Liberty Global win EU approval for Virgin Media takeover

John Malone's Liberty Global Inc has won European Union approval to buy UK cable-television provider Virgin Media Inc to challenge Rupert Murdoch in Europe's biggest pay-TV market.

The European Commission said in a statement that the deal wouldn't raise competition concerns "in particular because the parties operate cable networks in different member states and because of the merged entity's limited market position in the wholesale of TV channels in the UK and Ireland. "