Virgin Media faces private equity bid: paper

LONDON (Reuters) - A private equity consortium headed by U.S.-based Providence Equity Partners is considering making a $15 billion approach for British cable group Virgin Media (VMED.O), The Observer newspaper said on Sunday.

Virgin Media declined to comment on the report.

The Observer said private equity interest in Virgin Media was revived earlier this month after it reported a fall in customers in the first quarter of 2007 and expected to lose more because of a dispute over content with pay-TV company BSkyB (BSY.L).

The dispute, about how much BSkyB should get for its channels being shown on the Virgin Media cable system, led to BSkyB taking its basic channels, which show such hit programs as "Lost" and "24", off the Virgin Media network.

Virgin Media launched earlier this year from the merger of NTL, Telewest and Virgin's mobile phone division.