NTL and Telewest Communications are moving closer to an expected merger to form a single British cable company, the London Timesreported.
Mr Barclay Knapp, chief executive of NTL, told the Timestoday he would revisit plans for a merger with Telewest when NTL completes one of the world's biggest corporate rescues, which got crucial support from lenders yesterday.
"I have been trying to work in that area for ten years, consolidating UK cable," Mr Knapp told the Times. "It makes a lot of sense for us to get together and we look forward to taking that issue up again when we come out of this process".
As NTL and Telewest own cable franchises that do not overlap, any deal would result in little duplication of services and would be unlikely to face regulatory hurdles, analysts say.
NTL's future looked a little brighter yesterday after the company's debt-for-equity swap, essentially a $10.6 billion corporate bond default, got approval from NTL's $6 billion creditors. It had previously got the go-ahead from bondholders.
Telewest said it would cut 1,500 jobs in an effort to save up to £50 million sterling a year.