5 February 2013 Last updated at 09:02 ET <\/p>\n
US billionaire John Malone's cable group, Liberty Global, is in talks with Virgin Media about a possible deal with Richard Branson's UK cable company. <\/p>\n
Virgin confirmed that the two sides are talking about a \"possible transaction\". <\/p>\n
The Financial Times reported that Liberty is lining up a potential takeover of Virgin, behind BSkyB as the UK's second biggest pay-TV business. <\/p>\n
A deal would pitch Mr Malone in direct competition with Rupert Murdoch, whose media empire owns 39% of BSkyB. <\/p>\n
The two mens' business interests clashed a decade ago when Mr Murdoch's News Corp and Liberty Media vied for control of DirecTV Group, the largest US satellite TV broadcaster. <\/p>\n
Mr Branson's company said in a statement: \"Virgin Media confirms that it is in discussions with Liberty Global, a leading international cable company, concerning a possible transaction.\" <\/p>\n
BSkyB leads the UK pay-TV market with 10.7 million customers compared with Virgin's 4.9 million. <\/p>\n
Virgin Media's main listing is in the US but it has a smaller one in London, where the shares were up 14% at midday. BSkyB shares were down 1%. <\/p>\n
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