An unconditional European Union clearance was provided to John Malone's Liberty Global for the bid for Virgin Media. The US$15.8 billion bid developments was confirmed by two individuals familiar with the site.
The clearance puts the US telecoms billionaire front and center against Rupert Murdoch, as Liberty Global is Europe's top cable operator. It's acquisition of Virgin Media, Britain's second largest pay-TV provider, gives it greater access and markets in the highly competitive cable industry. They had clashed previously, over US satellite TV broadcaster DirecTV Group.
The EU competition authority would be announcing its decision by April 15 according to Antoine Colombani, the commission's spokesperson for competition policy. Both Virgin Media and Liberty Global were not available for comment.
This deal would reinforce the challenge by Malone's Liberty Global against Murdoch's BSkyB, Britain's top pay-television provider. One of the anonymous sources said, "The European Commission does not have any competition concerns about the deal."
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