United Kingdom television cable provider Virgin Media Inc has been bought out by media giant Liberty Global Inc. One of the first moves in acquisition is a promise to make web services an integrated part of the services provided instead of shunning them altogether.
According CEO Neil Berkett, "Our approach is to get every content asset you possibly can on the platform."
The purchase is worth US$16 billion and is the springboard into the largest pay TV market in Europe. Liberty is controlled by billionaire John Malone while the merger is being overseen by CEO Berkett. This is also a move to become more competitive against established rivals such as British Sky Broadcasting Group Plc as well as net services providers like Netflix and Lovefilm from Amazon.com.
Berkett added, "We've got far a greater chance as an industry by embracing over-the-top services. It's unlikely that you'll see a U-turn and digression in terms of our strategy."
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