John Malone's Liberty Media has joined the bidding war for Telewest content arm Flextech, according to a report in The Times.

The cable tycoon had a controlling stake in Flextech in the early nineties but pulled out of the firm two years ago amid Telewest's financial crisis.

Now Liberty is one of the many runners chasing Flextech, which is thought to be valued at between £800 million and £1 billion.

Favourite is RTL, owner of Five, with other strong contenders including ITV and BSkyB.