Branson takes aim at BSKyB

ACCORDING TO an unconfirmed report in the FT, Virgin's Sir Richard Branson has persuaded NTL to talk to ITV - Britain's biggest commercial broadcaster - about a possible merger.

This means that NTL would have the one thing it lacks in its battle with arch rival, BSkyB - content. It's well known that Rupert Murdoch's strategy to get people to sign up to his satellite TV station has been to offer exclusive sports coverage.

ITV currently has the rights to broadcast Formula One racing, for example. So we could well see Virgin Mobile - NTL's cellular arm - having exclusive rights to broadcast F1 to mobile handsets.

The INQ better dust off its Virgin Mobile SIM card, then. µ

L'INQ
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