago, Telewest was worth more than 14 bln stg. It is now worth around 20 mln stg.

News of the continuing negotiations came as the company revealed that a 1.64 bln stg asset write-off led to a net loss of 2.29 bln stg in the 12 months to December, wider than the 1.94 bln loss it racked up the previous year.

Its net loss excluding exceptional items came in at 506 mln stg, narrower than 2002's 801 mln loss.

EBITDA (earnings before interest tax and debt amortisation) rose to 379 mln stg from 319 mln.

Chief executive Charles Burdick told reporters during a conference call that the company is on track to become cash flow positive by the end of the year, six months ahead of the group's original schedule.

He also said the company would lose "several hundred" jobs through attrition this year.

"There are no across-the-board job cuts," he said. "But through attrition we expect to end the year (with) a lower number (of workers) -- basically by not replacing people that leave."

Telewest currently employs around 9,000 workers, he said.

no real change in the trading range - volumes are high @ 11.5 million


Telewest inches closer to debt agreement

Chris Tryhorn Guardian
Thursday March 27, 2003

Telewest managing director Charles Burdick today said the cable company was making "slow, steady progress" in its efforts to resolve its debt restructuring.

Mr Burdick said negotiations with John Malone's Liberty Media and Deutsche Telekom - both of which hold 10% of Telewest's bonds - and the bondholders' committee are getting closer to completing what he called an "intensive paper process of agreements".

Telewest, Britain's second largest cable company, owes 3.5bn to the bondholders, and agreed last year to exchange the debts for 97% of the group's shares.

Reports have suggested the refinancing will be completed by the end of May, but Mr Burdick today refused to give a precise indication.

He also implied that a merger with NTL, which has just emerged from Chapter 11 bankruptcy with a new team of executives, was inevitable.

"We have gone from 26 cable companies [in 1990] to two, and some day that will be one," he said. "That will be market permitting and shareholder permitting."

Telewest revealed today its losses had increased in 2002 to 2.2bn from 1.9bn. This made allowance for a write-off of 1.6bn of goodwill.

The company said it was changing its focus from subscriber acquisition to "churn reduction" and focusing on customer service as well as cost control.

"We are very focused on churn reduction and tightening up our sales process," Mr Burdick said.

It is facing a battle from BSkyB's satellite service for TV business and from BT for the provision of broadband internet services. Telewest claims it has 297,000 broadband customers.

Mr Burdick said he was keen to further the identification of the Telewest name with its content arm Flextech and its channels including Trouble, Bravo and FTN, by stamping programmes with the Telewest logo and introducing other cross-promotional measures.

He is still looking for a replacement for the former managing editor of Flextech, Jane Lighting, who has moved to being chief executive of Channel Five.

In its drive to cut costs, Telewest trimmed its workforce last year by 1,450 to just over 9,000, and Mr Burdick said "several hundred" jobs would go in 2003 as a result of "attrition", departing workers who will not be replaced.

Mr Burdick said the company was well placed for growth after restructuring.

"We will be well positioned to realise our ambition of being the leading broadband communications company in the UK," he said.

The Scotsman

Telewest takes control as profits rise by 19%

BY GARETH MACKIE BUSINESS EDITOR


TELEWEST Communications, the UKs second-largest cable group, today reported 19 per cent growth in core profits, but has taken a 1.64 billion writedown in the value of its assets.

Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation came to 379 million last year, the troubled firm said, compared with 319m in 2001 and in line with analysts expectations.

Total turnover in the year to the end of December rose two per cent to 1.35bn, but the writedown pushed Telewest to a net loss, after exceptional items, of 2.2bn, and the company said talks on restructuring 3.5bn of its massive debt pile were continuing.

Managing director Charles Burdick said: "We continue our focused strategy designed to accelerate cash generation, future profitability and provide a platform for growth. These results demonstrate the progress we have made."

He said costs before redundancy payments and capital expenditure were down "significantly".

Last May, Telewest announced 1500 job losses, or 15 per cent of the total workforce, while cutting annual capital expenditure from 600m to 450m. Staff at its operation at Edinburgh Park are being affected by those cuts, but the company has not confirmed how many posts are being lost in the Capital.

Mr Burdick said: "Our efforts are now focused on sustaining our leadership in broadband, building a profitable customer base, great customer service and controlling costs.

"We are building on our strengths in local access to the residential and business customer, the power of bundling multiple services, and our unique position in content through our ownership of Flextech."

Last month it was revealed that Walt Disney Television International, the distribution arm of Disney, had investigated the possibility of buying Flextech, Telewests TV production and distribution division. No formal bid was made and the two companies are not believed to have started even informal talks.

Ex-Flextech chief executive Jane Lighting has been installed as the new head of Channel 5, and the unit is being run in the short term by Mark Luiz, Telewests finance director.

Telewest has focused on selling high-speed internet access to the 4.7 million homes available to its network. It added 46,046 broadband subscribers in the fourth quarter, and as of today has a total of 297,000 broadband customers.

But as it competes with satellite television company BSkyB and former telephone monopoly BT, the cable company lost 866 telephony subscribers and 11,024 cable subscribers in the fourth quarter.

Telewests average monthly revenue per user rose to 41.80 from 41.59 in the third quarter and just over 40 a year ago.

Mr Burdick said negotiations with creditors over a plan to swap 3.5bn of its 5.2bn debt for equity were continuing.

The company has already agreed in principle to hand over 97 per cent of its equity to bondholders to wipe out 3.5bn in bond debt. That means Telewest shareholders will be left owning only about three per cent of the company.

Telewest, like rival NTL, ran up massive debts by spending billions of pounds on a rapid expansion drive.

Highest volume for 7 weeks already and that's before US open - price has edged down a tad but stil within recent trading range


ains



Telewest reports £2.2bn losses channel 5

Cable operator Telewest has reported a £2.2 billion loss for last year after it took a £1.6 billion write-down on the value of its assets.

The company, which provides cable television and internet services, announced the figures as it continued efforts to complete a financial restructuring.

The UK's second biggest cable operator has been working for the last year to overhaul a £3.5 billion debt mountain but has offered no firm guidance on when the talks with bondholders, senior lenders and stakeholders would be finished.

However, the Woking, Surrey-based group said it was confident of a successful conclusion to the process.

Telewest, like rival NTL, ran up massive debts after spending billions on a rapid expansion drive with its network now covering nearly 5 million homes.

In a statement, Telewest said it now had 80 per cent of market share in its cabled areas and had taken its number of broadband customers to 297,000 - 183,000 of those subscribing to Internet, telephone and television.

As part of a cost-cutting exercise the company has delivered 1,450 job cuts of the 1,500 it promised in the summer and has slashed capital expenditure by 27 per cent to £477 million during the past year.

Telewest made a loss before the write downs of £506 million in the year to December 31, an improvement on the £801 million loss the previous year. But that rose to an overall loss of £2.2 billion after the write downs.

In January, Telewest overcame a major hurdle when it secured a new £2.2 billion bank loan, allowing it to stay in business while it thrashed out a debt-for-equity swap.

Analysts in the City have predicted Telewest could merge with rival NTL when both have stabilised their financial position.

In the fourth quarter, Telewest sold for cash its shareholding in SMG for £45 million and Maidstone Studios for £4 million in further moves designed to pay off debts.

Revenues from the consumer division rose 6 per cent to £910 million, mainly from the growth of broadband products, with average revenue per user growing by 4 per cent to £41.80 for the year.

Internet and other revenues rose by 98 per cent to £79 million in 2002 while revenue from the business division increased by 5 per cent to £224 million.



--

2 million buy just gone through @ the touch ......

If what I've stated is nonsense, please tell me where it specifically states existing shareholders are guaranteed 3% of post restructure equity.
The only news I can see is:- Telewest Communications PLC, the heavily-indebted cable company, said it was confident of securing a deal with lenders that would allow it to stay in business.
They have only a non-binding preliminary agreement to restructure. Although 3% may well happen, bondholders could still do what they did to both Energis & NTL.
Since TWT are effectively in administration, in all but name, shareholders can have no say in any restructure. Given the asset/equity value of the company, the bondholders could go to the courts, state they are willing to accept equity for debt & get the lot.
I suggest you study Company Law in this respect & in particular how easily the two companies mentioned were handed over to creditors.

I have copies of all the relevant paperwork from TWT - articles of association and memorandum ..... of course I don't profess to be a lawyer but have spoken with their directors + their chairman + their lawyers. Also have correspondance with them, the DTI and FSA chair peeps.

This situation is different to the ones you mention and whilst their are no guarantees - the company will not be going into administration - shareholders will be voting on the proposals and it's probable existing shareholders will get 3%.

By all means short them if you think differently - I am looking to add a few and will apppreciate any help I can get. My money is on the long side and will stay there for the end game.

Suggest you reread some of the above posts thast have originated from twt


ains

Whilst not speaking directly to Telewest Officers, I have been in communication with them. On the rest I can only say me too ainsoph.
I am not a shorter, holding 40k+ of TWT & like you holding out 'til the end: however it pans out.
Given past performances from the Board of Telewest, I now have little faith in any of their actions: in relation to shareholder security.
Their obligations are first to the company, then creditors & at the bottom of the pile is the shareholder.

I accept they will look after their own jobs first and also the general concept that although we feed them - the shareholders are last in the queue. There is little doubt the previous CEO led us astray but we cannot do much about the past. I am reasonably assured from my discussions that TWT will not be able to do a Marconi. It is in no ones interests for the company to go into administration and therefore the bondholders will have to negotiate on a reasonable basis - accepting the fact that Liberty have a blocking vote and also control a substantial number of bonds.

I am reasonably confident but now talking from the strength of having traded myself into net profit. I still go along with the idea we will see a successful D4E and the minimum value of current shares will be 3p with a high probability of 5p in the very short term.


ains




Telewest announces massive losses after a major impairment of its assets as the restructuring of its balance sheet grinds slowly on.


Chief executive Charles Burdick preferred to focus on the operational successes of selling broadband Internet access, but with equity that is about to disappear to the bondholders and losses of 2.2 billion after these write-offs, the cable television operator holds little allure.

Telewest (TWT) has taken a massive 1.6 billion asset impairment to better reflect current valuations of such assets. Although this is a non-cash item, it leaves a particularly nasty pre-tax loss.

Turnover for the year to December rose 3% to 1.35 billion and earnings before amortisation and the exceptional write-offs rose 19% to 379 million.

The company has slashed some 400 million a year off costs through a 40% reduction in staff as well as a 27% cut in capital expenditure, which is expected to continue next year also. Capital expenditure should run at around 'the mid-three hundreds [million]' next year.

Burdick said the balance sheet restructuring, which involves a debt for equity swap that will leave equity holders with just 3% of the company, is a 'slow process' which is still grinding on but is 'getting closer.'

The company is still in talks with banks and bondholders, significantly Deutsche Bank and Liberty Media.

Burdick reckons today's results are 'solid' and particularly show success in broadband sales as well as a 'relentless' focus on cutting costs.

He said the company had reviewed its strategy, and has shifted its focus to leadership in Broadband Internet, which has the highest margins, and is most likely to prompt users to take Telewest's 'triple play,' of telephony, TV and Internet.

The company's business division grew by 5% by focusing on upselling to existing corporate customers, although services to other carriers were down to 43 million from 61 million.

The content business, Flextech, grew advertising revenues 'ahead of the market.'

Burdick's target for the company is for it to be cashflow positive by the fourth quarter of this year.

Shares are down 0.2p to 2.4p, valuing the one-time giant at just 68.9 million.

Citywire Verdict:

Telewest talks of broadband leadership, but it has stiff competition in BT. It continues to lose plenty of customers from churning, the business division still has enormous challenges in the wholesale sector due to other carriers' problems, and if Telewest is lucky and finalises the debt restructuring, there will be just a tiny amount left for equity holders. All in all, one to pull the plug on.

2003 Citywire

Telewest claims 300,000 broadband punters...
By Tim Richardson
Posted: 27/03/2003 at 15:13 GMT


Telewest has almost 300,000 broadband customers, it boasted today.

Publishing its full year results, the cableco said that it had 297,000 broadband users, with 31,000 of those signed up to its 1Mbps service.

No doubt Telewest is keen to plug this good news story and the fact that it is to begin trials of a new 2Mbps broadband service.

Predictably, though, many of today's headlines have focused on the cableco's announcement that it made a loss of 2.2 billion for the year, which included and "exceptional non-cash charge" of 1.64 billion for the devaluation of some of its assets.

Turnover for the year was up a smidgen at 1.3 billion.

Zeroing-in on its Internet operation, Telewest reported that revenues from this had increased by 98 per cent to 79 million in 2002, due mainly to the growth in broadband subscribers. Of which it now has nearly 300,000.

The company also claims that its broadband product is helping to attract new customers for other services, including digital TV and telecoms.

News, Liberty strike share deal
By Geoff Hiscock, CNN Asia Business Editor
Friday, March 28, 2003 Posted: 0404 GMT (12:04 PM HKT)



Rupert Murdoch and son Lachlan see DirecTV as a good fit for News Corp.



SYDNEY, Australia (CNN) -- Global media group News Corp has struck a deal with a major shareholder, John Malone's Liberty Media Corp, for Liberty to buy up to $500 million in News shares over the next six months.

Liberty already owns about 18 percent of News, which is controlled by executive chairman Rupert Murdoch and his family.

The deal gives impetus to the long-running bid by Murdoch for U.S. satellite broadcaster DirecTV, which is owned by Hughes Electronics, a unit of General Motors.

News is expected to make a bid for GM's 30 percent economic stake in Hughes, rather than seeking full ownership.

Under the deal announced Friday, Liberty would buy preferred limited voting ordinary shares in News at $21.50 per American Depositary Receipt (ADR).

The joint announcement, released to the Australian Stock Exchange just before midday Friday, immediately sent News shares higher.

They are trading up 3.17 percent at A$11.10 in early afternoon, on a day when the broader market is flat.

News said that if Liberty does not exercise its right within six months, News can require Liberty to buy the stock at the same price of $21.50 per ADR if News acquires a stake in Hughes Electronics within two years.

The $500 million share deal indicates that Malone is prepared to back a Murdoch bid for DirecTV.

Murdoch has wanted for years to buy DirecTV to give him access to the large U.S. satellite television market and add its assets to a global broadcasting empire that includes BSkyB in the U.K. and Star TV in Asia.

With 10 million subscribers, DirecTV is the largest U.S. satellite broadcaster.

An earlier bid by Murdoch was thwarted in October 2001 when GM opted to sell Hughes Electronics to the No.2 U.S. satellite broadcaster EchoStar for about $26 billion. EchoStar, controlled by Charlie Ergen, has 6.7 million subscribers

That sale was subsequently vetoed by regulators in late 2002, allowing Murdoch to revive his ambitions.

GM owns 100 percent of the assets of Hughes and 30 percent of the tracking stock. Along with News, other potential bidders for DirecTV are SBC Communications and New York-based Cablevision Systems Corp.

Murdoch's son Lachlan, deputy chief operating officer of News, said recently that either DirecTV or EchoStar would be a "great fit" for the company's business.

News Corp's media assets include newspapers in Australia, the UK and the U.S., satellite broadcasters in Europe, Asia and Latin America, the Fox Broadcasting Network and the Hollywood studio Twentieth Century Fox.

Liberty Media operates in video programming, broadband distribution, interactive technology and communications.

coming within range maybe ..... 215 230

Liberty helps rival bid for Hughes

David Teather in New York
Saturday March 29, 2003
The Guardian

Liberty Media has backed away from challenging Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation in a bid for Hughes Corporation, the parent company of DirecTV, the biggest
satellite television network in the US.
John Malone, the prolific media investor who runs Liberty, has instead decided to back Mr Murdoch's bid, and increase his own stake in News Corp from 17.5% to 19%.

Liberty is already the largest outside shareholder in News Corp, whose assets include the Times and the Sun newspapers, the Fox TV network and a controlling stake in BSkyB.

Liberty will pay $500m (318m) for the additional shares, which will help fund the Hughes bid.

News Corp last week issued a $1.35bn convertible bond against shares in BSkyB, of which roughly half will be added to its war chest. The company has one of the strongest balance sheets in the debt-ridden media sector and has around $3.1bn in cash.

Liberty and News Corp had been planning a joint bid for Hughes but the plans fell apart and both were considering individual offers.

Mr Malone has been shifting the strategy of Liberty and is moving more toward owning and operating businesses instead of being a passive investor.

The company might have considered DirecTV a more logical fit with News Corp, which owns cable channels in the US as well as satellite net works around the world, including Star TV in Asia.

The decision to work with Mr Murdoch also quashes speculation of a rift between the two media moguls who have worked in tandem on many deals.

Liberty's decision to back away significantly improves the chances that News Corp will win Hughes, fulfilling Mr Murdoch's long-held ambition to own a US distribution network.

In the first auction for Hughes, more than a year ago, Mr Murdoch lost to DirecTV's rival EchoStar. But regulators balked at the merger of the top two satellite providers in the US and blocked the deal.

News Corp could face opposition from SBC Communications, but it remains unclear how serious the local telephone provider is about making an offer.

Liberty is understood to have held discussions with EchoStar about a possible bid. Like News Corp, Liberty owns content including the Discovery Channel, Starz and QVC and is eager to combine its programming with a distribution network. Washington might take a dim view on a deal, given Liberty's investment in News Corp.

Mr Murdoch has appeared to be interested only in acquiring the 20% of Hughes that General Motors is making available for sale. How much control that would give Mr Murdoch or Mr Malone, who may have negotiated some kind of board representation, is debatable.

Chris Tryhorn
Monday March 31, 2003


Jean-Marie Messier: accused of 'fraud, misrepresentation and concealment'

John Malone's Liberty Media has filed a lawsuit against Vivendi Universal, claiming it was deceived about the scale of the French group's financial problems during a transaction in December 2001.

The deal involved Liberty swapping some of its stake in USA Networks for a 3.5% share of Vivendi worth 1.1bn, an investment that has lost more than 70% of its value since May 2002, when the deal was closed.

Liberty said Vivendi's chief executive at the time, Jean-Marie Messier, and his chief financial officer, Guillaume Hannezo, obscured the true picture of Vivendi's finances with "outright fraud, misrepresentation and concealment".

The deal was part of the complex negotiations to form Vivendi Universal Entertainment, which was created out of Barry Diller's USA Networks.

Vivendi described Liberty's suit, which was filed in New York, as "without merit".

The two firms have recently been in talks on future tie-ups and Liberty has registered an interest in buying the troubled group's US entertainment assets,

which include Universal Studios and USA Networks.

Vivendi - which posted the biggest loss in French corporate history earlier this month - has been trying to reduce its debt mountain of about 11bn over the past nine months since Mr Messier was ousted.

Last week it raised 2.4bn by issuing high-yield bonds and signing a new loan facility but its long-term prospects may depend on selling its assets.

It has already disposed of publisher Houghton Mifflin, Italian pay-TV broadcaster Telepiu and satellite broadcaster Canal Plus Technologies.

The Vivendi chairman, Jean-RenFourtou, has said his target for 2003 is to dispose of assets worth 4.8bn and reduce debt to 7.6bn.

Liberty is known to be interested in making acquisitions, having boosted its war chest to about 2.5bn in recent weeks.

Vivendi's assets are one potential target and it may buy the rest of shopping channel QVC, which it co-owns with Comcast.

Mr Malone seems to have stepped aside from bidding for US satellite broadcaster DirecTV, putting his weight instead behind Rupert Murdoch's likely bid after upping his stake in the tycoon's News Corporation last week.

MediaGuardian.co.uk special report

ainsoph, do you reckon we'll now be stuck with the 3% or could TWT follow the pattern of other recent D4Es by including warrants? I got the impression in the TAG days that you felt not or not able to say - any different views now - perhaps even on the 3%. Taking a long time too isn't it. If it was as simple as 3% we'd surely be there by now. Any insight?

Andyble

I have talked at some length with the directors and others at TWT on the question of the 3% and very specifically on the idea of including warrants. At the time it was made clear they thought the idea of warrants was a non-starter (too messy) and the 3% was 6 times better than moni and a good deal ..... good for both sides. It seemed very unlikely when it was first mooted they (Company or bondholders) would change their view or stance.

As time went bye Liberty and others took various positions and my inclination was to think the % would be higher - it never crossed my mind it would be lower. liberty are still keen to keep control but guess they don't have sufficient paper and the other bondholders clearly want to go their own way. My guess ids still a 3% minimum and the delays are about control rather than the ordinary others shareholders %

Missed the action yesterday but will be looking to add


ains

ainsoph, thanks.

Together NTL and Telewest are ahead of BT in the broadband stakes, and could sign up more than one million customers by the end of April
The UK's two major cable companies are close to reaching a total of one million broadband customers, and look set to beat BT to this landmark by at least a couple of months, according to figures released by NTL on Monday.

In its financial results, NTL stated that on 21 March it had 650,000 broadband cable modem customers. Around 133,000 of these users have signed up since the start of 2003, giving NTL a current take-up rate of around 12,000 new broadband customers per week.



With fellow cable operator Telewest having around 300,000 broadband customers, the two companies can boast a total of some 950,000 high-speed Internet users.

Reaching a combined total of million broadband users would give both firms a fillip, especially given their recent financial turmoil, and would emphasise their key role in the creation of Broadband Britain.

At current sign-up rates -- Telewest is connecting "about a thousand new broadband customers each working day", according to a company spokesman -- this milestone should be shattered before the end of April.

Whither BT?
BT chief executive Ben Verwaayen vowed last year that the telco would reach one million ADSL customers by the summer of 2003, and five million by 2006. Given the patchy state of Broadband Britain at the time, this was an ambitious target, but the telco seems to be on track.

It announced last week that it had a total of 750,000 ADSL customers -- shared between all the ISPs that resell its wholesale broadband products. Take-up rate is understood to be between 20,000 and 25,000 per week, which if maintained would certainly lift Verwaayen's firm over the finishing line with ease.

Some ISPs are speculating privately, though, that BT could soon be hit by a minor slump in orders as people begin to favour outdoor activities and decide to hold back from splashing out on broadband until after their summer holidays. The ending of its half-price activation fee offer might also lead to a decline in take-up.

BT insisted, though, that it is still "absolutely" on track for one million users by this summer. And, having not set a specific date such as 30 June, it has some leeway if the one million target isn't hit until July.

Must admit I chopped my TWT lines a month or so ago .....


BT 'second best', says Telewest
By Tim Richardson
Posted: 02/04/2003 at 14:19 GMT


Telewest claims BT is still "second best" despite today's announcement that the UK's dominant telco is to cut the cost of some of its phone calls.

In what could prove to be the beginning of a war of words following BT's "radical" pricing announcement this morning, David Hobday, deputy MD of Telewest Broadband, said: "This is yet another example of BT waking from its cosy slumber, attempting to follow our lead and getting it all wrong.

"Their own research demonstrates consumers' desire for lower, less complicated call charges, and that's exactly what we've been offering for over a year now.

"Our Talk Unlimited, Talk Evenings & Weekends and Talk International packages, which BT conveniently seems to ignore in its comparisons, still make BT second best."

Casting doubt over BT's latest assertions, one insider told us: "Our Telewest Talk Unlimited service is 26 per month with no strings attached, yet their BT Anytime plan is 28.50 with call charges after an hour... go figure it out for yourself."

Almost added a few today but couldnt get the price I wanted - 13m sell after close



ains

Battle of the band

Speculation is rife about a merger between NTL and Telewest. But if it goes ahead, can the new cable giant challenge BT for the leadership of Broadband Britain? By Richard Wray

Monday April 7, 2003
The Guardian

Ten years ago there were more than two dozen cable companies operating in the UK. Today there are just two, NTL and Telewest. To get here both companies spent billions of pounds and in the process pushed themselves to the edge of the financial abyss. They are now trying to stage a recovery and speculation is rife that if a merger can be agreed a single cable company would be a powerful competitive force.

But forget Sky, the enemy here is BT, and the prize is leadership in Broadband Britain.

With all the noise made by BT over the past few months about its broadband offerings it is often forgotten that more UK households actually use cable for fast internet access. Later this month cable will announce that it has amassed one million broadband users, a target that BT will not pass until the summer.

Some in the cable industry believe that one of the key drivers behind BT's acceptance of the importance of broadband last year was its need to see off the competitive threat posed by cable.

After months and months of wrangling about gaining access to BT's local exchanges to use its lines - a process known as local loop unbundling - BT introduced a wholesale product which allows any internet access provider (ISP) to make use of its lines at an affordable price. This digital subscriber line (DSL) technology suddenly opened up BT's lines to other ISPs.

Last week BT announced it has connected 800,000 lines using a particular version of this new technology - known as ADSL. It also cut its price, having halved it last year, in order to ensure it hits its target of one million broadband customers using its network by the summer.

Bill Goodland, internet product director at NTL, believes cable rather than the government and the regulator Oftel should be thanked for BT's largesse. "The improvements that we have seen at a retail and wholesale level are directly linked to what the cable companies are doing - it is competitive, not regulatory pressure that is improving life for your average DSL customer."

The question is whether the cable companies can continue to outpace BT now that the weight of the communications group is so firmly behind broadband. What will hamper the cable industry is exactly what led them into last year's financial mire - having to pay to dig up the roads.

The cable industry is some way away from being a truly national competitor to BT. BT last week announced that 90% of the UK's population is now within reach of a local telephone exchange that can provide broadband - if enough people in the area want it. That compares with the cable networks of NTL and Telewest, which pass just over half of the UK's 25m households.

In addition the cable network is far from being fully integrated. It is more like a patchwork quilt, a consequence of the different acquisitions which formed Telewest and NTL in the 90s.

Telewest reckons that about 95% of its network, which passes 4.9m homes, is broadband-enabled while NTL is lagging the field, with just 79% of the 8.4m homes it passes able to receive fast, always-on internet access through a cable modem.

"The limiting factor is that their networks pass much fewer households than BT," according to Jonathan Tee, analyst at industry research house Analysis. "So there is inevitably going to come a point when BT does overtake both the cable companies, regardless of whether or not they are one company."

To create a national network the cable companies would need cash. While NTL has dragged itself most of the way back to some semblance of financial health, having just emerged from bankruptcy protection, Telewest is still trying to bash heads together among its creditors in order to get a new financial package passed. That is unlikely to happen until the autumn.

In the meantime both companies are very wary of scaring the financial markets by mentioning any expansion. At the time of NTL's results last month its chief executive Barclay Knapp made it clear that the company's first priority is to make use of equipment that has already been installed, connecting people who have moved into homes where the previous occupant was a customer. Then NTL will move to connecting customers that are passed on the street. NTL is unlikely to increase its geographic footprint any time soon.

Announcing results a few days later, Telewest's chief executive, Charles Burdick, said: "The focus for the team is on driving the operations and moving out of the restructuring."

So would a merger of the two companies help? It would have no overall effect on customers, as the two networks do not compete in any of the same areas. But the chances of the financial community suddenly feeling more confident about the economics of cable are slim in the current climate.

Anthony Walker, head of the Broadband Stakeholder Group, set up two years ago to advise the government on the new technology, believes that cable is likely to remain a smaller player than BT for some considerable time. "BT is always going to have more coverage, the big question is at what point can the cable industry start expanding its coverage - it is going to be a while before that happens."

But he believes the cable companies will continue to play a crucial role in the development of broadband. "The cable companies have been a really important competitors to BT and I think in many ways that competition has continued to drive development and innovation in the market".

The main area of innovation for the cable companies has been the introduction of broadband services which work at different speeds. While BT's ADSL-based service operates at ten times the speed of the typical household modem, Telewest recently introduced a service that operates at twice the speed of BT. It has already signed up 30,000 customers and forced BT to start developing a similar service. In response Telewest is running a trial of a service that works twice as fast again.

The company's head of internet services Chad Raube believes the ability of cable modems to operate at much faster speeds than connections into BT's network will become increasingly important as more and more households become "wired homes".

"We will always have the capability to go faster than ADSL and do that more cost effectively and to more customers. As broadband becomes more of a connection to the home, a utility as common as water, speed will become more and more important and we will be able to leverage that advantage to win the market share battle in our areas," he says.

In the home of the future, he reckons, people will connect more than just their PC to the internet, so will need more capacity from their broadband provider. Cable will play a crucial role: "BT need a lot more than rhetoric and fancy announcements to really catch up with that."

A long read but of interest to TWT or BT holders




The telecoms giant claims it has cut some call charges, but rivals argue that it is just misleading consumers. Mary O'Hara reports

Saturday April 12, 2003
The Guardian

BT last week claimed it was opening up a price war in the telecom market, introducing radical price reductions in some of its tariffs for residential customers. But are the cuts real or, as rivals claim, a misleading package which exaggerates the savings to be made?
On the face of it the changes - which apply to customers on BT's package deal tariff called Together - seem like a good deal.

People who make lots of long calls, for example, may well be better off. For instance, on the new 6p per hour tariff any call lasting up to 59 minutes and 59 seconds will cost 6p whether local and national.

However, competitors contend that very few people will actually see cheaper bills because the majority of phone calls made by domestic users last around four minutes. Someone making 15 four-minute calls under the new scheme would pay 90p for one hour's worth of calls because each one would cost 6p.

The changes do not come into effect until June. So are they just an exercise in cosmetic marketing?

BT's rivals, including cable operators NTL and Telewest, and Centrica-owned One.Tel are furious with the company for painting the tariff changes as having a widespread impact on telephone bills. The managing director of One.Tel, Ian El-Mokadem even went so far as to call BT's announcement "one of the most misleading statements I have ever seen."

Recent entrants into the home telecoms market have long complained that, despite the liberalisation of the market 20 years ago, BT still has a stranglehold on customers thanks to a mixture of inflexible regulation and technological quirks which have made it difficult for people to change suppliers.

They are desperate to eat in to BT's colossal market share. The ex-monopoly still holds on to three-quarters of the domestic market - some 20m customers - and its retail division is the most profitable arm of the organisation.

But this is more than an episode of sour grapes. Tariffs across the domestic telephone market are nothing short of bewildering; most companies will admit this. It is almost impossible to compare like with like. Firms vying for business understandably tend to emphasise those tariffs which on the surface seem to offer the best value.

"Confusion is rife in the home telephony market," says Jon Miller of uSwitch.com, a web firm offering a free online and telephone-based tariff comparison service to consumers. "The plethora of advertising and small print makes it virtually impossible to compare services and to decide on the best deal," he says.

"BT is very good at clouding the waters to retain customers on expensive tariffs. With 73% of market share, it is still abusing its monopoly power."

BT's tactic this time of comparing its packaged tariffs with the standard rates of its competitors, instead of their equivalent and cheaper packaged tariffs, may artificially put the BT deals in a better light. In some instances, BT claims to be 20 times cheaper than rivals.

Carphone Warehouse chief executive, Charles Dunstone says the statement issued by BT is significant because of what it leaves out. He says that because like with like is not compared and other changes to the way the packages are bundled are withheld, consumers are not being given the full picture.

Gavin Patterson, managing director of Telewest Broadband, says: "BT accuses competitors' pricing claims of being 'plain misleading' because they're based on standard rate comparisons, yet it has done exactly the same. By not comparing like for like, BT is simply clouding the issue further and continuing to offer consumers second best."

NTL says that by limiting the changes to certain tariffs and to the small group of customers who make very long calls - and not the standard charge users (10m customers, according to BT) - most of BT's customers will not benefit.

"Nearly half of BT's customers are on their standard tariff," says Jenny Lynn Jones, director of telephony at NTL. "BT is charging these customers nearly 8p a minute for a national daytime call compared to 3p on our standard '321' tariff. So, for many people the changes by BT will still leave them paying more than they need to."

A spokesman for BT says: "The reassurance customers will get over the fixed fee will have the effect of making their calls last longer, so it's difficult to compare past behaviour that is likely to change."

He adds: "An average BT customer making 56 local and national calls per month would save 4 per month based on the new changes."

But there are other issues worth taking on board. The tariff changes do not take into account international calls or calls from landlines to mobiles. BT is widely seen to be more expensive on most international calls.

A spokeswoman for uSwitch.com says: "When it comes to international calls, BT is still significantly more expensive for most calling destinations." But, she concedes, "there are some ways for BT customers to make savings."

It is not all bad news for consumers, though. New entrants in to the telecoms fray including Tesco Telecom (which is committing itself to undercutting BT when it launches its tariffs in June), and a collaboration between Carphone Warehouse and Sainsbury's should put more downwards pressure on prices.

And it is about to become easier to switch your supplier thanks to new technology that means customers will no longer have to rent a line from BT while paying their bill to another supplier.

So, the old adage stands: shop around. Look carefully at how you use your phone, and then find the best tariff to suit you - and re-look on a regular basis.

How the providers compare on price

Profile 1
Customer makes 3 average-length calls to local and national destinations a day.*

Supplier & Package: Annual bill

Telco Select & Together: 175

British Gas Everycall 240: 180

Tiscali: 195

BT option 1**: 205

BT Standard non-packaged rate: 370

Profile 2
Customer makes 7-9 calls to local and national destinations a day.* Most calls are made in evenings and weekends

Supplier & Package: Annual bill

OneTel Unlimited UK Calls: 205

Telco Select & Together: 210

British Gas Everycall UK Unlimited: 220

BT option 2: 245

BT Standard non-packaged rate: 370

Profile 3
Customer makes 15 or more local and national calls per day

Supplier & Package: Annual bill

Telewest Talk Unlimited: 310

Telco Select & Together: 345

BT option 3: 345

OneTel Unlimited UK Calls: 345

BT Standard non-packaged rate: 640

*excludes mobile calls
**assumes that 30% of calls will be capped

(Bill estimates provided by uSwitch.com)

For more information and to compare tariffs go to: www.uSwitch.com or call 0800-093-0607.

`different indicators`



ROFLMAO

23 April 2003







Re: Annual Report and Accounts 2002 : Summary Financial Statement 2002 : Notice
of AGM to be held on 12 June 2003 and Form of Proxy.



A copy of the above documents have been submitted to the UK Listing Authority,
and will be shortly available for inspection at the UK Listing Authority's
Document Viewing Facility, which is situated at:



Financial Services Authority, 25 North Colonade, Canary Wharf, London, E14 5HS.

Tel: 020 7676 1000

Singer pocketed 1.8m Telewest payoff

Chris Tryhorn Guardian
Wednesday April 23, 2003


Singer: handsome payout will dismay Telewest shareholders

Adam Singer, the man who headed troubled cable giant Telewest as it came close to bankruptcy, picked up a cool 1.79m when he was ousted by the board after a two-year stewardship that saw billions wiped from the company's value and the loss of 1,500 jobs.
According to the company's annual report published today, Mr Singer got a golden goodbye of 1.42m in compensation for losing his job.

Mr Singer's payoff was calculated as two years' worth of his 600,000 salary plus benefits, meaning he walked away from the ailing company with a total of 1.79m after seven months' work.

As well as the compensation, he received 350,000 in salary to the end of July plus 22,000 in benefits and 35,000 in pension contributions.

The handsome payout will dismay shareholders who at one stage watched as billions of pounds were wiped from their shares as the value of the company plummeted by more than 90%.

Ultimately the shareholders were forced to cede control of all but 3% of the company when the bondholders - who

ADVERTISEMENT

had priority over their debts - took over 97% of the shares in exchange for 3.5bn of the company's 5.3bn debt.

Telewest is still in negotiations with its bondholders, who include Deutsche Telekom and John Malone's Liberty Media, and reports have suggested the refinancing will not be completed until at least the end of May.

Only last June Mr Singer was at the centre of a row over pay when shareholders protested against bonuses totalling 690,000 awarded to him and other executives.

The National Association of Pension Funds called on its members to abstain from voting for the reappointment of Mr Singer and the group finance director, Charles Burdick, now managing director, because of their bonuses.

Telewest's annual report also revealed the executive directors were paid 440,000 in bonuses even though the firm, Britain's second largest cable company, made a pre-tax loss of 2.2bn and its share price fell from a year's high of 67.5p to 2p at the end of December.

Mr Burdick collected a 160,000 bonus while his replacement as finance director, Mark Luiz, and the group strategy director, Stephen Cook, each pocketed 140,000.

The bonuses are set according to the group's EBITDA [earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation] performance against budget, supplemented by the "achievement of personal objectives as set by the remuneration committee".

They were paid in full for 2002, the annual report says, but if Mr Burdick or Mr Cook were to leave "in certain specified circumstances" this year, a proportion of their bonus ranging between 25% and 100% would have to be repaid.

Mr Burdick could collect a similar payout to Mr Singer if he lost his job following a change of control at the company.

The terms of his contract state he would receive 24 months' notice - worth 1m - if his employment were terminated in the six months after any such change, not an unlikely scenario given speculation that Telewest may eventually merge with its rival NTL.

Mr Burdick's annual salary for 2003 is 500,000 and he is also provided with a company car, private medical insurance for himselft and his family, life assurance and income protection assurance.

Mr Cook and Mr Luiz earn a basic salary of 370,000 and 350,000 respectively, with benefits similar to Mr Burdick's.

The non-executive directors who left Telewest in 2002 - three from Microsoft who were withdrawn in May, and three from Liberty Media who departed two months later - received no fees or compensation for loss of office.

It was their departure that triggered the boardroom coup that removed Mr Singer at the end of July.

Mr Singer took over as the company's chief executive in April 2000 after Telewest merged with TV channel operator Flextech, of which had been chairman since 1997.

Before that he had worked for the BBC and US media giant Viacom.

During the dotcom boom, Mr Singer was an enthusiastic advocate of cable because of its capacity to provide access to broadband internet, digital TV and telecoms.

Mr Singer also left with 3.15 million share options, which can be exercised at various points over the next three years.

With the company's share price limping along at about 2p, the share options are currently of little value - worth about 60,000.

However, Mr Singer can still exercise his shares at a later point.

Many analysts regard a merger with Britain's leading cable company NTL, which emerged from chapter 11 bankruptcy in January, as inevitable.

LOL !

I think TWT is fairly priced around 2p. It is difficult to see the price going north after the d4e has been finalised.

I had my digital tv box removed because the channels offered were quite frankly not worth a paying for after they increased the price recently.

Hmmmmmmmm ...... your timing is out again snappy ..... huge condition trade at a high price late yesterday after market closed ..... 13 million shares from memory. Volumes are high again today with over 21 million shares traded and a quick buy earlier could have netted a quick 10% profit - you have to be quick though. Currently 2.21 mid and up over 5%.


A or two extra is not enough to make us worry about the cost of having over a 100 channels to chose from - just the CNBS/CNN/Bloomberg channels plus the music makes it all worthwhile. Also helps the bottom line as time goes on


ains

NO I wouldn't trade these ains, I mean as an investment stock I feel they are fully valued in the 2p region.

hmmmmmmmm ..... guess you are wrong again then :-))

I wouldn't trade any of these penny tiddlers.

spreads are too large

they are too risky

cannot trade them as a CFD so must pay stamp duty each time and a brokers commission. There's better picks for short term trading out there.

I hadn't realised you ever traded anything snappy but everyone to their own ..... my brokers commission is tiny and what I care about is the net and margin. i can trade them on CFD's but choose not to.

I am surprised you spend so much time on these threads if you have no interest in them ..... Personally made several hundreds of % on some relatively recent TWT trades .... no matter it was a penny a share - on several million shares



ains

I do have an interest in Telewest and I follow the company to see if it worth buying some shares for the longer term. I don't feel that it is at this time Ains but that should not prevent me from adding my comments to this thread should it?

I am just puzzled snappy ...... you are not known as a trader or someone famous in any way ....... you are nostly known as one of the ollie/neo/gravy crowd who follow me from board to board to spam my threads .... it's hardly ground breaking news that you dislike this share on this thread. Most peeps already know that :-))


ains

Ains,

I have no interest in what opinion you have of me. I came onto this thread to talk TWT.

Nobody has convinced me to buy any.

see ya

Hmmmmmmmmmmmmm ...... no one is trying to convince you to buy any ..... personally, I hope you do not.

All I am saying is you make the same sort of comments almst word for word on ALL my threads on all the bb's ..... just seems a little pointless. I am bored - everyone is bored .... surely you must be bored by now?

In the meantime trading is exceptionally quiet today at 331K and spreads are wide ..... will look to buy around 210

ains

jeeeeze, you don't have a monopoly on the shares quoted on the LSE.

I follow many shares, foolish not to look in on them every so often as an active short term trader.

see ya ains..........

snap,
I have some TWT, two tranches actually, bgt. yesterday at 2.14p, and the rest ages ago,

ps I`m not bored its great fun

NOTIFICATION OF FIRST QUARTER RESULTS


Telewest Communications plc confirms they will be announcing their First Quarter
results for the period ended 31st March 2003 on Thursday 1st May 2003.

Hmmmmmmm ..... Tempus in the TImes is not impressed .... but the Times do own a huge huge chunk of BskyB ...... hmmmmmmmmmmm

You may wonder why they suddenly mention TWT in a lead article


ains




Telewest

SURELY it cannot get any worse for Telewest? Last year the cable company finally admitted that it had become overwhelmed by its debts, forcing it to try to reach agreement with its bondholders, who hold 3.5 billion in debt.

In January that appeared to have borne fruit. The bondholders agreed to swap their debts for 97 per cent of a reconstituted Telewest. In the weeks that followed a confident and credible management team talked of turning a profit later this year, once the financial restructuring was complete. With the shares at a cheap looking 2.15p investors might be tempted into a trading buy.

That, however, would be a mistake. The shares might be lowly in value, but they are not cheap. At yesterdays prices, Telewests bombed-out market capitalisation is 62 million. Shareholders are due 3 per cent of the new company, implying a value of a shade over 2 billion for Telewest mark two. Compare this with BT, which unlike Telewest pays a dividend. BT has 28 million residential and business customers and is valued at 16 billion. Each BT customer is worth 571; yet each of the new Telewests 2.2 million customers would be worth 909.

Nor can investors assume that the restructuring will take place on the terms outlined. Managements winter confidence has dissipated as negotiations with the bondholders are dragging on. Not everybody is content with the 97:3 split because even that measly proportion leaves a lot for shareholders. The ratio will probably hold, but the actual market value of the reconstituted company is likely to be well under 1 billion.

Finally, there is a strategic problem. Between BSkyB, in which The News Corporation, parent company of The Times holds a 35.4 per cent stake, and BT, UK cable NTL and Telewest lacks scale. The two need to come together to match their competitors better. But that will not be on the agenda for months. Avoid.

Ticking up at this time


LONDON (AFX) - NTL Inc and Telewest Communications PLC said in a joint statement that they have over 1 mln cable broadband customers across the UK.
newsdesk@afxnews.com

Cable guys celebrate 1m broadband milestone

London, April 30 2003, (netimperative)



by Chris Lake

Cable network operators NTL and Telewest today announced that they have amassed a combined 1m cable broadband users.


The news comes just six months after it was revealed that overall broadband subscriptions surpassed the 1m mark. It is now estimated that there are about 1.5m residential broadband subscribers in the UK.

The cable operators, which are expected to merge in some shape or form, have been working together to co-promote broadband services to residential customers.

The two companies attracted about 250,000 new broadband users since the beginning of the year. NTL had about 500,000 subscribers in December, double that of Telewest, the smaller of the two operators.

Some 12m households are capable of receiving cable broadband. The cable operators claim that three out of four consumers that have the choice between cable broadband and ADSL choose the former.

However, NTL is something of a serial offender as far as the Advertising Standards Authority is concerned, having recently been rapped on the knuckles for the umpteenth time regarding misleading advertising campaigns.

The ASA found NTL in breach of its code of conduct after it marketed a "High Speed" 128Kbps service as 'broadband', despite it being only twice as fast as most dial-up services.

NTL stood up to the ASA by presenting documents that originated at OFTEL and the DTI, which defined broadband as "a service of 128Kbps or above". ASA upheld its ruling by suggesting that most consumers would consider 'broadband' to be a service that offers speeds in excess of 500Kbps.

Nevertheless, the 1m cable modems that NTL and Telewest have distributed around the UK back up NTL CEO Barclay Knapp's claim that the cable industry is playing a key part in making Broadband Britain a reality.

He said: "The history of Broadband Britain will show that the cable industry drove its

development." His counterpart at Telewest, MD Charles Burdick, described the news as a "significant milestone".

E-commerce Minister Stephen Timms said: "The challenge now is to extend this choice to users across the UK, and particularly in rural areas. So that no matter where we base our businesses and make our homes, we can all benefit from the significant benefits that

1st quarter results are out today



LONDON (AFX) - UK cable TV, broadband and telecom operator Telewest Communications PLC posted a 15 pct rise in first-quarter EBITDA but saw more customer losses in the first quarter.
"The focus on broadband, cash generation and profitable customers meant that, as expected, we experienced customer losses during the quarter," said chief executive Charles Burdick.

"Nevertheless, household churn has fallen and with the reinvigoration of our marketing, especially around TV, we plan to see a return to customer growth in the second half of the year," he added.

As a result of the continuing improvements in gross margin and cost control, the group's EBITDA rose 15 pct to 105 mln stg.

Total turnover, including its share of UKTV (a joint venture with the BBC), for the quarter was 335 mln stg, flat compared with the first quarter of 2002.

The company cut a further 100 jobs, taking its workforce to 9,080 from 10,668 a year ago. Net loss for the quarter was 184 mln stg, reflecting 36 mln stg in bank interest, 81 mln stg accrued bond interest and 48 mln stg of foreign exchange losses on dollar-denominated debt.

The company, in the midst of a 3.5 bln stg debt for equity swap, said talks are continuing with its creditors

HIGHLIGHTS

- Broadband leadership; 310,000 broadband subscribers
- Record EBITDA of 105m; up 15% on Q1-02
- Capex down by 48% year-on-year
- Generated positive cashflow
- Customer profile improving despite subscriber losses
- Financial restructuring discussions continue

Commenting on the results, Charles Burdick, managing director of Telewest
Communications, said:

'Our efforts to accelerate cash generation, profitability and provide a platform
for future growth resulted in a cashflow positive quarter. We also achieved
record EBITDA and EBITDA margin and sharply reduced capital expenditure.

We continue to provide broadband leadership. With 310,000 broadband subscribers
in our addressable areas, we are the clear market leader with aproximately 80%
market share. Broadband customers typically take the triple play bundle and
churn less, and a large proportion are new to Telewest. Our 1Mb broadband
service is also proving popular with 10% of our broadband base, and we will
launch 2Mb and wireless self-installation broadband later in the year.

The focus on broadband, cash generation and profitable customers meant that, as
expected, we experienced customer losses during the quarter. Nevertheless,
household churn has fallen and with the reinvigoration of our marketing,
especially around TV, we plan to see a return to customer growth in the second
half of the year.'

Financial Restructuring

As previously stated, on 30 September 2002, we announced that we had reached a
preliminary agreement relating to a financial restructuring to cancel
approximately 3.5 billion of debt in exchange for equity representing 97% of
the enlarged issued share capital.

Productive negotiations are continuing with bondholders, senior lenders and
certain other major stakeholders and we will make an announcement about the
progress of the Financial Restructuring when appropriate.

Market seems happy ..... new recent high - up 17% intraday


AFX-Focus) 2003-05-01 08:06 GMT: Telewest posts 15 pct rise in Q1 EBITDA - UPDATE
(Adds broadband figures, capex, customer numbers)
LONDON (AFX) - UK cable TV, broadband and telecom operator Telewest Communications PLC posted a 15 pct rise in first-quarter EBITDA but saw more customer losses in the first quarter.

"The focus on broadband, cash generation and profitable customers meant that, as expected, we experienced customer losses during the quarter," said chief executive Charles Burdick.

"Nevertheless, household churn has fallen and with the reinvigoration of our marketing, especially around TV, we plan to see a return to customer growth in the second half of the year," he added.

As a result of the continuing improvements in gross margin and cost control, the group has improved EBITDA by 15 pct to 105 mln stg.

Total turnover, including its share of UKTV, (a joint venture with the BBC) for the quarter was 335 mln stg , flat compared to the first quarter of 2002.

The company cut a further 100 jobs, taking its workforce to 9,080 compared to 10,668 a year ago.

Net loss for the quarter was 184 mln stg, reflecting 36 mln in bank interest, 81 mln accrued bond interest and 48 mln of foreign exchange losses on dollar denominated debt.

The company, in the midst of a 3.5 bln stg debt for equity swap, said talks are continuing with its creditors.

At March 31, net debt stood at 5.317 bln stg.

Telewest cut capital expenditure by 48 pct to 65 mln stg in the quarter, 20 pct of revenue.

The company said its full-year capital expenditure for 2003 will be substantially lower than the 477 mln stg incurred in 2002.

Net broadband additions in the first quarter were 37,000. At the quarter end, the company had 299,000 Blueyonder broadband subscribers, a growth of 14 pct since the end of last year.

At April 30, the company boasted 310,000 broadband subscribers, of which 31,000 or 10 pct took the 1Mb service.

8:25am (UK)
Telewest Earnings Lifted by Cost Cuts

By John Bingham, City Staff , PA News


Debt-laden cable company Telewest today posted record first quarter underlying profits after slashing spending.

But the group offered no fresh news on the progress of negotiations on restructuring to cancel 3.5 billion of debts.

Telewest, which has total debts of 5.32 billion, said in September that it had reached a preliminary agreement on the overhaul a plan that involves a debt-for-equity swap leaving shareholders with a fraction of the firm.

Issuing its results for the first three months of 2003 today, the group added that positive negotiations were continuing and promised an announcement on the restructuring when appropriate.

Turnover in the first quarter of this year was up slightly on the same period last year at 335 million with underlying profits up 15% at 105 million.

Telewest said the total number of household customers fell by 15,000 during the quarter in line with its expectations as the business concentrates on higher margin activities such as broadband high speed internet services.

Growth of 14% in broadband subscribers pushed up internet revenues by 63% to 26 million.

Capital expenditure was slashed by 48% to 65 million or 20% of revenue while general and administrative expenses were cut by 7% to 118 million as a result of measures, including a 100-strong reduction in headcount.

However, interest costs and write-downs meant the companys net loss for the the three month period rose to 187 million from 166 million a year earlier.

Managing director Charles Burdick said: The focus on broadband, cash generation and profitable customers meant that, as expected, we experienced customer losses during the quarter.

But he added that with an increased emphasis on marketing the group planned to see a return to customer growth in the second half of the year.

ainsoph

Your regular reporting of relevant news is much appreciated. Keep up the good work!

jaffa

I`ve left a limit buy in place good for a month,@1.8p, could get picked up after the results "euphoria",( hah,) wears off

"Telewest said the total number of household customers fell by 15,000 during the quarter in line with its expectations as the business concentrates on higher margin activities such as broadband high speed internet services."

what an odd statement - once the box is installed all customers are high margin, the business is mainly fixed in costs so need high subscribers

are the management really saying that they couldn't have sold these users higher margin goods as well?

It's no good selling a product if the punter ca'nt pay for it, or thats the way I read it.

Thats about it - TWT had a problem with bad debts from peeps without plastic - they now insist all new customers start off paying with plastic. The high churn rate came from these 'down market' customers


ains

LONDON (AFX) - Charles Burdick, managing director of cable TV, broadband and telephony company Telewest Communications PLC, said he was now "more bullish" about turning cashflow positive from the last quarter of this year.
"I think I am much more bullish and encouraged that we will be able to achieve this in the fourth quarter," Burdick told reporters on a conference call.

In February, Burdick said the company aimed to turn cashflow positive by the year end, six months ahead of its original forecast.

Earlier the company said it had generated positive cashflow in the first three months ended March 31, 2003.

The company, which saw more customer cancellations in the quarter, plans to become cashflow positive through tight cost control, pushing growth in broadband customers and cutting its capital expenditure (capex).

Telewest posted a 48 pct fall in capital expenditure to 65 mln stg for the first quarter. Last year the group invested 477 million stg.

"General guidance on capex has been in the mid-3's(100s)," said Burdick.

Debt laden Telewest gave no update on its financial restructuring, which will see bondholders take control of 97 pct of the company in return for cancelling 3.5 bln stg in debts.

"We are making significant progress across all fronts," said Burdick.

"But we do not want to put a timeline on any completion, we are more comfortable with that approach than setting timelines that are historically missed," said Burdick, adding that the talks are complex. tim.farrand@afxnews.com

have they defaulted on the bond coupons now or are they still paying them?

LONDON (SHARECAST) - Telewest today claimed record first quarter underlying profits, but gave no indication on when its financial restructuring will be completed.

The debt laden cable company said "productive" talks were continuing with its banks and bondholders and an announcement about the progress would be made when appropriate.

Telewest is in talks over a debt-for-equity swap that will see its banks and bondholders swap 3.5bn of debt for 97% of its equity.

Interest costs in the first quarter amounted to 184m and pushed the company into a loss of 186m to end March, up 11% from the year previously

Before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) and exceptional items, profits were a record 105m, up 15% from a year ago. Sales were flat at 335m.

Telewest lost 15,000 subscribers in the three months, part of what it claims is a policy of concentrating on high spending customers and the internet through broadband.

It added another 37,000 broadband customers in the period, compared to 41,000 in same period a year ago, which helped to push broadband sales up 63% to 26m. Revenues per internet user also fell sharply from 29.93 to 22.50.

Big volume day with 22 million traded already - price up 11% - clearly the market likes the figures and the restructuring comments

ains





Thursday May 1, 09:38 AM




Telewest earnings rise but customers fall
By Braden Reddall, UK telecoms correspondent


LONDON (Reuters) - Telewest Communications (LSE: TWT.L - news) , the smaller of Britain's two cable groups, has reported first-quarter underlying earnings growth as talks on its 3.5 billion-pound debt refinancing drag on.


Telewest also generated positive cash flow in the quarter, helped by lower investment spending and interest payments and job cuts which may total as many as 500 for the year.


Pre-exceptional earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) rose 15 percent to 105 million pounds. Turnover inched higher to 335 million pounds from 334 million.


Telewest has been pushing hard to boost high-speed Internet use, and broadband user numbers rose to 310,000. But household subscribers fell by 15,000 in the quarter to 1.74 million.


Managing Director Charles Burdick said a focus on profitable customers and broadband promotion led to the anticipated drop. He repeated plans to reignite overall user growth with marketing and an enhanced TV product in the second half of the year.


Telewest shares rose seven percent to 2.3 pence, valuing its equity at just 64 million pounds. The stock -- down from a peak above 500p hit in early 2000 -- trades at a small fraction of Telewest's real value, ahead of a debt-for-equity swap which will massively dilute the stakes of existing shareholders.


Telewest is trying to put the finishing touches to the debt refinancing, which will hand creditors 97 percent of the group.


"We're making significant progress across all fronts," Burdick said. "I hesitate to put a timeline on any of the completion, I think it's more comfortable with that approach than setting deadlines that historically have been missed."


DEBT WEIGHT OFF BACK


The debt is a heavy burden for the company. Interest costs, on top of depreciation and amortisation, dragged Telewest to a loss of 184 million pounds for the quarter. But many payments would not have to be made because of the restructuring, meaning the loss was actually around 55 million pounds, Burdick said.


Capital expenditure was 65 million pounds in the quarter, and Burdick said it would be in the "mid to low" 300 million range in the full-year, down from 477 million in 2002.


Due to reduced spending on interest and investment, Telewest generated seven million pounds in cash flow in the quarter.


As previously announced, hundreds of Telewest's 9,000 employees are being shed through attrition this year. Burdick said 109 jobs had been cut in the first quarter and that full-year losses would be in the range of 300 to 500 jobs.


As for Burdick's own job, the former finance director said the managing director title he adopted when the former chief executive left last year did not imply a new CEO would be hired.


"I anticipate that with the agreement of the new bondholders that I would continue in my current role with either my current title or a different title," he said.


Like Britain's other cable company NTL (NASDAQ: NTLI - news) , Telewest wants customers paying for the "triple play" of TV, phone and broadband. Telewest said 12 percent of its homes took all three.


But both face an uphill battle against dominant satellite TV company BSkyB Plc for pay TV and from former telecoms monopoly BT Group Plc (LSE: BT.L - news - msgs) for phone and broadband services.


Many in the industry assume NTL and Telewest will eventually merge, but NTL has played it down and Burdick insisted it was not currently on his agenda.


"My key focus is getting us through the restructuring. And really, I've not spent any time thinking about an NTL merger."


Telewest invested heavily in buying and upgrading cable networks at the technology market's peak in the late 1990s, buliding up huge debt. But at root, analysts say British cable should eventually make money.


Average monthly revenue per Telewest subscriber edged higher to 41.83 pounds in the first quarter from 41.80 last year, the highest of any European cable company.

16m sells as `wave riders` get out on the rise, can`t see this thing doing much now the "news" is discounted, just waiting for the ebb tide now to sub 2p again and then a serious punt for the next wave crest.

connecting industry


Core earnings rise at Telewest



(01/05/03) Britains smallest cable company, Telewest, has announced growth in its first quarter underlying earnings.

Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation were 105 million, a 15% increase on figures for the same period in 2001. Turnover also increased to 335 million from 334 million the year before.

Its focus on increasing the level of high speed Internet access and cash generation meant, as expected the company saw a drop in household subscribers.

In a statement, managing director, Charles Burdick said: The focus on broadband, cash generation and profitable customers meant that, as expected, we experienced customer losses during the quarter. Nevertheless, household churn has fallen and with the reinvigoration of our marketing, especially around TV, we plan to see a return to customer growth in the second half of the year.

The profits growth comes at a time when Telewest is still negotiating a debt-for-equity swap that will give creditors 97% of the company in exchange for 3.5 billion of debt.

Who shagged TAG then, bad business that hacking.

Chris Tryhorn
Thursday May 1, 2003

Telewest boss Charles Burdick today insisted there was "no problem" with the firm's refinancing programme but refused to say when the talks, which had been expected to conclude this month, would be completed.

Britain's second largest cable company is thrashing out a deal with bondholders, who took on 3.5bn of its 5.3bn debts last year in exchange for 97% of its shares.

"We've made significant progress across the board," said Mr Burdick, the managing director of Telewest.

"I hesitate to put a timeline on any of the completion, I think we are more comfortable with that approach than setting deadlines that historically have been missed.

"It's a complicated process involving essentially half a dozen key constituents," he added.

Two of these constituents are John Malone's Liberty Media and Deutsche Telekom, both of whom hold 10% of Telewest's bonds.

The company announced a net loss for the first three months of 2003 of 187m, 13% worse than last year. Its turnover was 335m for the quarter, up from 334m.

The total number of household customers slipped by 15,000 during the quarter, with cable TV and telephony subscribers both falling off. Its broadband service, however, continued to add customers, with 310,000 by the end of April 2003, an addition of 11,000 in just the last month.

Mr Burdick revealed that 109 workers had lost their jobs, including staff at a call centre in Newcastle, adding to the 1,450 job cuts last year. He said he estimated the head count would be "300 to 500 lower by the end of the year".

Mr Burdick said that Lisa Opie, the newly appointed managing editor of content arm Flextech, would oversee greater ties between Telewest's distribution business and Flextech.

Already programmes on channels including FTN, Trouble and Bravo have been stamped with the Telewest logo and advertisements on the channels have been run for Blue Yonder broadband.

"Lisa is very committed to continuing this kind of cross-promotion," Mr Burdick said.

"Several years from now we will think of Telewest as seamlessly a content and distribution company," he added.

Ms Opie has been running Flextech since the departure of Jane Lighting, who has become chief executive of Channel Five.

Mr Burdick defended Telewest's remuneration policy a week after it was revealed that his predecessor, Adam Singer, walked away with 1.79m when he was ousted in a boardroom coup in July.

"Payoff issues are obviously hot topics these days," said Mr Burdick, who would collect at least 1m if he had to resign within six months of a change of control at the company.

"Our board takes these issues very seriously and acts with prudence where and when is appropriate."

From the home page


Telewest upbeat on outlook
Kam Patel
Q1 losses widen but focus on broadband and profitable customers is beginning to pay off.


Telewest Communications saw first quarter net losses widen on flat turnover but the underlying performance is slowly improving with strong growth in internet revenues, especially from broadband. Margins have also been increased and there is evidence of aggressive cost control. Its shares rose 10.6% to 2.38p.

Net losses for the first quarter to March 2003 totalled 187m versus a net loss of 166m in the same period last year. Turnover stayed virtually flat at 335m.

The quarter saw the group become cashflow positive by 7m compared to an outflow of 113m in the same period last year. Capital expenditure has been sharply reduced to 65m from 124m, a 48% fall.

Selling, general and administrative expenses for the quarter totalled 118m, down 7%. Headcount has been reduced another 100 and its workforces now stands at 9,080 compared to 10,668 a year ago.

Gross margins for the period rose from 67% to 69% thanks to improvements in telephony margins and a growing number of broadband subscribers.

While residential telephony and consumer TV divisions put in an unimpressive performance, this was offset to a degree by strong growth in internet revenues, particularly broadband. Here revenues increase 63% to 26m.

Net broadband additions in the first quarter 37,000 and at the end of the quarter the group had 299,000 broadband subscribers.

Broadband Average Revenue Per User fell to 22.50 in the first quarter from 29.93 due to installation fee discounting. Telewest is currently trialling a faster 2MB service which it plans to launch later this year.

The groups business division meanwhile has seen a good start to the year and its revenues grew 8% to 69m.

Charles Burdick, managing director of Telewest said the focus on broadband, cash generation and profitable customers meant that, as expected, experienced customer losses during the quarter. Household churn rate overall though has fallen and the group expects to return to customer growth in the second half.

Nobody shagged TAG then,
died of onanism I guess or a fit of hacking

Don't often post on this side of moneyam, its really a time issue in keeping up with various threads on the other side here, and at advfn. However twt continues to survive.

Re the comments about TAG, we came into existance to attempt to prevent an Energis style colapse. By and large that looks like being achieved. It was never the committees intention to stay around for years and years. Any action group tends to be limited in focus and duration, it was never our intention to act as unpaid investment advisors to twt shareholders long term.

If the 3% equity deal is threatened then I am sure TAG would reactivate.

Finally I made my position clear to Ainsoph last year, I would remain active with TAG until the end of last year. But at that point, (and if the 3% deal seemed resonably certain) I would then depart. We all need to move on in life.

However I still hold an interest in twt and wish all shareholders well

PAUL
I thought that ainsoph was the instigator and leader of TAG, not you?See his quote below, but there was a John someone too from the PBB on the other side before either of you, who drummed up support also.


Over the last 18 months I made lots twice in the early days - then lost it back - bought a million at 2.6p average - founded the TAG



(ainsoph from the header)

May 02, 2003

Telewest seeks boardroom recruits
By Dan Sabbagh TIMES



TELEWEST, the troubled telecoms group, admitted yesterday that the company is looking for independent non-executive directors, including candidates who may eventually be asked to succeed Cob Stenham as chairman.
The search follows an agreement between the companys major investors, who include vulture investor Bill Huff, John Malones Liberty Media and Deutsche Telekom. Each is understood to have accepted that they will not seek to elect their own representatives to the board when the companys 3.5 billion financial rescue is concluded.

Charles Burdick, the managing director, said he hoped that Mr Stenham would remain while the new recruits were sought, adding: There is a lot to be said for continuity. I hope that the chairman will stay on, at least on an interim basis.

However, Mr Stenhams age he is 71 and long association with the company mean that speculation about his future is inevitable. A former Unilever director, he has served on the board since 1994 and been chairman since 1999, during which time Telewest has had four chief executives.

Mr Burdick was speaking as first-quarter results showed the company generating its first cash profit. However, Mr Burdick conceded that seasonally low capital expenditure meant the company would not match the 7 million profit until the fourth quarter at the earliest.Revenues were 335 million, up just 1 million on the year, as a 64 per cent increase in broadband internet revenues to 26 million was offset by a loss of customers and sales in the companys core television and telephone businesses.

Telewests board has previously been dominated by executives from its former major shareholders, Microsoft and Liberty Media. Old shareholders are being significantly diluted in the financial rescue.

Certainly experienced some delays yesterday and spam now way exceeds the norm mail



Telewest email halted under massive spam attack
By Tim Richardson
Posted: 30/04/2003 at 14:05 GMT


Telewest has been hit by a massive spam attack that has resulted in as many as 200,000 of its punters being without email for a couple of days at the beginning of the week.

Normal service was resumed last night although the cableco is still ploughing through a backlog of 1.2 million emails it quarantined immediately after the attack.

Chad Raube, director of internet services at Telewest Broadband, said: "We experienced a major dictionary-style spam attack at the beginning of this week, which flooded our mail server and resulted in a large backlog of emails, around 80 per cent of which was spam.

"We have cleared the main server and new emails have been delivered as normal since yesterday evening. We are now in the process of filtering the backlog to remove spam and deliver the genuine emails as quickly as possible, which we hope to complete today."

Telewest has apologised to blueyonder punters who experience problems with their email and has assured them that it is taking steps to guard against similar attacks in the future.

Paulismyname

This is the John bloke I mentioned, is he still involved in TAG?is TAG still extant?


johnmp - 01 Aug'02 - 20:48


We the shareholders need to form an Action Group to counter Bondholders, otherwise the games over for us the present shareholders.---------
------------------
ent. TWT shareholders what do you have to loose, we will loose 80 to 95% if we do nothing.

Telewest refinancing on course as losses grow
By Lachlan Johnston (Filed: 02/05/2003) Telegraph


The refinancing of debt-stricken cable TV group Telewest has "no major obstacles left", managing director Charles Burdick said yesterday, despite it posting an expanded 186m net loss for the first quarter.

The loss again stemmed from the heavy interest burden on Telewest's 5.3 billion debt, which dwarfed an impressive cost-cutting effort during the quarter. However, Mr Burdick insisted that the refinancing, which will see the debt turned into a 97pc equity stake in the business, was close to being finalised.

"I think it is fair to say that I'm highly confident about the refinancing, but I am not going to give a timetable, because I have done that before and missed it," Mr Burdick said.

Excluding the protracted debt negotiations, Telewest enjoyed a rosier quarter, posting earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation of 105m, a 15pc rise on the first quarter last year. A 90pc slashing of capital expenditure, to just 65m, drove the improved earnings, as revenues remained flat at 335m over the quarter.

The results slightly exceeded the forecasts of analysts still covering the stock, though Telewest's share price nudged forward just 0.2p to 2.35p. The cost-cutting helped Telewest post its first quarter of positive cashflow, collecting 7m more in receipts than it paid out.

Mr Burdick, however, warned that the positive cashflow would not last, with the group slipping back into the red in the second and third quarters as IT and marketing spending was lifted. Revenues and customer numbers at its flagship cable TV and telephone business fell 7pc during the quarter, as Telewest raised its price for the service.

The brightest spot remained its broadband internet business, Blueyonder, which increased revenues 69pc, though still suffered a worrying increase in churn - the rate at which customers leave the service - to 12.8pc. The broadband business has now experienced rises in churn for five consecutive quarters.

Mr Burdick also played down speculation that Telewest would soon merge with its UK cable TV counterpart NTL, saying he had not spoken to executives there "in recent times".

We have ticked up a little again .... volumes back to normal. Generally the press was positive and clearly the D4E will go ahead ..... one day


ains


Telewest and BSkyB in fee deal

John Cassy
Friday May 2, 2003
The Guardian

Cable operator Telewest yesterday claimed to have reached a new agreement with BSkyB over the rate at which it can sell the satellite operator's premium

sports and movie channels.

The office of fair trading is examining the proposal and could give approval within the next month, Telewest managing director Charles Burdick said.

"It's a win-win deal for both sides. It contains the necessary incentives for us to market Sky's channels and will be valuable to them."

Only 300,000 of Telewest's 1.3m cable television customers take Sky Sports or Sky movie channels but the deal will allow them to be sold at a discount and the cable firm to make a healthy profit.

Mr Burdick said the extra demand generated would lift the average amount spent each month by a Telewest customer from 42 to 47.

Regulators had warned BSkyB that it "abused its dominant position" in setting prices paid by other pay-television operators for its premium channels but backtracked following a lengthy investigation.

According to results released yesterday, Telewest lost 20,000 television and 13,000 telephony customers in the three months to March 31 as the effect of the group's ongoing financial restructuring weighed on its ability to hold on to subscribers. Broadband internet customer numbers rose to 310,000.

The group is attempting to eradicate 3.5bn of its 5.3bn debt by handing control of 97% of the company to lenders, but it will not comment on the likely completion date of a deal that could drag on until late summer.

Lower spending on cable investment and interest payments, aligned with job cuts, enabled Telewest to generate positive cash flow for the first time.

Pre-exceptional core earnings climbed 15% to 105m, while turnover was flat at 335m. Net losses increased by 13% to 187m.

Must admit I cut out the movie channels as we still had to go to blockbusters to get the latest films and at 20 a month or so extra - it wasn't worth the money ..... might change my mind at a somewhat lower rate.


ains

I cut out the digital tv service at an extra couple of quid a month when they pushed the price up because I felt it wasn't worth paying for a couple of channels that I didn't watch anyway.

Still have the broadband and telephone service but the crafty buggers at telewest are now charging for local cable to cable offpeak calls which used to be one of the usp's of the service.

I got an extra 20/30 channels for the upgrade to digital and not over concerned at the 2 cost albeit we do not not use interactive very often.

Personally I think their telephone service is relatively expensive unless you do their all-in monthly deal but clearly it helps the bottom line at TWT


ains

Very negative expressed views in todays Torygraph on TWT, no mention of TAG either strangely enough, wonder where they went to?

LOL!!!!!!

The Telegraph article was posted above - early this morning ollie and doesn't seem especially negative. I wonder why you are wondering where TAG went to?



ains

Not especially negative?, must be reading a different edition
"losses grow---posting an expanded net 186m loss for the first quarter----
positive cash flow will not last------slipping back into the red in the second/ third quarter---- worrying increase in churn for 5 consecutive quarters----"
and finally playing down speculation on a merger, that helped the share price.

Sounds like a catalogue of negativety to me.
Why should I not enquire of TAG?, I am a holder of TWT and a subsciber to TAG.

ps Kay
TWT share price moribund,in the Doldrums even!!

pps er thats down -2%, negative enough?

LOL!!!!

Negative comment appears to have worked through to the shares, a little boxing for position by the mm`s shows a tiny rise on the mid- price.
Sells approx.6m buys 1m, very negative.

Ainsoph,

Went long Telewest TWT on Friday @ 2.38p on Wave 3 break of 2.35p res liked MACD Zero break



Cheers

Ash

Morning Ashley

good to see you aboard. The D4E situations always take longer than people anticipate but everything points to them going ahead with the minimum 3% previosly talked about.

The BB off is perceived as the best currently available in the UK and they continue to take market share in an expanding market. Telephones are expensive unless you take the monthly all-in tariff but the new deal with Sky on the film channels gives TWT the opportunity for more flexibility.

Not been looking at the longer term charts recently - but you have jogged my memory and note they are above all my indicators including the triangular MA I use. Volumes have been higher than usual since the results and statement.


ains

I can confirm how irritating this is getting :-( ...... fortunately I have other back up ISP's.


ains



Telewest email hit by spam attack - again
By Tim Richardson
Posted: 08/05/2003 at 11:00 GMT


Telewest has been hit by yet another spam attack leading to delays in its email service.

The attack happened at around 8.00am (BST) this morning and means punters could have to wait up to two hours to receive their email.

According to Telewest, the attack isn't as bad as one a week or so ago which led to the cableco's customers being without email for a couple of days.

It seems action taken then to install new kit helped take some of the sting out of the latest spam onslaught.

In a statement, Chad Raube, director of internet services at Telewest Broadband, said: "Our blueyonder customers may be experiencing a delay, of up to two hours, in receiving their emails at the moment. We experienced a spam attack this morning that generated a backlog of emails on our servers.

"It follows hot on the heels of a relatively major spam attack, last week, and hardware we implemented to help tackle that incident has helped us proactively manage the situation this morning."

The service is expected to be back on its feet again later today.

UPDATE: Since posting the story a number of readers have told us that some of their email is taking up to five hours to get through. A spokesman for Telewest confirmed this saying that delays up to five hours were only affecting a small proportion of punters. The average delay in getting email is between one and two hours, we been told.

By Tim Richardson
Posted: 08/05/2003 at 16:06 GMT


Some 10,000 households in the South East are without their Telewest TV, phone and Internet services today after workmen severed two major cables

The incident happened at around 1pm BST this afternoon.

A spokesperson for Telewest Broadband said: "Contractors carrying out road works in the Tilbury area have caused significant damage to two of our major fibre optic cables. An engineer crew was sent to the site immediately and they are in the process of carrying out emergency repairs.

The outage has hit up to 10,000 households in Tilbury, Gillingham, Maidstone and Basildon.

The cableco is working to reinstate services in the area as quickly as possible.

It's been a bad day for Telewest. Earlier today it got hammered by a spam attack that led to long delays in punters receiving email.

10 million buy @ 227 as we closed

Ais,

there was an 8M buy before that as well.

yes - just noted that but ME is showing three trades around that time. Thinkingnow - it might be a rollover or short close

Why would a short close after hours ?. Can they not just close their position during normal hours.

Also,

If this is a short closing does this mean there might be some good news on the way ?.

Sorry to add again, but if it was a rollover dont they have to show as late trade? ie 'L' and not an ordinary.

Its just that the two trades are within seconds and at a marginally different price.


I think news of d4e is going to take a while yet


ains

I thought I was a customer, not a bloody punter!!!

Communications /Data services /News


Telewest takes home broadband to 2Mbps
By Dinah Greek [12-05-2003]
Faster service starts at 10 blueys a month




Cable firm Telewest launched its 2Mbps home broadband internet service today after a month-long trial.
The firm signed up 1,500 of its 1Mbps users for a pilot phase last month to evaluate interest, but admitted that it didn't expect the service to be snapped up by its mainstream customers.

Telewest said that over 30,000 of its 310,000 broadband customers had migrated from a 512Kbps to a 1Mbps service, and that feedback from the trial suggested that offering the 2Mbps service will prove viable.

"During the 1Mbps trial and then the 2Mbps trial we have seen that there is a need for speed," said a Telewest spokeswoman.

"But the 2Mbps service is aimed more at heavy users, such as gamers or people who work from home and could need faster services."

The 2Mbps service will cost 50 per month if users have one or more of Telewest's other services, such as digital TV or telephone. Otherwise it will cost 54.99 per month.

Telewest explained that its current broadband customers can upgrade to the new service at its blueyonder website for no extra cost.

Telewest goes live with 2Mb service
By Tim Richardson
Posted: 12/05/2003 at 08:33 GMT


Telewest has launched its 2Mb broadband service following a trial of 1,500 of its blueyonder punters.

The service costs from 50 a month.

Said Chad Raube, director of Internet services at Telewest Broadband: "While BT and other major ADSL providers offer a one-size-fits-all service, we recognise people have different needs and provide a menu of cable services to suit.

The cableco claims eight out of ten of its 2Mb triallists said the service had met or exceeded their expectations.

The trial caused a stampede in March among punters eager to get their hands on the service.

Interview with Charles Burdick

Is Telewest fully funded?

Q.
So you are saying in these results, are you, that your business is now fully funded through to break-even.

A.
Yes, thats exactly what we are saying, we put in a bank facility last March that gives us flexibility for up to 2.25bn and that should see us through cash flow break-even.

Q.
So when will we see break-even?

A.
Most analysts expect break-even to be the end of 2003 early 2004 and were comfortable with those forecasts.

Better mention, that interview was carried out in August 2001!

Shagnasty - Tag was designed by Acelogic, who unfortunately did not back up the TAG site. As a result it's a goner.
Apparently, he has sold off his TWT interests & as such is no longer concerned over this company.
It is a shame as a number of us were working in the background, using private messaging to keep in touch. Sadly most of the contacts & info have gone.
Doesn't mean a few of us are not active though!

Ains,

Love the weekly MACD Zero cross chart looks good to me:-

The share price seems very confident at this time - I keep waiting on a dip to buy a few more but it just doesn't come.

The new broadband service is going to be a hit and presumably most of the extra income goes straight to the bottom line. A guy I know was raving over the idea he could download a 100mb files in just a few minutes.



ains

Clouds On The Horizon For BSkyB

By David Kuo (TMFDragon)
May 13, 2003



BSkyB (LSE: BSY)(NYSE: BSY) must be doing something right to achieve its fourth consecutive quarter of net profit and third uninterrupted quarter of improving revenues. In the third-quarter, the satellite broadcaster posted a bottom-line profit of 17m compared to a loss of 31m last time. Revenues rose to 819m, up 17% from the same period last year.

The company has also attracted a further 150,000 Direct-To-Home (DTH) customers, taking its viewer base to 6.7m subscribers. In addition to those DTH customers, BSkyB also reckons that one or more Sky channels are now distributed to 12m homes in the UK and Ireland. This is through its partnerships with cable and digital terrestrial operators.

BSkyB's much improved performance can be attributed, in part, to the lack of market penetration by its debt-laden cable rivals, NTL and Telewest (LSE: TWT). This has allowed BSkyB to retain more of its customers as evidenced by the 9% reduction in churn.

The other contributing factor to BSkyB's improved performance is its high operational gearing. The company runs on relatively low margins but even small improvements to turnover can have a very large effect on profits. In this quarter a 16% increase in turnover more than cancelled out the 8% rise in operating costs. This helped the company post a doubling of operating earnings to 123m.

However, high operational gearing can be a double-edged sword. Any absence of turnover growth coupled with, say, poor cost control could impact profits dramatically the other way.

BSkyB said today that it was "comfortably" on target to achieve its objective of 7m subscribers by the end of 2003. The company's confidence suggests that profit growth is relatively secure for at least the next two quarters. Beyond that, though, the picture becomes a bit murkier.

There are still around 15m homes that have not been converted to BSkyB. The key for the company will be to convince those households of the merits of its multi-channel service. That will not be easy given that Freeview, already installed in 1.4m homes, is expected to grow much faster.

It is estimated that Freeview could be installed in as many as 5m homes by 2005. If that proves true then further profit growth at BSkyB will be that much more difficult to achieve and its market valuation of 13b will look pie in the sky.

Broadband deal hooks up 200 schools
By Rachel Fielding [13-05-2003]
Authority signs 10Mbps internet access deal with Telewest




Education Bradford has invested 2.5m in a five-year deal with Telewest to supply its 203 schools in the region with high-speed internet access.
The education authority has opted out of the government's broadband consortium, believing that it can get better value for money and a faster connection through extending its current deal with Telewest.

The telco is providing a 10Mbps fibre connection to the schools, replacing its own Frame Relay circuits which ran at 64Kbps, 128Kbps and 2Mbps.

The deal gives schools in the region more bandwidth than suggested by government guidelines on bandwidth in schools, which Education Bradford believes are inadequate.

The Department for Education and Skills (DfES) guidelines recommend a 2Mbps synchronous connection for primary schools and an 8Mbps synchronous connection for secondary schools. The government wants all schools connected to the internet by 2006.

Mark Chambers, ICT curriculum development manager at Education Bradford, told vnunet.com: "Schools are clamouring for bandwidth, and anything that delays lessons and gets in the way of learning is something I want to get rid of. All kids deserve this fast access."

Eighty-five of the 203 schools are already connected. "This is an ongoing project," said Chambers. "Developing and purchasing content is the next step."

The network will enable students to access the internet and email, as well as web-based education resources.

As part of the deal, Websense is providing internet filtering software and Synetrix is offering helpdesk and configuration support.

Chambers admitted that it is too early to gauge whether the provision of high speed internet access is likely to have a positive impact on the effectiveness of learning.

"But we're starting to see an impact because schools can use the latest software and industry learning programmes," he said.

AINS,

You follow Telewest quite closely, when is the next big results or restructuring update planned?

What was latest on NTL talks?

Cheers

Ash

Hi Ashley

Next quarter results are in early August but the next likely comment will come at the AGM scheduled for the 12th June.

Although I believe low level talks of possible m+a with ntl have taken place I think it unlikely they will be seriously progressed until the d4e is settled. I do think there will be more cooperation in terms of joint promotion/advertising/marketing



ains

Ains,

Thanks so next real news time 12th June 2003 probably, reason I ask is on 5 min MACD turned up and on hourly turned up from zero this morning.

On daily Bollinger Bands seem to be tightenning and it has broken 50% RSI with burst to 2.29p earlier

Volume is however non existant.

Interesting ..... not the low volumes this morning at 569k in 2 and a half hours ... ssers tends to distort tthe picture early in the ay especially when its quiet. I usually track sets but trade off the order book for better prices

I am looking to add and waiting on a dip - alerts set at 210 on the offer


ains

This is good news although not unexpected ..... spreads are wide at this time and vols still low at just over a milion traded

Note NTL are not included


ains




Six firms named as Govt BB suppliers
By Tim Richardson
Posted: 14/05/2003 at 09:04 GMT


Six companies have been chosen to supply broadband services, kit and consultancy to the public sector.

BT, Easynet, Fujitsu, Kingston, Synetrix and Telewest have all been selected by the Government's procurement outfit, the Office of Government Commerce (OGC), as part of its Broadband Solutions Framework Agreement.

In essence, the "framework agreement" has been set up to help public sector bodies jump on the broadband bandwagon by using companies already vetted by the OGC.

Said OGC boss Peter Gershon in a statement: "This new arrangement will be of major benefit to those government departments who are seeking to develop the use of Broadband.

"It reduces the time and effort required in sourcing broadband products by offering quality goods and services at value for money prices without the need for separate tendering processes."

14 May 2003 11:39 BST

NTL Q1 core earnings in line with forecast

LONDON, May 14 (Reuters) - Britain's largest cable company NTL reported on Wednesday core earnings just ahead of its own forecast and said it had added 27,100 net new customers in the first quarter.
Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation were 156.5 million pounds ($253 million) in the three months to the end of March, compared with the company's own forecast of 155 million and a fourth quarter figure of 166 million. Turnover was 546.6 million pounds.

12:33 GMT: NTL adds 27,100 net customers in first quarter - UPDATE
(Updating with more details)
LONDON (AFX) - NTL Inc, the UK's largest cable operator, added a slim 27,100 net customers in the first three months of this year, its first set of results since emerging from US Chapter 11 bankruptcy.

The company recorded a slight pick up in EBITDA for the three months ended March 31, 2002 to 156.5 mln stg, from 154.2 mln stg last time.

But group revenue fell to 546.5 mln stg from 556.1 mln, which the company mainly attributed to "challenging conditions" related to its financial restructuring.

"Broadband continues to be a leader with approximately 144,000 new customers, but our telephone products are showing good growth too with a better-than-expected 15,200 new additions," said chief executive Barclay Knapp.

"We're turning the curve on television with digital showing good growth, and our overall rate of decline slowing," he added.

Revenue generating units increased by some 141,400, led by 143,800 broadband additions and 15,200 new telephone additions, said NTL.

In total TV services declined by 17,600 in the quarter but digital services increased and the overall rate of loss of TV services slowed to its lowest level in over a year, said the company.

Triple play customers - taking telephone, TV and Internet services - now represent about 17 pct of NTL's customers, up from 5 pct in the first quarter of 2002.

The company reduced its annualised churn - the rate at which customers cancel NTL's services - to 13 pct from 17.9 pct.

The group posted a net loss of 254.4 mln usd in the three month period, down from 459.9 mln usd a year earlier.

The decline mainly reflected a lower interest expense of 148.3 mln usd in 2003. tf/rn

just left a limit order for a bucketful at 2p, who knows?

Ains,

Notice volume has picked up a bit, and now just going blue.

Maybe looking a bit more interesting anyway I am long.

Cheers

Ash

Yes .... I noted that .... I think the days news on bb and NTL helped generate interest. Recent sets orders indicate a move north more probable intraday

DOWN she goes, excellent

europemedia


Telewest pleased with 2Mb broadband trial
14/05/2003
Editor: David Minto
Telewest has delivered on its promise to offer customers a 2Mb home broadband option.

Starting in April, Telewest conducted a month long trial with 1,500 lucky 1Mb blueyonder customers, 85 per cent of whom are reported to have said the upgraded service met or exceeded their expectations.

The cable company is now offering customers the choice of three broadband connections speeds: 512kb, 1Mb and 2Mb. Telewest reported that it had 310,000 broadband subscribers on its books by the end of April, of whom about 30,000 receive the faster 1Mb service. No doubt Telewest hopes similar numbers will now flock to the E70 (GBP50) a month 2Mb, and has said that existing blueyonder customers can upgrade to the new service without incurring any additional charge.

Another quiet start with less than 400k traded in an hour


fyi


NTL blames BSkyB costs for fall in TV subscribers

Dan Milmo
Thursday May 15, 2003
The Guardian

NTL chief executive Barclay Knapp warned BSkyB yesterday that its wholesale revenues will continue to plummet unless it slashes the cost of premium channels



ADVERTISEMENT

including Sky Sport 1 and Sky MovieMax.
Mr Knapp said Britain's largest cable operator was no longer chasing TV subscribers after emerging from a tortuous 7bn debt restructuring last year because the cost of buying channels from the pay-TV broadcaster and selling them on to customers remains prohibitive. NTL has lost 150,000 TV subscribers since the beginning of 2002, with 18,000 of those going since December, according to first-quarter results released yesterday.

"BSkyB could change that for us. We have had long-running discussions with Sky on how profitable it is to resell Sky's services. The way they have priced their premium services gives us no incentive to add them. If they give us an incentive we will be able to sell them," said Mr Knapp.

BSkyB said in third-quarter results released on Tuesday that wholesale revenues - the amount it makes from selling channels to rival pay-TV services - had tumbled 34% to 146m following the collapse of ITV Digital last year and NTL's debt crisis.

ITV Digital, NTL and cable operator Telewest took their complaints about wholesale pricing to the office of fair trading in 1999 but a long-running inquiry absolved BSkyB of anti-competitive behaviour last year. Telewest has negotiated new terms with the satellite broadcaster and a BSkyB spokesman said the group would welcome a deal with NTL. "We remain willing to enter into a mutually beneficial agreement," he said.

NTL said it added 27,000 UK customers in the first three months of the year, despite the slump in TV subscriptions. The group's home division, which supplies TV, telephone and high-speed internet services, now has 2.71 million subscribers. The number of broadband internet subscribers climbed by 144,000 from the previous quarter to 661,000.

Recalling the colourful analogies that made him one of the stars of the dotcom boom, Mr Knapp likened the restructured group to a patched-up car.

"If you get your car out of the repair shop you don't put it on the highway at 100mph. Right now we're just driving it round the block, testing the brakes," he said.

Lower interest payments on its debt, which fell from 12bn to about 5bn, helped cut its first-quarter loss by nearly half to $254m (158m), while earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation were 156.5m against 154m for the same period last year. Revenues slipped from 556m to 547m after NTL stripped out a one-off, non-cash income gain of 4.2bn related to the restructuring.

Ains,

Up she goes, we need to clear that 2.35p mid area to break but at 2.28p possible.

No real volume yet though.

Hi ash

problem I see with TWT is the same as moni although it obvoiusly has greater scope as shareholders will get 3.5%

however - given TWT's poor trading performance and that of Sky the future prospects are as clear as Mud

p.s. Well done on RED - why the huge volume today - are results out soon?

1.5 million sell just gone through and doubled the volume .....

left a 2.1p limit buy in today for 500,000, might work

all right then 2.2p it is

From Europemedia


E1.4 government broadband spending aimed at 6 companies
15/05/2003
Editor: David Minto

Six companies are set to receive the lions share of a government plan to spend E1.41bn (GBP1bn) over the next five years in upgrading government offices to broadband.

The announcement of the list, which includes two of the biggest names in the business, BT and Telewest, was made yesterday, after the Office of Government Commerce selected its preferred suppliers following a competitive invitation to tender process. The other four companies are Easynet, Fujitsu, Kingston Communications and Synetrix.

According to the Financial Times, the decision means that government departments and local authorities will be encouraged to use one of the six broadband suppliers, who have all negotiated fixed terms to secure their place on the list. Authorities and departments will not be prohibited from selecting a broadband provider not on the list, but to do so will mean they have to carry out their own selection procedure and tendering process, a move that could potentially be both long and costly.

The OGC told the Financial Times that the companies selected for the shortlist had been "assessed on their ability to provide quality, value-for-money broadband services."

In a separate announcement earlier this week, the UK telecoms regulator, Oftel, revealed that 14 per cent of homes in the UK now use broadband. Oftel also said that home internet penetration has risen from the 42 per cent plateau it had rested on for the nine months up to November 2002, and had now reached 45 per cent, with an average usage time of 10 hours per week.

Keith

You are working too many hours .

K

hi ains

I like the news above but have to say that Easynet or none of the others appeals more

at least that way the shareholders benefit as to 100% of the profits

there is not much point in TWT securing large deals when the existing holders will effectively only benefit to the tune of 3.5% of any income from them

dick ... the 3% is factored in and I actually think it's been factored in twice. ie the shares should be worth at least in the new formatand that means 3.3 againsy the 2.3p currently for the shares quoted. This is not a moni - if the bottom line moves up 10% then the 3 moves up 10% (or more) and the current shares move from a notional 3.3p to 3.6p or so ..... we still get all the benefits.



ains

Oddly I agree 100% with ainsoph on this one, but having bgt. some at 4.05p, and adding some yesterday at 2.2p any port in a storm I guess

Telewest to get new email service after spam attacks
By Tim Richardson
Posted: 16/05/2003 at 10:51 GMT


Telewest punters are set to suffer more disruption to their service next week when the cableco moves its email service to a new platform.

The move follows weeks of hassle for Telewest users as the ISP's email service collapsed under a deluge of spam.

After a second spam attack last week, which resulted in mail delays of up to four days, Telewest admitted that an underlying hardware failure was to blame for the extended delays in punters receiving email.

However, Telewest told The Register that next week's planned platform migration has nothing to do with the recent spam attacks.

Telewest will start moving its email service onto a new platform from midday next Tuesday (May 20). The move should be completed by 8pm the following day.

In an email to punters the cableco warned: "You will be able to send and receive emails, but from midnight on 20 May (Tuesday night) you may not be able to see old messages, however you will see them again before we finish.

Telewest also warned that from midnight on 20 May dial-up customers won't be able to hook up to the Net for a short time.

The cableco added: "We have experienced some issues with our existing platform over the last few weeks and we apologise for any inconvenience this may have caused. The new platform will improve our ability to avoid such issues in the future. Also, we are focusing on additional measures to help reduce the possibility of delays for delivering your e-mail."

Fingers crossed, eh?

fascinating.

If existing shareholders do get anything from this restructure, I believe it will be calculated like this.

They will base current value of TWT on the average price of share: in the 10 days preceding agreement.
They will then calculate this against the Bondholders debt at par.

This should give existing holders a value of circa 2p.

After restructure there may be a slight premium, based on the more financially viable position the company will be in.

There may also be a 1 for 100 consolidation, as the amount of new shares in circulation would be a logistical nightmare for the company to manage.

whatif ..... not sure whether you are a holder or not but if you believe what you say - you should sell/leave them alone




ains

Anyone know what is up with a d v f n today?

Very wise advice ainsoph.

Unfortunately it comes some 18 months too late!

:-( ..... I think we will see a minimum 3% d4e and could be higher. Would exoect this to equate to a minimum 3/4p in the short term andmaybe as much as 10p in a rising market within say 12 months


ains


Outrage as Telewest cuts wages
By Tim Richardson
Posted: 16/05/2003 at 14:28 GMT


There's unrest at Telewest's Business Fault Centre in Peterborough after workers there were told that the cableco has decided to cut wages by around 1,100 a year.

Insiders angry at the decision have told The Register that the pay cut will take a sizeable chunk out of people's salaries.

As a result morale has plummeted since the 100 staff found out about the pay cut earlier this week. Many have already begun looking for other jobs.

Telewest says the pay cut has been introduced to bring the Peterborough Fault Centre in line with shift patterns at other Telewest centres around the country.

Workers remain sceptical, claiming that it's just a cheap shot to cut costs at the cableco.

A spokesperson for Telewest said the removal of shift allowances would affect around 60 staff but insisted that a new accreditation scheme would help "increase the earnings potential" for some staff.

ISP NEWS

Friday 16 May 2003, 11:02:16 AM
United Kingdom
Written by Sarah Brown
Broadband communications supplier to public and private sector markets - Telewest Business - has been chosen to provide additional high-speed communications to Education Bradford, following an extension to the contract announced in June 2002.


The schools in Bradford were originally connected via Telewest frame relay circuits at speeds of 64K, 128K and 2Mb and it was decided that if the district was to meet and even exceed the Government guidelines, higher bandwidths were necessary. This latest project worth 2.5 million over the next five years, sees Telewest Business providing 10Mb fibre connections with a network connection to a total of 200 schools in the Bradford area.


The network will enable access to a connection to the Internet and email, as well as web-based education resources. Telewest Business, also hosts the Education Bradford central servers. Tony Grace, Managing Director of Telewest Business, commented:


By introducing an effective, secure and high speed network into its schools, Education Bradford has shown that it is leading the way in this sector. We are pleased to have had the opportunity to further demonstrate our commitment to improving connectivity in schools through our involvement in this project.


The project also provides schools with links to a server farm, which is run and managed by Synetrix. This allows them to access any selected or requested software, which can then be run across the Telewest network.

Mobile phone firms to cut charges - for one day only
By Clayton Hirst
18 May 2003


Tough new rules designed to force mobile phone companies to slash call charges could be rendered useless, after the discovery of a loophole allowing operators to reduce prices for just one day.

Britain's four main mobile phone companies are expected to cut charges by 15 per cent on 24 July but put them up again the next day. This will make a mockery of a year-long Competition Commission investigation which found that consumers were paying too much when calling a mobile phone from a fixed line.

The revelation has angered fixed-line telecoms companies, which argued that Vodafone, Orange, mmO2 and T-Mobile charge them too much for receiving phone calls. The fixed operators pass on this cost to consumers though higher phone bills. A spokesman for BT said: "A reduction in the cost of calls to mobiles is something BT has consistently argued for." The average BT customer spends 13 a quarter calling mobiles.

Gavin Patterson, managing director of Telewest Broadband, said: "How on earth are consumers supposed to know what to believe when the whole fixed to mobile situation is such a muddle?"

The problem has been created by new European laws that will come into effect on 25 July. This will strip telecoms regulators of certain powers in the case of Britain's Oftel, its ability to enforce price cuts.

Brussels is also planning to introduce rules to force operators to cut termination charges. But Britain's mobile operators plan to lobby for these rules to be dropped.

A spokesman for T-Mobile said: "It's ironic we are having to look to Europe for the true nature of competition when Britain has the most competitive mobile market in Europe."

Headed by David Edmonds, Oftel is thought to be livid about the plans to cut call charges for just a day and may propose an amendment to the Communications Bill. A spokes- woman said: "We would expect operators to conform with the spirit of the Competition Com- mission recommendations."

interesting but not price moving


Council chosen to be a TV star May 19 2003




By The Huddersfield Daily Examiner


LOCAL government is coming to a TV near you.

Kirklees Council has been chosen as the leading local authority for DigiTV, the national project for Digital Interactive Television (DiTV), which will be launched at a national event in London on Thursday.

DigiTV is among the national projects being launched by the Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott.

Lead partners in the bid are Kirklees, Somerset, Suffolk, Knowsley and Hillingdon.

The Department of Trade and Industry and the Department of Health are involved in the project, as are private firms including hardware and middleware providers such as the BBC, NTL, Telewest and Sky.

The aim of the project is to demonstrate how DiTV can be used as a channel to deliver local government services, ranging from contacting councillors, arranging collection of bulky items from homes, through to details of what's on in an area and addressing community safety.

Work on starter kits will start next month and the project will be operational around January, 2004.

A DigiTV website will be live from Thursday.

Anyone who would like to know more about DiTV should contact Ricky Chopra, National DiTV Project Manager, DigiTV National Project, Kirklees Metropolitan Council, 1st Floor, High Street Buildings, Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, HD1 2NQ.

Ring Mr Chopra on 01484 416230, email ricky.chopra@kirklees.gov.uk or see the website at www.DigiTV.org.uk

Digital TV subscribers to double by 2007

London, May 19 2003, (netimperative)



by Susie Harwood

The number of subscribers to digital pay-TV services in Western Europe is expected grow rapidly over the coming years according to new research by IDC.


The company forecasts that pay-TV subscribers will more than double to 49m by 2007, up from 24m this year.

The report reveals that satellite remains the dominant platform driving subscriber take-up, with cable and DSL showing insignificant challenges in most Western European countries.

IDC said that the UK, France and Spain have managed to achieve high levels of DTV subscriber take-up, but Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium are lagging behind.

TW launches online broadband 'shop'

London, May 20 2003, (netimperative)



by Chris Lake

Telewest Broadband has set up an online store for customers to order new cable broadband services, which now run at speeds of up to 2Mbps.


The company is pushing its blueyonder broadband internet, television and telephone services and is offering a 5 discount to those customers who order online.

Telewest said the discount reduces the connection charge for entry-level broadband internet to just 7.50, which it claims is the lowest price for high-speed internet access in the UK, although this is for existing Telewest customers with a set-top box already in place.

New customers that want access to the high-speed internet via a cable modem will see the connection charge reduced from 50 to 45. They are invited to conduct a postcode search to see if the Telewest network extends to their neighbourhood.

If this is not the case, Telewest suggests they visit NTL's website to check for cable broadband availability, in line with the marketing agreement that exists between the two cable operators.

Telewest and NTL are widely expected to merge at some stage after the refinancing of the former operator is completed, following NTL's successful debt-for-equity swap last year.

Ains,

Very annoying all TWT needs to do is break 2.17p/2.18p to break out IMHO.

I know .... spread is very tight at the moment and useful vol today


ains

FYI


NTL hits back in 128Kbps broadband row
16:45 Tuesday 20th May 2003
Graeme Wearden


The cable firm is accusing its rivals of indulging in dirty tricks as the government gets lambasted for its failure to agree on a clear definition of broadband
The ongoing controversy over which types of Internet products should be called broadband resurfaced on Tuesday, as NTL slammed operators who have complained that its entry-level product isn't worthy of the description.

Alex Blowers, director of regulatory affairs at NTL, claimed in a speech at a Westminster Media Forum event in London that this infighting over definitions was damaging for the whole industry, and deterred some users from upgrading to broadband.

Blowers also suggested that some of the companies who were most keen to rubbish NTL's 128Kbps service (which was recently increased to 150Kbps) were acting largely out of self-interest, and just wanted to have the base point for broadband set "at the speed of their own entry-level product."

"If you don't like the fact that we're taking customers away from you with our 128Kbps and now our 150Kbps services, then you should start providing your own services at these speeds," Blowers told the audience, which included representatives from most of the major UK ISPs.

"We need to stop this dirty war," Blowers insisted.

NTL's 128Kbps/150Kbps product has been a subject of contention for months, amid claims from other broadband providers that it is too slow to provide a true "broadband experience".

The cable company also fell foul of the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA), which ruled last month that that NTL was wrong to use the word broadband, without qualification, to describe the 128Kbps product. According to the ASA, most consumers would think that broadband means a service of 500Kbps or faster.

Users of the 128Kbps/150Kbps product have been counted as broadband users by Oftel when assessing the overall take-up of high-speed Internet services, but not when the regulator is assessing market dominance, a position that was also criticised on Tuesday.

"Without a clear definition of what broadband is, it simply isn't possible to tell who is monopolising the market," claimed a representative from Tiscali, pointing out that while ADSL and cable each have roughly half of the broadband market under today's government figures, the position is much less balanced if you subtract NTL's 128Kbps/150Kbps users.

It has been reported that there are around 380,000 users of NTL's 128Kbps/150Kbps service, out of a total of roughly two million broadband customers overall.

E-commerce minister Stephen Timms came under fire from one delegate over this issue, who claimed that there were at least six different and conflicting definitions of broadband. Timms, though, insisted there is no problem with this.

"As long as it is clear what is being offered to consumers, I don't think it matters that the term broadband is being used to describe several different services," Timms said.

Ains,

Given up. Only if FTSE rallies can I see it moving up through resistance.



Return to 6.40p or above fat chance otherwise IMHO

Good luck with it

Ash

fair enough ...... I am happy to sit it out ..... tending to swing trade over a period rather than look for immediate returns.


ains

swing trading and sitting tight, ainsey ;-))

Fungi ..... get a life ....duh

LOL !!!

UK broadband hits two million


The spread of broadband has been helped by lower prices
The UK has totted up two million broadband connections, according to the telecoms watchdog Oftel.
The success will be seen as a sign that the UK is catching up with its European neighbours in the race to be the best place for fast net services.

With new connections running at 35,000 a week, telecoms regulator Oftel is confident the UK can reach the top of the broadband league table.

"It took two years to reach one million connections but only seven months to reach two million, as increased competition and lower prices have boosted connection rates," said David Edmonds, Director General of Telecommunications.

Digital divide

It offers new ways of boosting education and skills, as well as giving rural communities better access to government services

Alun Michael, Rural Affairs Minister

The figures, based on information from network operators, will come as a relief to the government. It has committed itself to make the UK the best place for broadband in the G7 group of countries by 2005.

"We now have the third most competitive broadband market in the G7 and we have today hit two million connections in the UK which goes to show that we are heading, full speed, in the right direction," said e-Commerce Minister Stephen Timms.

According to the Office of National Statistics, the UK has seen a 200% growth in broadband in the last year, due largely to falling prices, fierce marketing campaigns and new ways to install the technology.

Avoiding a digital divide between regions that have access to broadband and the 30% that remain reliant on dial-up connections will be the next big hurdle.

And the need to connect the remoter parts of the UK to the broadband revolution is not lost on the government.

"This technology has huge potential to overcome the barriers of physical distance leading to increased productivity for our rural businesses," acknowledged Rural Affairs Minister Alun Michael.

Action not words

The government's role is to get out there and buy it

Jim Norton, Independent Director
"It offers new ways of boosting education and skills, as well as giving rural communities better access to government services," he added.

Critics are increasingly calling on the government to replace its rhetoric about rural broadband with action.


"The government's role is to get out there and buy it rather than regulating the industry to death," said Professor Jim Norton, the former director of the Cabinet Office's e-commerce team.

Speaking at a broadband conference in London, Professor Norton said that the government had vast buying power.

"In rural areas the government is often the biggest customer. If it could buy better then it would create the critical mass needed for operators to invest," he said.

NTL hit by ad watchdog ruling
By Tim Richardson
Posted: 21/05/2003 at 10:56 GMT


The advertising watchdog has dismissed complaints concerning NTL's boast that its broadband service offers "unlimited surfing" even though it has imposed a cap.

As reported last week by The Register, the Advertising Watchdog Authority (ASA) agreed with the cableco that "because residential users enjoyed 24 hours a day, seven days a week broadband access and they were able to download 1Gb of data in a day without their access being halted and without being charged extra, [NTL was] justified in advertising that [its] fixed-monthly-fee broadband access offered unlimited Internet usage.

However, NTL wasn't so lucky with a second complaint that questioned its claim: "High Speed Broadband Internet only 14.99 a month From the UK's No.1 Broadband Internet provider...".

That complaint came from monster ISP Freeserve which argued that users of NTL's 128 kbps product should not be counted as broadband customers, and thus challenged the claim that NTL was "the UK's No.1 Broadband Internet provider".

NTL argued that when you include all 128 kbps punters along with it higher-speed customers (that's more than half according to internal figures seen by El Reg, by the way), then it did have more residential broadband customers than other ISPs in the UK.

However, the ASA disagreed claiming that the statement - "the UK's No.1 Broadband Internet provider" - without qualification, was likely to mislead.

Elsewhere in the tit-for-tat world of broadband, BT complained about Telewest's claim that its broadband service was "easier to install than BT". The Telewest copy went on: "When it comes to installation, we'll send an engineer round to install it for you. (BT leave you to figure out the installation process for yourself and they charge you a lot more.)"

BT denied that its BT Broadband service was "difficult to install". It also got the hump that it "charged a lot more for installation".

The ASA upheld the first complaint but threw out the other.

15:21 BST, Wednesday 21st May 2003 -- by James Welsh
One part of a BT complaint over a Telewest blueyonder broadband promotion has been upheld by the Advertising Standards Authority.

The advert in question was a direct mail ad, which drew comparisons between the installation processes of blueyonder compared to BT's broadband services. One piece of copy in the ad said blueyonder was "...easier to install than BT," while another claimed: "When it comes to installation, we'll send an engineer round to install it for you. (BT leave you to figure out the installation process for yourself and they charge you a lot more.)"

BT challenged both claims. In the first case, BT said the blueyonder advert implied the BT service was difficult to install. Two different opinions emerged during the adjudication of this complaint - while blueyonder said they had merely "pointed out an obvious fact: that it was easier to have Broadband Internet installed by a professional engineer than for an individual to install it themselves," the ASA said it understood that BT's product was designed to be simple to install so that it removed the need for on-site technical assistance." Additionally, BT pointed out that a dedicated technical helpline was available for customers with installation queries. Therefore, because the ASA agreed with BT's claim that the Telewest advert implied BT's service was difficult to install, the complaint was upheld and Telewest was told "to ensure they did not repeat the implication that it was difficult to install in future advertising."

The second complaint involved BT challenging the veracity of the claim that "they charge you a lot more." This complaint was not upheld, as at the time, Telewest were charging 25 for installation as part of a half-price promotion; BT's standard installation charge for a modem and "enhancement of their customer's telephone lines" is 50. Therefore, the ASA ruled: "the advertisers were justified, during their half-price installation promotion, in claiming BT charged a lot more for broadband installation."

SKY

UK TAKES TO BROADBAND


There are now two million broadband users in Britain, according to telecom regulator Oftel.

It said 35,000 people are signing up every week for broadband, which provides a faster service and a permanent link to the web.


Last October it was only 20,000 a month.

Oftel said lower prices and increased competition had been boosting sales.

The Government said it was stepping up its efforts to speed up the roll-out of broadband across the country.

E-commerce Minister Stephen Timms said every school would be connected by 2006.






Last Updated: 11:18 UK, Thursday May 22, 2003

Ains,

FTSE has been up to 3,971.10 this am and DJIA 8,573.30 and TWT has not even moved up yet!

(:-(

I know ... it's in a micro market of it's own ...... like I say - I am happy to sit on mine and wait .... will add a few if it dips but take your point

Ains,

Well at least hourly MACD Broke Zero yesterday, now all it needs to do is break 2.17p IMHO.

Yes ....... vols are fairly flat at the moment

Ains,

Volumes are flat on everything pre a bank holiday weekend

A hammer on 6.50m volume is pretty good under the circumstances

except tads :-))

Telewest launches new TV starter pack
13:43 BST, Friday 23rd May 2003 -- by James Welsh
Britain's second largest cable operator, Telewest, today declared war on rivals such as Sky Digital and even Freeview by launching a new digital TV starter pack costing 3.50 per month when taken with a Telewest phone line.

The new Starter Pack, launching June 1st, is made up of thirty channels, and includes Sky One.

Telewest's managing director, Gavin Patterson, said: "We want to give consumers a taste of what digital TV is like, as we're so convinced that once they've tried it, they won't want to go back to five analogue channels.

"We're presenting a new service that will break down barriers to getting digital TV and offers excellent value compared to both Freeview and Sky."

The base price of a Telewest phone line is 10 per month, bringing the total cost of a Telewest phone line and the new Starter Pack to 13.50 per month. The Essential package continues to be available at 18.50 per month, along with Supreme at 25.50 per month.

The strategy of offering discounts on services when taken with a Telewest phone line is not a new one; subscribers to blueyonder broadband pay a lower monthly fee than those who take the service standalone. Additionally, digital TV and phone packages have traditionally been sold together as part of a package; but the marketing of this product as 30 TV channels for 3.50 per month could have an impact on those viewers thinking of going digital for the first time.

Ains,

FTSE is starting to move up rapidly now

yes


twt is trying but spread is widening

This will be successful




Telewest launches "no frills" DTV

London, May 23 2003, (netimperative)



by Chris Lake

Telewest will next month launch a digital television service that aims to provide some low cost competition for Sky and Freeview.


The number two cable operator said it will bring digital TV prices "down to earth" by launching a 'starter pack' for less than 1 a week.

Telewest Broadband will roll out the new service on 1 June, allowing consumers to access 30 channels - including Sky One, BBC Three and Cbeebies - for 3.50 per month. It said subscribers do not need to buy a set top box separately, since the device is included in the rental scheme.

The starter kit is only available as a wider package involving the installation of a Telewest phone line, which typically costs 10 a month. Normally there is a one-off set-up fee of 50 but Telewest has reduced this to 10 for the month of June.

Subscribers need to commit to a 12-month contract to receive the digital TV service, which includes free TV email and access to premium content.

Telewest Broadband MD Gavin Patterson said: "We want to give consumers a taste of what digital TV is like, as we're so convinced that once they've tried it, they won't want to go back to five analogue channels."

"We're presenting a new service that will break down barriers to getting digital TV and offers excellent value compared to both Freeview and Sky."

Ains,

About bloody time too.

Here we go at last

Hope you all had an enjoyable bank holiday weekend
Edit 2.25pm bid increased from 1.98p to 1.99p this morning, ie stronger than offer.

Cheers

Ash

Ains,

UKX FTSE rocketing up 38.20 points in 23 mins.

LONDON (AFX) - IDT Corp said it holds 24 pct of the voting shares in
Telewest Communications PLC, following the acquisition of 636,056,024 ordinary
shares and 60,322,654 limited voting ordinary shares in the company.
According to a Securities and Exchange Commission filing yesterday, acquired
stock, amounting to 22 pct of Telewest's ordinary share base, was sold by
Microsoft Corp, the US software giant.
Microsoft said in December it wanted to offload its holding in the troubled
UK cable company and John Malone's Liberty Media was given the right of first
refusal to add to its 25 pct of Telewest.
This 30 day option was not exercised.
Buyer IDT is a US media and communications group, which has a habit of
investing in troubled telecoms firms and has close ties to Liberty.
The company is known for its international callback technology, a system
which allows long distance users to bypass expensive overseas carriers by
rerouting calls through cheaper US exchanges.
It also owns the Talk America Radio Network which it bought in 2001
Telewest was not immediately available for comment. It is not known how much
IDT paid for its stake in Telewest.

er ainsoph has gone

RIP

ainsoph, how do you interpret IDT's buy!? I cannot see the motive.

Bid has moved up from 1.99p to 2.03p, to me that is all that matters, having the uncertainty of MSFT position removed must be good news IMHO.

er hello, no ainsoph resides here.

Sequestor,

No idea if Ainsoph posting on AM or not, TWT bid moved up to 2.10p, good news IMHO, still long, and watching for a decent break above resistance north of 2.17p, then who knows where it will spike to.

KDC et al were banned Mr.

Sequestor,

How do you know?

I am getting mighty peed off with TWT FTSE 100 hitting 4090.40 and TWT does not want to know!

Its common knowlege about the ban, we commoners get everywhere,
seriously I have a punt on TWT and need only anorher 10% on the bid-any contacts?

There are some rumours going around that board changes are in the process og happening with the departure of most non execs including the chairman Cob Sterman, and also twt are moving closer towards the finalisation of their d for e. Having said that although I do not expect fireworks in the stock price it will remove some uncertainty and if all goes well the share price could move up a tad.

Not a short term punt though in my opinion, it will take many years for holders at higher levels to get back to the point where the shares are even worth selling, however a final close on this disaster will be welcomed as at least we will know if their is any future

there was some glowing stuff in the Sundays about telecoms in general, but this doesn`t seem to have clicked with the 1k punters, and lets face it they move the price at a whim, perhaps they will have a punt later today.

All quite on this site ...

ainsop,

Any thoughts on the volume today ?.

It looks like from the recent press reports (which no longer seem to be posted onto this site) that the Bondholders are being even more greedy and demanding more equity in return for agreeing to the D4E swap. You would have thought that it would be in their interests to ensure a deal is signed quickly. No doubt the shares will fall further tomorrow!

Sorry wrong thread.

This approach to dealmaking signals not that the bondholders do not want to give shareholders 3%, but that they want something else; eg board seats etc. It could well be just a brinkmanship effort to secure something a minority of bondholders have been told they cannot have. Leaving it to the last minute does not feel like an issue with the D4E terms, although that is how it is being flagged.

jeez and fall they did, glad I bailed at just over 2.0p last week

old news I know but the bit at the bottom is of interest. I've tried investoraction.co.uk today but no response.

1,000 jobs under threat at Telewest

John Cassy
Thursday September 5, 2002
The Guardian

A further 1,000 staff could lose their jobs at Telewest by the end of next year as the debt-laden cable group seeks new ways to cut costs.

Executives expect the jobs to be shed gradually over the next 12-15 months as Telewest undergoes a financial restructuring and looks at ways to build a more sustainable business.

Earlier this year Telewest announced plans to shed 1,500 of its 10,500 employees and by the end of next year staff num bers are expected to stabilise at about 8,000.

Annual capital expenditure is also expected to fall from current levels of about 500m to 300m-350m.

A spokeswoman for Telewest insisted that there was no announcement of significant job cuts planned but sources inside the company said the headcount would be reduced over the next year.

Telewest employs staff in cities including Edinburgh, Liverpool, Birmingham, Leeds, Bristol, Plymouth, and London.

The financial restructuring moved a step closer yesterday when shareholders gave approval to plans to dispose of Telewest's 16.9% stake in SMG, the Scottish media company which also owns Virgin Radio. Schroders, the investment bank, is attempting to sell the shares for Telewestand is thought to have approached the ITV companies, Carlton and Granada.

Analysts believe it is more likely that the shares will be placed with institutions.

Talks are expected to start shortly with bondholders about a debt for equity swap which will leave shareholders owning a tiny fraction of the company.

In return for wiping the bulk of Telewest's 5.3bn debt, bondholders will be handed control of the company.

Small shareholders are rallying through internet action groups to push their case. The Telewest Action Group, which has a forum at www.investoraction.co.uk, wants to make sure Telewest shareholders get more than the 0.5% Marconi gave to equity investors in its recent restructuring.

Who runs TAG now then snap?, PAULISMYNAME pulled out I think.

I thnk the bondholders had the better of them.

Paulishisname has thrown in the towel and sold his remaining shares according to todays traders thread.

ohoh, sounds like the right move to me snap

Yes, I have, and hold no position now. The same applies I believe to Wordy another ex TAG committee member. A 3% equity deal would have given us a chance to emerge with a stake worth selling in 5/10 years time, however if it gets down to one percent/half of one percent that means in simple terms either 3 or 6 times less than today........

Simple risk management indicated it would be best to find another penny share for this small (now) segregated part of my overal capital. I had almost written it off anyway and am no longer worried about it but I do not deny it has been the worst investment of a lifetime.

But we live and learn.....at least I have gained enough trading knowedge not to ignore the coded signs

Puts the thread header into perspective then.

er lol I think is the perfect finale to that little scam .

Wow, this thing is really banjaxed now.

investoraction.co.uk (TAG) was brought down by hacker activity.
Unfortunately, the website author had not made backups. As such it was impossible to restore it.
He has since sold off his holding & is no longer interested in TWT.
Pity, as a strong TAG may have had some effect on the Boards' actions.

There must still be some TWT shareholders out there, (who are not also bondholders!) who will be unhappy with 1% (if that is the figure) when they believed that the Board and the Bondholders had agreed to 3% back in Sept 2002. All these late demands by the bondholders must surely be counter- productive - as it will add further delays to an already lengthy D4E process and meanwhile TWT will lose further customers (myself included if shareholders do not get the 3%!). You would have thought that the bondholders best course of action would be to conclude the D4E as quickly as possible, get TWT back in the FTSE 100 and allow the business to move forward towards a merger with NTL. This would be the best chance of the bondholders realising a return from their investment, some of whom will no doubt make a massive profit having bought bonds at distressed prices.

Instead, the bondholders seem to be worrying about the pennies to them, but this is rather pointless if the business is worth less for the reasons said above. No doubt the professional advisors - the lawyers - will gain from the delays.

The AGM is tomorrow - and I have no confidence on what the Board might say.

All resolutions were passed by shareholders ( The chairmans proxy votes) despite protest votes and a certain amount of ill will from attending shareholders. This stock has certainly turned into the worst investment I ever made and now that it looks like the 3% remaining equity (re debt for equity swap) is under threat, it would take a miracle to restore any fair value to the shares I held.

Fortunately I can afford my losses and due to some unique circumstances connected with the purchases, I have lost no real cash out of the bank.

However there are many people, estimated at around 45,000 private shareholders, who have lost staggering sums of money. I know of one person who may loose his house for example.

So the lesson to be learned is that of a stop loss. In my case I suspended my usual rules (25% give or take on a longer term investment) because I was told Bill Gates and Dr Malone, two of the richest men in the world, were "fully supportive" of Telewest and its position when it first started to fall. So the lesson to learn is this...never suspend your stop loss rules regardless of what you are told or even promised, in 99% of all situations it will save you money and as for the 1% where it might not...well I can live with that.

15% is my stop loss and I will ALWAYS impliment after taking a tremendous hit in Baltimore (BLM) . Averaging down is not an exercise to follow.

madbidder the percentages depend on your timeframe and the amount of money involved, but in general you are right

can't help feeling that owning this share is like p*ssing in the wind.

Got quite excited as this was amongst the top gainers and then realised it was only the spread widening.

Anyone believe the recent Times story that shareholders may get warrants on 3% rather than a straight 3%? The press got MONI right re their D4E and I wonder if we are seeing more of the same. Warrants would be worth next to nothing, whereas a straight 3% may double the current price, so the market looks like it is betting on a 50/50 chance of either. What I am finding curious though is that I am inclined to believe the Times, yet SETS has been bid up recently with some interesting orders & trades. Not the action one would expect unless someone knows something - and I am sure plenty probably do. However, that said, MONI's last stages in the old was wholly illogical and the lesson there was not to read anything into what the market looked like it was saying. There was a total disconnect between reality and the market price for the old equity re the D4E. If the Times is right re TWT then even if it is just warrants then the market price may end up over valued simply because that's the way these things often settle out; eg to some extent retail trade. But, another way of reading all of this is that selected bondholders were just playing brinkmanship re the 3% and restructuring to achieve other ends - which they now seem to have got re Board positions - so could it be that they will now back off the detail and let what is already drafted through. Of course I am sitting on a stack of these and want to know how my bet is looking, but finding that difficult to do, and it looks like I can either jump now or risk either losing it all or doubling it. Anyone with any insight?

Well, the Telegraph says that shareholders will get 1.5% which puts the value pretty much where the market is anyway. But, wouldn't be surprised if we saw a skip and a jump then trip over the next couple of weeks with this news, the results Thursday, etc.

Hello all. It seems that this thread was almost forgotten.... I have been doing graph and TWT occured me. ITt seems that TELEWEST IS MOVING ON UP AGAIN. (You need to draw a graph using average movements - Could not copy and paste as the service is not currently working) I used a 20 day moving average, and it is going up and the 70 day is just beginning too. The price has been moving up steadily since early Dec. Although is early days, I think WE should keep a close eye. Any news, research is always welcome. Thanks

congratulations you must be the new bill gates !