Telecential was a cable TV provider based in

Hemel Hempstead Hemel Hempstead () is a town in the Dacorum district in Hertfordshire, England, northwest of London, which is part of the Greater London Urban Area. The population at the 2011 census was 97,500. Developed after the Second World War as a ne ...

,The original idea for a Community Radio station for St Albans came from Clive Glover, derived from his experience in hospital radio at the City Hospital in the 1980s.

Hertfordshire Hertfordshire ( or ; often abbreviated Herts) is one of the home counties in southern England. It borders Bedfordshire and Cambridgeshire to the north, Essex to the east, Greater London to the south, and Buckinghamshire to the west. For govern ...

. It was notable for running one of the first community-based TV stations, West Herts TV, and for developing cable television services in

Reading, Berkshire Reading ( ) is a town and borough in Berkshire, Southeast England, southeast England. Located in the Thames Valley at the confluence of the rivers River Thames, Thames and River Kennet, Kennet, the Great Western Main Line railway and the M4 mot ...

. Later on, they expanded their network to Bletchley now a part of

Milton Keynes Milton Keynes ( ) is a city and the largest settlement in Buckinghamshire, England, about north-west of London. At the 2021 Census, the population of its urban area was over . The River Great Ouse forms its northern boundary; a tributary ...

Borough, though since the network has lain abandoned as of 2019, it is unclear if it was ever switched on;

Northamptonshire Northamptonshire (; abbreviated Northants.) is a county in the East Midlands of England. In 2015, it had a population of 723,000. The county is administered by two unitary authorities: North Northamptonshire and West Northamptonshire. It is ...

(through their acquisition of County Cable) and Swindon (through their acquisition of

Swindon Cable Swindon Cable was the UK's first commercial Cable TV franchise. It was originally set up by Thorn Ltd as Radio Rentals Cable Television; the local company name was later changed to Swindon Cable. As well as relaying satellite channels it operate ...

). Telecential was jointly owned by CUC Broadcasting Ltd. and Telus.

Timeline of consolidation

* Telecential were bought by Comtel with its HQ in

Wokingham Wokingham is a market town in Berkshire, England, west of London, southeast of Reading, north of Camberley and west of Bracknell. History Wokingham means 'Wocca's people's home'. Wocca was apparently a Saxon chieftain who may als ...

"Britain's NTL Agrees to Acquire Three Cable Firms for $1.55 Billion"
By Gautam Naik, Staff Reporter of The Wall Street Journal * Comtel were bought by

Cabletel NTL Incorporated, branded as ntl:, was a United States-listed British company founded in 1992, which provided cable television, cable internet and fixed-line cable telephone services. While NTL had its headquarters in New York City, the compa ...

with its HQ in Hook, Hampshire * Cabletel rebranded as NTL * NTL merged with

Telewest Telewest (previously Telewest Broadband and Telewest Communications) was a cable internet, broadband internet, telephone supplier and cable television provider in the United Kingdom. It was listed on the London Stock Exchange, and was also o ...

branded as ntl: Telewest * ntl: Telewest bought Virgin Mobile and, separately, re-branded as

Virgin Media Virgin Media is a British telecommunications company which provides telephone, Cable television, television and Internet access, internet services in the United Kingdom. Its headquarters are at Green Park in Reading, Berkshire, Reading, Engla ...

* Virgin Media was later acquired by Liberty Global in 2013. Liberty Global was a successor to TCI, one of the founders of Telecential, bringing the consolidation full-circle.

References

Cable television companies of the United Kingdom Companies based in Hemel Hempstead {{UK-tv-stub