On paper it's a very special breed, but it's not been able to get to the first fence so far,' said one industry observer. So far the company has signed up 700,000 homes to its digital service, while 25,000 or so customers have signed up for NTL's broadband offering. The aim is to have 1.25 million digital subscribers and 100,000 broadband customers by the end of the year. Knapp says NTL will hit both these targets. NTL could point out that its consumer offering is only one string to its bow.
Analysts predict healthy growth for both.
But it is the consumer arm which NTL believes will be its biggest money spinner. We're a gateway. But NTL knows it has a long way to go to catch BSkyB which has more than 5 million digital subscribers. Some argue the solution could be a link up between NTL and the Continent's largest cable operator, Liberty Media, which would give the combined business a pan-European presence. It's the never ending story.