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
London Stock Exchange (LSE) is a stock exchange in the City of London, England, United Kingdom. , the total market value of all companies trading on LSE was £3.9 trillion. Its current premises are situated in Paternoster Square close to St P ...
, and was also once a constituent of the
FTSE 100 Index.
In March 2006, Telewest merged with fellow cable telecom company
NTL
NTL may refer to:
Companies
* NTL Incorporated and NTL Internet, later Virgin Media, communications media company
** NTL Ireland, later Virgin Media Ireland
* Arqiva, UK company formerly ''NTL Broadcast'' and ''National Transcommunications L ...
, and created "NTL:Telewest", which then also merged with
Virgin Mobile
Virgin Mobile is a wireless communications brand used by seven independent brand-licensees worldwide. Virgin Mobile branded wireless communications services are available in the United Kingdom, Ireland, Canada, Colombia, Chile, Kuwait, Saudi Ara ...
and
Virgin.net
Virgin.net was an Internet service provider (ISP) operating in the United Kingdom. It launched in November 1996. Once a joint venture between NTL and the Virgin Group, the ISP became wholly owned by NTL in September 2004.
The company sold a range ...
in June 2006, creating the United Kingdom's first "
quadruple play In telecommunications, quadruple play or quad play is a marketing term combining the triple play service of broadband Internet access, television and telephone with wireless service provisions. This service set is also sometimes referred to as "The ...
" telecom provider, offering television, internet, landline phone and mobile phone services. In February 2007, NTL:Telewest was rebranded as
Virgin Media
Virgin Media is a British telecommunications company which provides telephone, television and internet services in the United Kingdom. Its headquarters are at Green Park in Reading, England. It is owned by Virgin Media O2, a 50:50 joint ventu ...
.
History
Telewest originated in
Croydon
Croydon is a large town in south London, England, south of Charing Cross. Part of the London Borough of Croydon, a local government district of Greater London. It is one of the largest commercial districts in Greater London, with an extensi ...
in 1984 under the name "Croydon Cable".
United Cable, of
Denver
Denver () is a consolidated city and county, the capital, and most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Its population was 715,522 at the 2020 census, a 19.22% increase since 2010. It is the 19th-most populous city in the Unit ...
, acquired Croydon Cable in 1988. Franchises extended the company scope into
Edinburgh
Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...
and the southwest and southeast of England. In 1989, United Cable merged with United Artists Cable International.
In May 1991, United Artists announced a merged deal with its largest shareholder
Tele-Communications Inc.
Tele-Communications, Inc. (TCI) was a cable television provider in the United States, and for most of its history was controlled by Bob Magness and John Malone.
The company was started in 1958 in Bozeman, Montana as Western Microwave, Inc. and Co ...
(TCI), to form the largest cable operator in the United States; the deal was valued at $142.5m, and by June the deal was improved. The deal was finalised a week later on 8 June 1991, with TCI acquiring the remaining 46% of United Artists, to allow full control.
TCI and
US West
US West, Inc. (stylized as US WEST) was one of seven Regional Bell Operating Companies (RBOCs, also referred to as "Baby Bells"), created in 1983 under the Modification of Final Judgement (''United States v. Western Electric Co., Inc.'' 552 ...
announced a joint venture, and in 1992, the joint venture company became Telewest Communications, a combination of the names of both founding companies. In June 1995, Telewest merged with SBC Communications, adding franchises in the Midlands and North West serving 1.3 million homes. During this time Telewest founded a consortium called Cable Internet. This consisted of the major cable companies in the United Kingdom working together a provide national Internet access service.
In March 1998, Telewest announced a merger with General Cable, and acquired the outstanding interest in Birmingham Cable, adding a further 1.7 million franchise homes in Yorkshire, west London and Birmingham. Telewest purchased the remaining 50% stake in
Cable London
Virgin Media is a British telecommunications company which provides telephone, television and internet services in the United Kingdom. Its headquarters are at Green Park in Reading, England. It is owned by Virgin Media O2, a 50:50 joint vent ...
from NTL in August 1999, adding 0.4 million franchise homes in
North London
North London is the northern part of London, England, north of the River Thames. It extends from Clerkenwell and Finsbury, on the edge of the City of London financial district, to Greater London's boundary with Hertfordshire.
The term ''nor ...
.
Telewest merged with
Flextech
Living TV Group was a British television consortium originally called Flextech before becoming a subsidiary of British Sky Broadcasting, with Challenge still broadcasting.
Living TV Group had several owned channels, available in the United K ...
in April 2000, and in November, extended its cable network with the acquisition of
Eurobell
Virgin Media is a British telecommunications company which provides telephone, television and internet services in the United Kingdom. Its headquarters are at Green Park in Reading, England. It is owned by Virgin Media O2, a 50:50 joint vent ...
, taking the total number of homes passed to 4.9 million. The company later became known as "Telewest Broadband" in a rebrand during 2001.
Telewest experienced many financial problems in subsequent years, owing to huge debts incurred as a result of constructing its cable network and of acquiring other cable companies and assets.
Notably, the Eurobell acquisition had been funded by an equity based deal, with a
cash option
In economics, cash is money in the physical form of currency, such as banknotes and coins.
In bookkeeping and financial accounting, cash is current assets comprising currency or currency equivalents that can be accessed immediately or near-immed ...
; the poor performance of the company's stock meant that the cash option was favourable, and the company was not able to cover the call.
In September 2003, Telewest restructured itself, by swapping its
unsecured debt for 98.5% of its shares. The
London Stock Exchange
London Stock Exchange (LSE) is a stock exchange in the City of London, England, United Kingdom. , the total market value of all companies trading on LSE was £3.9 trillion. Its current premises are situated in Paternoster Square close to St P ...
then delisted the consolidated shares. Major Telewest shareholders included Huff and
Liberty Media (run by cable tycoon
John Malone
John Carl Malone (born March 7, 1941) is an American billionaire businessman, landowner and philanthropist. He was chief executive officer (CEO) of Tele-Communications Inc. (TCI), a cable and media giant, for twenty-four years from 1973 to 1996. ...
). Afterwards the company emerged from financial restructuring, and completed the merger with NTL in October 2005.
Nickelodeon dispute
In late 2004, negotiations for renewed carriage of the
Nickelodeon
Nickelodeon (often shortened to Nick) is an American pay television television channel, channel which launched on April 1, 1979, as the first cable channel for children. It is run by Paramount Global through its List of assets owned by Param ...
channels broke down; Telewest was unwilling to pay extra to keep the channels and preferred to drop them. Other
Viacom Viacom, an abbreviation of Video and Audio Communications, may refer to:
* Viacom (1952–2006), a former American media conglomerate
* Viacom (2005–2019), a former company spun off from the original Viacom
* Viacom18, a joint venture between Par ...
-owned channels remained, such as
MTV
MTV (Originally an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable channel that launched on August 1, 1981. Based in New York City, it serves as the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group, part of Paramount Media Networks, a di ...
and, the now former,
Paramount Comedy 1
Comedy Central is a British pay television channel that carries comedy programming, both original and syndicated. This channel is specific to audiences within the United Kingdom and Ireland. The channel is aligned with the original US versi ...
.
The reaction to this by customers was fairly large and many left the provider to rival
Sky
The sky is an unobstructed view upward from the surface of the Earth. It includes the atmosphere and outer space. It may also be considered a place between the ground and outer space, thus distinct from outer space.
In the field of astronomy, ...
, with Nickelodeon even encouraging the move. Other customers were retained by Telewest offering them a free upgrade to the
Disney Channel
Disney Channel, sometimes known as simply Disney, is an American pay television channel that serves as the flagship property of Disney Branded Television, a unit of the Disney General Entertainment Content division of The Walt Disney Compan ...
for periods of between one and three months, while others were reportedly offered upgrades to
Sky Movies packages in an attempt to keep them from leaving. The Nickelodeon channels returned to the Telewest platform on 12 February 2005 following successful renegotiation in Nickelodeon's favour.
Marketing Strategies
Telewest has tried a number of marketing strategies over the years, with a solid corporate identity not coming out until the end of 2005, to coincide with a "three for £30" offer. Until 2007, the company used the mascot Ellie West to promote its services. In November 2004, when ''
The Incredibles
''The Incredibles'' is a 2004 American computer-animated superhero film produced by Pixar Animation Studios and released by Walt Disney Pictures. Written and directed by Brad Bird, it stars the voices of Craig T. Nelson, Holly Hunter, Sarah ...
'' was released, Telewest promoted Blueyonder internet services with branding from the film, including television adverts starring characters from the film.
Operations
Telewest provided several residential services on its cable network, including:
Television
The majority of Telewest's television was digital. There were, however, areas that received an analogue service (Slough, Windsor and some areas in west London). Late in its independent existence, Telewest was in the process of converting the remaining analogue areas to digital, and it was expected that the analogue service would cease in 2007.
The digital television service offered a number of different products including true
video on demand
Video on demand (VOD) is a media distribution system that allows users to access videos without a traditional video playback device and the constraints of a typical static broadcasting schedule. In the 20th century, broadcasting in the form of ...
, a PVR, and HDTV.
* On Demand (formerly known as Teleport) was the brand name for Telewest's video on demand (VOD) service. The on Demand service launched in 2005. In contrast to
Sky Digital which, due to technical limitations, is only able to provide near VOD services, Teleport is a true VOD system. Users could search through a large library of programmes and watch them when they want to as part of their subscription.
This library included a free seven day watch again feature for television programmes produced by the
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
(formerly known as Flextech). On Demand also offered movies that could be purchased and watched as many times as desired within a twenty four hour period. On Demand also offered HD content that worked in conjunction with the Telewest PVR (now renamed the V+).
* HDTV Telewest was the first United Kingdom broadcaster to offer
. Telewest's HDTV service launched several months earlier than that of their chief competitor, Sky Digital.
Telewest's HD service initially comprised around 10–30 hours per week of video on demand content, with no linear high definition television channels available, although the early trial services of BBC HD and ITV HD were carried for a brief time. In January 2006, Telewest started to broadcast HD documentaries such as ''
'', ''Planet Earth'' and ''Pride'' through their Teleport service, and later broadcast some movies in HD.
Telewest had an agreement with both
...