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

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

ADVERTISEMENT

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

ADVERTISEMENT

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