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Liberty Global has agreed to sell its Germany and Eastern Europe assets to Vodafone for $21.8 billion.
Why it's a big deal: This could kick off the same sort of telecom/media consolidation flurry in Europe that is already underway in the US.
More from The Guardian:
The deal for the Virgin Media owner, which has been the subject of on-off talks for several years, will transform Vodafone from a mobile phone operator into a cable and broadband TV giant across Europe.... After Vodafone completes the takeover – which includes Liberty Global’s operations in the Czech Republic, Hungary and Romania – it will have 54 million cable TV and broadband customers across Europe.
Bottom line: Telecoms traditionally made their money though pay TV and mobile plans. But as everything transitions to data-driven services (mobile and wireless internet), scale is much more important.