Liberty Global Plc (LBTYA), said it may make investments to reap greater benefits from its minority stake in ITV, the U.K.s biggest commercial broadcaster, and has no current plans to increase that holding.

Liberty Global, the international cable company controlled by billionaire John Malone, will seek other U.K. takeovers if they are suitable, Chief Strategy Officer Jim Ryan said today at a Royal Television Society conference in London. Its important we get access to local content, he said.

Malones company, which owns cable operators from Hungary to the U.K., has been expanding into TV production and programs to drive growth as the number of cable acquisition opportunities in Europe dwindles.

Liberty Global bought a 6.4 percent stake in ITV, which has top-rated shows such as Downton Abbey and rights to European Champions League soccer coverage, from Rupert Murdochs British Sky Broadcasting Group Plc for 481 million pounds ($775 million) in July. In May, Liberty Global teamed up with Discovery Communications Inc. to buy Permira Advisers LLPs television producer All3Media, in a deal valuing the company at 550 million pounds.

Good-quality content will be increasingly hard to come by because of consolidation in the industry, Ryan said today.

ITV shares fell 0.5 percent to 217.3 pence at 2:59 p.m. in London, paring the advance to 12 percent this year and giving the company a market value of about 8.7 billion pounds.

To contact the reporter on this story: Robert Valpuesta in London at rvalpuesta@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Kenneth Wong at kwong11@bloomberg.net Robert Valpuesta, John Bowker

Press spacebar to pause and continue. Press esc to stop.

Here is the original post:

Liberty Global Looks for U.K. Deals to Enhance ITV Stake Value