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Friday, October 28, 2011

Watchdog concerns weigh on Liberty's Kabel BW deal, (NASDAQ: LBTYA)

Germany's antitrust regulator said it was concerned at the prospect of Liberty Global controlling two of Germany's three main cable operators, putting the proposed $4.3 billion takeover of Kabel BW in serious doubt.The nation's cartel office said that based on its preliminary appraisal it will decide on Dec. 15 on plans by Liberty -- which already owns German cable operator Unitymedia -- to add Kabel Baden-Wuerttemberg (Kabel BW) to its portfolio.Germany's three largest cable TV operators, with Kabel Deutschland as the biggest player, already constitute "a market dominating oligopoly", and a tie-up of Kabel BW and Unitymedia would only worsen the situation, the federal cartel office said.The watchdog also said it would be both technically feasible and profitable for either of the three players to offer their services across Germany.

Liberty Global, Inc. (LGI) is an international provider of video, broadband Internet and telephony services, with consolidated broadband communications and/or direct-to-home satellite (DTH) operations. Shares of LBTYA remained unchanged at $42.75. In the past year, the shares have traded as low as $30.88 and as high as $47.31. On average, 2057470 shares of LBTYA exchange hands on a given day and today's volume is recorded at 0.



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