Liberty Global PLC first entered the Irish Market in 2005, when they purchased telecommunications company NTL’s Irish operations. However, it wasn’t until 2015/2016 that they became a major player in the Irish broadcast television market following the purchase of TV3 and UTV, via Virgin Media (a subsidiary of Liberty Global), and the establishment of Virgin Media Ireland, whose cumulative audience share as of 2025 was 20.16 %.

The origins of Liberty Global can be traced back to Tele-Communications Inc. (TCI), an American Telecommunications company founded by John C. Malone in 1983. Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, TCI expanded aggressively, purchasing a number of cable television systems across the United States, and establishing itself as a key player in the industry. In 1998 TCI expanded internationally, acquiring cable companies across Europe. These international operations were rebranded under the name “Liberty Media International”.

“Liberty Global” emerged as a British-Dutch-American company in 2005 when Liberty Media International merged with UnitedGlobalCom (UGC), who owned 50% of Dutch telecommunications provider United Pan-Europe Communications (UPC). In June 2013, Liberty Global acquired British cable group Virgin Media for $23.3 billion in cash and stock, an acquisition which was noted by the New York Time as being one of the 10 largest cable deals of all time. In November 2014, Liberty Global acquired Dutch cable company Ziggo for €10 billion, and in November 2020, purchased Sunrise Communications AG for for $7.4 billion. Since 2015, Liberty Global has also expanded into Caribbean and Latin American Markets.

From 2022 onwards, Liberty appears to have moved away from the large-scale buys of standalone consumer cable assets which dominated its activity in the 2010s. Instead it has moved toward full ownership consolidation of key operating units. In 2023 it completed a “squeeze-out” takeover of Telenet — its Belgian cable and broadband business — acquiring all remaining shares and taking it private.  In February 2026, Liberty Global agreed to buy Vodafone’s 50% stake in the VodafoneZiggo Dutch joint venture for about €1 billion. The plan is to merge this with Telenet and to list the combined company on Euronext Amsterdam. 

Liberty has also engaged strategic infrastructure expansion acquiring – with partners Telefónica and InfraVia Capital - UK fibre broadband operator Netomnia as part of the Nexfibre joint venture with the objective of bring full-fibre coverage to millions of UK premises and integrating those assets with the existing Liberty-owned Virgin Media O2 network. 

These moves have helped to make Liberty Global one of the largest cable and broadband providers in Europe, and indeed the world. In 2024, Liberty Global's reported consolidated revenue was $4.34 bn, but if joint ventures are included, this increases to $21.6bn.  

(Last updated in April 2026)