LONDON John Malones Liberty Global struck a deal on Tuesday to buy British cable group Virgin Media for about $15.75bn in stock and cash, a move that would put the US billionaire up against old rival Rupert Murdoch.

The companies announced the deal in a statement late on Tuesday, after Virgin Media, the second-biggest pay-TV provider in Britain behind Murdochs satellite group BSkyB, confirmed Libertys approach earlier in the day.

Including debt, the deal would be worth more than $23bn and would give Liberty entry to one of Europes biggest and most competitive telecom markets, allowing it to apply lessons learned as a pay-TV and broadband provider in 11 other European countries.

It would also put Mr Malones Liberty in a strong position to challenge Mr Murdoch as cable groups across the region start to assert their authority over traditional telecoms firms with the offer of super-fast broadband and pay-television.

Liberty will pay about $47.02 for each Virgin Media share based on Tuesdays closing prices, using cash and shares of its class A and C stock. Before news of the bid emerged in a Financial Times report on Monday, the bid represented a 24% premium to where Virgins shares had been trading.

Mr Malone, whose group has 19.6-million customers, came up against Murdoch a decade ago when Murdochs News Corp. and Liberty Media vied for control of DirecTV Group, the largest US satellite TV broadcaster.

The stand-off ended when both sides backed down. News Corp. sold its one-third stake in DirecTV to Malones group and Malone sold 16% of News Corp that Liberty had acquired, giving the Murdochs fuller control over their company.

Dubbed everything from the Cable Guy to Cable Cowboy and even Darth Vader by former US vice-president Al Gore because of his perceived ruthless style, Mr Malone made his fortune through a series of deals that transformed, and ultimately consolidated, the US cable industry into one dominated by a few big players.

Mr Murdochs BSkyB leads the British pay-TV market with 10.7-million customers compared to Virgin Medias 4.9-million.

Virgin Media emerged two years ago from years of heavy losses from a costly network expansion. But its cables still only cover half of Britain and analysts see potential for more growth.

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Liberty Global buys Virgin Media