JOHN MALONE’S Liberty Global has joined the crowded field chasing Flextech, the £1 billion broadcaster behind Living TV, having submitted an offer for the business, The Times has learnt.

A successful acquisition would reunite the American entrepreneur with the cable broadcaster that he originally backed in 1994 — a business on which former allies say he remains keen.

The interest of America’s best-known cable investor adds a fresh dimension to a complex battle. Mr Malone has the advantage of knowing Flextech intimately — but to succeed he would have to outbid RTL, the German owner of the UK terrestrial channel Five and the favourite to land the business.

A host of other broadcasters are also in the running, including, it is believed, ITV and BSkyB, the satellite broadcaster 36.8 per cent owned by News Corporation, parent company of The Times. However, the smaller Channel 4 is thought not to be interested, unless some of Flextech’s constituent parts become available.

Telewest, Flextech’s owner, had asked for interested parties to submit bids by Thursday of last week. The bids were non-binding and the broadcaster, which is also a partner in UK TV, a repeats joint venture with the BBC, is expected to command a value of between £800 million and £1 billion.

Telewest has not formally decided whether to sell Flextech. It is assessing whether the offers received will make it worth moving to a full auction. At the same time, Telewest is holding merger talks with NTL, its larger rival.

Some bidders fear that Telewest is simply trying to show NTL the value of Flextech. However, in the past Simon Duffy, chief executive of NTL, has questioned the value of having a broadcaster and a cable network operation under one roof, giving an indication that the sale process is genuine.

The merger talks are progressing slowly, complicated by tax issues affecting Telewest. However, it is understood that both sides remain optimistic that a deal will be done, creating Britain’s first national cable operator.

Mr Malone was the controlling shareholder in Flextech from 1994, when it was run by the late Roger Luard, and orchestrated its merger with Telewest, the cable group, in 1999. However, he lost out after Telewest stumbled into a financial crisis in 2003 and sold his remaining holding after a protracted restructuring.

The media entrepreneur remains an influential operator in Europe through Liberty Global, which controls cable operations in the Netherlands, France and Eastern Europe, serving 10.7 million television subscribers.

Mr Malone is also the second-largest voting shareholder in News Corp, with an 18 per cent stake. If he enters the race for Flextech could would be pitted against Sky, in which he is also an indirect investor, but there is no agreement not to compete between the two companies.

Times Recommends

• Lies and cover-up at MG Rover exposed by report
• High oil prices push manufacturing costs up
• Primark founder steps down as chief executive