The parent company of UPC Ireland, Liberty Global, has raised its stake in Britain’s ITV to 9.9% through a hedging deal.
However Liberty, which also owns British pay TV company Virgin Media, said still had no intention of taking over the country’s biggest free-to-air commercial TV firm.
The cable giant took initially a 6.4% stake in ITV a year ago, and in September said it had no plans to increase the holding.
"Given ITV's operating and stock price performance, we were able to increase our stake to 9.9% with no incremental investment by hedging our existing equity position," Liberty said.
"This investment remains an opportunistic one for us in our largest market."
Backed by US tycoon John Malone, who also controls Liberty Media Corp and Discovery Communications, Liberty Global has bought cable assets across Europe in the past decade and has more recently started buying strategic stakes in content producers.
Earlier this month its UPC Ireland arm announced plans to acquire TV3 in a deal worth up to €87m.
ITV has also been snapping up independent production companies, such as Talpa Media which makes entertainment show ‘The Voice’, to reduce its reliance on its broadcasting business in Britain.
Liberty bought its initial holding in ITV from satellite broadcaster Sky in July 2014 for £481m, a deal that boosted ITV's share price by 8% as investors bet that a full takeover would follow.
Shares in ITV, which reported a 25% increase in first-half pre-tax profit on Tuesday, have risen by 57% since Liberty bought its initial stake.
Analyst Ian Whittaker at Liberum said he expected ITV's shares to jump again today.
"Liberty has stated it does not intend to make a bid for ITV but its move suggests that it thinks a move by another player is likely or, at least, an increasing possibility," he said.
