Rumours of a possible merger between ITV (LSE: ITV) and NTL (Nasdaq: NTLI) were confirmed last week when the companies announced they had been in communication. ITV described it as “a highly tentative expression of interest in holding discussions about a possible combination of NTL with ITV”; NTL referred to “interest in exploring a possible combination transaction”.
The language is suitably vague, as one would expect, but the suitors are not simply being coy — there is a significant chance that discussions comes to nothing. Consider the two companies:…