Telecential

Telecential was a cable TV provider based in Hemel Hempstead,[1] Hertfordshire. It was notable for running one of the first community-based TV stations, West Herts TV, and for developing cable television services in Reading, Berkshire. Later on, they expanded their network to Bletchley now a part of Milton Keynes Borough, though since the network has lain abandoned as of 2019, it is unclear if it was ever switched on; Northamptonshire (through their acquisition of County Cable) and Swindon (through their acquisition of Swindon Cable). Telecential was jointly owned by Tele-Communications, Inc. (TCI) and Telus.

Timeline of consolidation
  • Telecential were bought by Comtel with its HQ in Wokingham[2]
  • Comtel were bought by Cabletel with its HQ in Hook, Hampshire[2]
  • Cabletel rebranded as NTL
  • NTL merged with Telewest branded as ntl: Telewest
  • ntl: Telewest bought Virgin Mobile and, separately, re-branded as Virgin Media
  • Virgin Media was later acquired by Liberty Global in 2013. Liberty Global was a successor to TCI, one of the founders of Telecential, bringing the consolidation full-circle.

References
  1. The original idea for a Community Radio station for St Albans came from Clive Glover, derived from his experience in hospital radio at the City Hospital in the 1980s. Archived 2011-07-15 at the Wayback Machine
  2. "Britain's NTL Agrees to Acquire Three Cable Firms for $1.55 Billion" By Gautam Naik, Staff Reporter of The Wall Street Journal
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