TV3-owner Liberty ups ITV stake to 9.9%

European cable operator Liberty Global said yesterday it had raised its stake in ITV to 9.9% through a hedging deal — but still had no intention of taking over Britain’s biggest free-to-air commercial TV firm.

Liberty Global owns cable operator UPC which earlier this month confirmed it bought TV3 for a price of up to €87m.

Liberty — which also owns pay-TV company Virgin Media — took a 6.4% stake in ITV a year ago. In September it said it had no plans to increase the holding.