FT: Virgin Media Considers Selling Content Unit

LONDON (Reuters) – British cable operator Virgin Media is considering selling its content division, the Financial Times said on Friday.

The newspaper, citing people close to the situation, said conversations about selling the unit were at an early stage and no buyer has been found.

Talks have been held at board level and with at least one major shareholder about restructuring Virgin Media into a series of communications platforms without producing its own content, the FT added.

“One person confirmed that the company would be willing to listen to any offers for both the content and business-to-business communications parts of the company,” it said.

Virgin Media was not immediately available to comment, but the FT said the company declined to comment on the report.

The firm said on Thursday it added a net 8,300 new customers in the third quarter and was showing good resilience in the face of the economic slowdown.

Virgin Media revenues totaled 991 million pounds, down from 1.006 billion a year earlier and just short of forecasts for 1 billion.

(Reporting by Eric Onstad)