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NTL has reached agreement to acquire rival cable TV and telecoms company Telewest for £3.4bn, which could result in thousands of job losses through office rationalisation. 04-Oct-2005 Telewest has acquired full ownership of Sit-up TV, the owner of Price-drop TV and Bid TV, in a £98m deal. 16-May-2005 Telewest Broadband is to create 70 jobs at its call centre in Brierley Hill, including 50 new posts and 20 existing vacancies. 10-May-2005 Telewest is looking to sell its Flextech TV business, which owns channels such as Bravo and Challenge, for up to £800m. 30-Mar-2005 Telewest is to close its broadband call centre in Plymouth by March 2005, with the loss of 204 jobs. 29-Nov-2004 Telewest is to shed 25 jobs in Plymouth, in order to transfer some of its credit control and administration work to other offices in Sheffield and Preston. 26-Sep-2003 Telewest is to shed 250 jobs at its call centre in Knowsley over the next three months, but 198 jobs will be created at the nearby Albert Dock site due to an expansion of its Blueyonder broadband internet service. 17-Jun-2002 Really Useful Theatres has acquired Way Ahead, the Nottingham-based ticketing agency, from Telewest for £13m. 17-Jun-2002 Telewest has announced plans to shed 1,500 jobs in its cable TV business, in order to save up to £50m a year. 03-May-2002 Telewest is to raise £28m from the sale of its 37% stake in the TV Travelshop channel to USA Networks. 03-Apr-2002 Telewest has decided to sell or close its Smashed Atom interactive TV joint venture with Atomic Tangerine, due to insufficient demand for broadband TV services. 28-Aug-2001 Telewest and Vis are planning to launch a computer-generated interactive horseracing TV channel, which will enable viewers to own and race their own horses. 20-Aug-2001 Telewest is to develop an interactive healthcare service for the National Health Service, using its broadband network to deliver information and advice via TV sets. 29-Jun-2001 Telewest is to acquire Rapid Travel Solutions for up to £10m, which will enable it to connect travel agents to its broadband internet network. 05-Jun-2001 Telewest is planning to close its Bristol call centre and accounts department with the loss of up to 120 jobs, although some staff will be transferred to its new national call centre in Birmingham. 21-May-2001 Telewest and NTL are to combine their advertising sales activities in order to offer a one-stop shop for companies looking to advertise on cable TV, and further alliances are being considered in the procurement of goods and services. 10-May-2001 Telewest is investing £15m in SitUp, the interactive TV company that is developing a home shopping network. 06-Mar-2001 Telewest has awarded a £24m contract to Conduit of Ireland for the supply of directory inquiry services to its telephone customers. 15-Dec-2000 Telewest is to expand the Liverpool-based technical support centre for its high-speed internet service, with the creation of 70 new jobs. 27-Nov-2000 Telewest has acquired Eurobell, the supplier of cable TV in the south of England, from Deutsche Telekom for up to £280m. 03-Nov-2000 Telewest is forming a joint venture with the Atomic Tangerine subsidiary of the Stanford Research Institute to develop interactive TV services for broadcasters, retailers and advertisers. 23-Oct-2000 Telewest is forming a £4m joint venture with Vis to develop games for interactive TV. 18-Sep-2000 The BBC and Telewest are considering plans to float their UKTV cable TV joint venture, which would help the BBC meet the funding shortfall between its licence fee revenues and spending plans. 28-Aug-2000 Telewest is to spend £30m improving customer services for its cable TV business, with the number of call centres being reduced from 14 to five. 28-Aug-2000 Telewest is planning to expand its cable TV business beyond its network areas by offering services that use wireless technology and DSL telephone lines. 19-May-2000 Telewest is forming an alliance with Andersen Consulting to develop new technology for video-on-demand and interactive TV. 06-Mar-2000 Telewest has added WH Smith to the list of 15 retailers for its Active Digital interactive TV service. 22-Dec-1999 Telewest has taken 105,000 sq ft of space in the Export House office building in Woking. 20-Dec-1999 Telewest and Flextech have agreed plans for a £9.6bn merger, enabling the combined group to develop a new range of TV and cable services. 18-Dec-1999 Telewest is to launch an internet service provider in February, offering unmetered internet access for £10 a month. 14-Dec-1999 Telewest is in merger discussions with Flextech, which would enable Telewest to add new content to its interactive cable TV business. 07-Dec-1999 Telewest is aiming to have 40 retailers and information providers on its interactive TV channel by the time it launches next year. 03-Dec-1999 Telewest is creating 840 jobs with the launch of its digital service, which will include 150 TV and radio channels. 22-Oct-1999 Telewest is creating 27 new jobs at its Brierley Hill customer service office, in order to cope with rising demand for its new digital services. 05-Oct-1999 Telewest Communications has acquired the remaining 50% of Cable London from Cable & Wireless Communications for £428m. 26-Aug-1999 Telewest Communications is to create 40 jobs in Gateshead in preparation for the launch of its new cable digital service, with vacancies in operations, cable installation, equipment servicing and customer services. 17-Aug-1999 Telewest Communications is to expand its cable TV service with high-speed internet access next year, and this will be followed by video-on-demand. 06-Aug-1999 Microsoft is set to acquire the 30% stake in Telewest Communications held by MediaOne, which is expected to speed up consolidation in the UK cable TV industry. 07-May-1999 Cable & Wireless Communications and Telewest are in discussions to merge their cable TV operations. 07-Apr-1999 Telewest is planning to introduce video-on-demand to its cable TV service by the end of next year. 17-Mar-1999 Telewest Communications is to recruit an additional 50 people for its expanding telesales call centre in Team Valley, Gateshead. 15-Feb-1999 Telewest Communications has fallen into line with other cable TV groups by selecting internet software for the autumn launch of its digital TV service, and 100,000 desk-top boxes have been ordered from Pace Micro Technology. 05-Feb-1999 Cox Communications of the US has sold a 12% stake in Telewest Communications to institutional investors for £450m. 07-Jan-1999 Vivendi of France has sold its 6.5% stake in Telewest Communications, the UK cable TV company, for £200m. 22-Dec-1998 Cable & Wireless Communications, Telewest, and NTL are said to be preparing to start negotiations about swapping their local cable TV franchises. 02-Nov-1998 Telewest has chosen the Open TV system to provide interactive shopping to cable TV subscribers, rejecting the internet-based system that will be used by the other major operators. 16-Oct-1998 Telewest Communications, the cable TV group, has postponed a £140m share placing as investors said the price was too high for current market conditions. 22-Sep-1998 MediaOne of the US is increasing its stake in Telewest Communications, the cable TV group, by 8.4% to 30% at a cost of £245m, which is expected to make Telewest's position more secure in the rapidly consolidating sector. 16-Sep-1998 Telewest Communications is buying a further 27.5% stake in Birmingham Cable for £125m, as part of a strategy to become the UK's largest cable company. 18-Aug-1998 Telewest is to double the number of cable channels carrying video-on-demand from four to eight due to the popularity of the service. 07-Aug-1998 Cable & Wireless Communications is planning to strengthen its ties with Telewest Communications, which could involve the swapping of local cable TV franchises. 14-Jul-1998 Telewest Communications has finalised terms for the £649m acquisition of General Cable, the fifth largest cable TV operator. 16-Apr-1998 Telewest Communications is negotiating a new deal with Flextech in which it will take a 50% share of revenues from a new package of Flextech TV channels, and will no longer be required to supply the channels to a minimum percentage of its cable subscribers. 25-Mar-1998 Telewest Communications is to exercise its right to buy two cable TV franchises in London and Birmingham from Comcast for about £200m. 25-Mar-1998 Telewest Communications is in preliminary discussions with football authorities about the possibility of offering pay-per-view matches on cable TV. 20-Mar-1998 General Cable and Telewest Communications are said to be planning a merger to create the largest cable company in the UK, although any such move would depend on the outcome of negotiations over the restructuring of shareholdings in Telewest. 12-Feb-1998 US West is said to be preparing to increase its stake in Telewest from 27% to about 50%, which would probably result in a full takeover within 12 months. 24-Jan-1998 Telewest is blaming BSkyB's price increases for a fall in the number of people renewing their subscriptions to cable TV, and is now planning to launch a low-cost television and TV package as well as a separate channel with programmes supplied by Flextech. 23-Jan-1998 Telewest has announced the national launch of its Millennium starter package, which includes a phone line and up to 23 basic TV channels for £12.99. 15-Jan-1998 A number of cable companies including Cable & Wireless Communications, Telewest and NTL are in discussions with At Home Network of the US to set up a new service offering high-speed internet access over cable TV networks. 12-Jan-1998 Telewest Communications is said to have held preliminary discussions that could lead to its acquisition by US West, the US telecoms and media group that already has a 27% stake in Telewest. 08-Dec-1997 Telewest, General Cable, Diamond Cable and NTL are planning to offer a pay-per-view movie channel to telephone-only cable subscribers using a set-top box, in sharp contrast to BSkyB's policy of insisting that customers subscribe to premium channels before receiving pay-per-view. 12-Nov-1997 Telewest Communications is in discussions with Flextech over the creation of a basic package of BBC television programmes that would rival BSkyB's package. 31-Oct-1997 Telewest, NTL, Diamond Cable and General Cable have signed an agreement with Warner Brothers for the supply of movies for a pay-per-view cable service that will be launched next year. 22-Oct-1997 Four cable companies - Telewest, General Cable, NTL and Diamond - are close to agreeing a deal with Warner Brothers about setting up their own movie channels in competition with BSkyB. 04-Oct-1997 Telewest and General Cable are said to have pulled out of talks with NTL to create the UK's largest cable company, following a disagreement over price. 28-Aug-1997 Telewest has announced a restructuring programme in which it will cut over 1,000 jobs in order to cut costs by 20% and concentrate on sales and marketing instead of the construction of cable TV networks. 08-Aug-1997 Telewest is considering a proposal from NTL that they should merge to form an enlarged cable TV group. 04-Aug-1997 Telewest is linking up with Cable & Wireless Communications to revolutionise the marketing of cable TV channels by persuading channel owners that subscribers should be able to choose exactly which channels they want to receive. 09-May-1997 Telewest Communications, Bell Cablemedia and Nynex Cablecomms, have appointed General Instrument as supplier of equipment for their launch into digital TV, and orders for blackboxes are expected in the next few weeks. 08-Mar-1997 Telewest Communications is in discussions with telecoms companies about setting up a network to link its UK cable TV franchises, in order to improve margins by bypassing British Telecom. 23-Jan-1997 Nynex CableComms and Telewest have ended their merger talks, as Nynex is thought to want to hold discussions with other interested parties. 16-Oct-1996 Telewest, the cable operator, is to start using just one brand name - Telewest Communications - in all the areas of the country where it operates. 12-Jun-1996 Telewest, the cable TV operator, is to launch Cable Internet, a service which will provide cable TV subscribers with easy access to the internet, although access via broadband cable modems will not be available until next year. 22-May-1996 Telewest has agreed a £1.2bn borrowing facility so that it can finish the building of its cable network. 08-Mar-1996 Telewest has acquired Bell Cablemedia's Worcester franchise, where no cable has yet been laid, for £9.8m. 11-Jan-1996
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