Liberty’s German cablecos to retain individual brands, for now

German cable operators Unitymedia and Kabel BW, which are both owned by US company Liberty Global, will retain their individual brand names for the time being, Digital Fernsehen cites Viktor Janik, Head of Regulatory Affairs at Unitymedia, as saying. Speaking at the Euroforum conference in Cologne, Janik said that he could not rule out the possibility of introducing a common brand for the two operators in the future. As reported by CommsUpdate, Liberty Global emerged as the highest bidder to acquire Kabel BW from Swedish investment firm EQT in March 2011, with an offer of EUR3.16 billion (USD4.1 billion). The US company’s acquisition of Germany’s third largest cableco by subscribers was cleared by the Federal Cartel Office in December 2011, subject to certain conditions and obligations. As Liberty Global already owns Germany’s second largest cableco Unitymedia, which was purchased in November 2009, the company was required to offer a series of concessions in order to smooth the way for approval of the Kabel BW deal.