In March 2006, Telewest merged with fellow cable telecom company NTL, and created "NTL:Telewest", which then also merged with Virgin Mobile and Virgin.net in June 2006, creating the United Kingdom's first "quadruple play" telecom provider, offering television, internet, landline phone and mobile phone services.

In June 1995, Telewest merged with SBC Communications, adding franchises in the Midlands and North West serving 1.3 million homes.

This consisted of the major cable companies in the United Kingdom working together to provide a national Internet access service.

[8] Telewest merged with Flextech in April 2000,[9] and in November, extended its cable network with the acquisition of Eurobell, taking the total number of homes passed to 4.9 million.

Major Telewest shareholders included Huff and Liberty Media (run by cable tycoon John Malone).

The takeover of Telewest by NTL – a company of similar size, operating in different parts of the UK – was announced in October 2005, at a reported cost of $6bn.

The reaction to this by customers was fairly large and many left the provider to rival Sky, with Nickelodeon even encouraging the move.

[14][15] Telewest used a number of marketing strategies over the years, with a solid corporate identity not coming out until the end of 2005, to coincide with a "three for £30" offer.

The digital television service offered a number of different products including true video on demand, a PVR, and HDTV.

Telewest had an agreement with both ITV and the BBC, and claimed to be the only provider in the United Kingdom to offer all the 2006 FIFA World Cup matches in HD.

The broadband service was 'uncapped', meaning that its use was unlimited and no extra charges were payable related to the amount of data downloaded.

[17] In November 2006, after the merger with NTL, The Register reported that subscriber traffic management was being trialled in areas of northern England, and would be rolled out nationwide.

[citation needed] Provided landline calls for up to an hour for a fixed fee monthly inclusive of line rental.