Cable operator NTL and broadcaster ITV teaming up would be of little immediate consequence for satellite operator BSkyB, the company's chief executive claimed today.
"I don't think there is much of an impact," BSkyB Chief Executive James Murdoch said in response to a question at an investor conference hosted by Morgan Stanley. "There doesn't seem to be a set of solutions for either side."
"In the short term, it's just a huge operational distraction," Murdoch said, adding that NTL is already busy trying to execute several other acquisitions.
NTL and ITV disclosed last week that they are holding talks over a deal of unspecified structure. Analysts have been sceptical about the benefits of a combination.
NTL is still integrating fellow cable operator Telwest, which it acquired last year, and Virgin Mobile, which it bought earlier this year. It plans to rebrand the entire company under the Virgin name soon.
BSkyB, Britain's dominant pay-TV company, competes with NTL in the increasingly cutthroat market for TV, telephony and Internet customers.
Murdoch also said he failed to see the logic of combining a mobile phone service with high-speed Internet and TV services because of the distinctions between how customers buy them.
"I think the marriage of the two is distinctly uncomfortable," Murdoch said. "I just don't get it at this point."
As for BSkyB's acquisition strategy, Murdoch said the company is most interested in buying large-scale programming creators, though he acknowledged there is little of it for sale.
"If we were to invest in content, the place we'd want to look would be upstream ... the core copyright ownership," he said. "We'll take it as it comes and be opportunistic about that."