Liberty Global, the cable TV company that owns UPC, is conducting a due diligence on TV3 with a view to buying it according to reports.
Today’s Irish Times reported that the cable giant, which is headed by the Irish American businessman John Malone, has been carrying out a review of TV3 although it noted that any deal could take several months to clear.
TV3, which is owned by the VC firm Doughty Hanson, has been put up for sale and could fetch up to €140m. Doughty Hanson paid €265m for the station in 2006.
UPC Ireland has 1.1m subscribers of which 333,200 subscribe to its digital cable TV platform.
Last year, Liberty Global reported revenues of $18.1 billion and had 27.3m customers around the world. While it has a stake in ITV, any acquisition of a pure-play TV channel would be a first for the company.
