Editing NTL Incorporated (section)

=== NTL/Telewest merger ===

From late 2003 discussions commenced on a merger between Telewest and NTL. Thanks to their geographically different areas, NTL and Telewest had co-operated previously, as in re-directing potential customers living outside their respective areas. On 3 October 2005, NTL announced a [[United States dollar|USD$]]6 billion purchase of Telewest, forming one of the largest media companies in the UK. The merger agreement as structured would have left NTL having to negotiate with [[BBC Worldwide]], the [[BBC]]'s commercial arm, due to a change-of-ownership clause written into the agreement for [[UKTV]], a joint venture with Telewest's [[Living TV Group|Flextech]] content division. To prevent this, Telewest instead acquired NTL.

The parties completed the merger on 3 March 2006, making the merged company the UK's largest cable-provider, with more than 90% of the market. Once merged, the combined company renamed itself to ntl:Telewest,<ref name="Company History">{{cite web | title = Company history – ntl:Telewest Business timeline | url = http://www.virginmediabusiness.co.uk/About-us/Company-history/ | access-date = 28 October 2011 | archive-date = 31 December 2011 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20111231123732/http://www.virginmediabusiness.co.uk/About-us/Company-history/ | url-status = dead }}</ref> with ex-NTL shareholders controlling 75% of the stock and ex-Telewest shareholders 25%. Nine of the eleven directors of the new board came from NTL and two from Telewest.