I can't remember exactly when it was I heard Adam Singer, who at the time was still with Flextech, saying that the UK cable industry desperately needed a Richard Branson – an entrepreneurial pioneer – but I'm fairly sure it was at least ten years ago . Well now it seems, belatedly, the cable industry has its wish.
The potential merger of NTL and Virgin mobile is exciting more for its promise than what it might represent immediately – a company which combines landlines, mobiles, broadband internet access and multichannel television.
The talks between NTL and Branson pre-date the EC's decision to take apart the Premier League football rights package but I am sure the deal will be not in small part to do with the potential availability of football which remains the golden crowbar to selling new platforms or programme packages.
But does the power to bundle really put Branson and NTL in a position to challenge Rupert Murdoch, the BBC and BT? For those of us who have been doggedly taught to keep our financial functions separate the idea of having one supplier for all our communications seems dauntingly ambitious and rather off-putting.
Murdoch's BSkyB has recently bought broadband operator Easynet in a spectacular reversal of its policy of platform exclusivity – recognising that in the future having one route to market will not be enough even for the most well-resourced content companies.
The issue for NTL and Branson is how – if the merger comes off – do you reconcile the fusion of three corporate cultures – NTL and its recent acquisition Telewest, plus Virgin Mobile – into one whilst at the same time innovating ahead of the rest of the industry? Next you have to worry about the availability of content to make your four-platform strategy make sense.
With Branson as the single largest individual shareholder in the new company he has the ability now to employ his considerable skills of flash and dash to media, which might be a better home for it than railways. Branson's pitch to the heartland consumers for BT and BSkyB audiences of this world could be fascinating – if it ever gets out of the blocks.
