The cable giant is understood to be talking to seven agencies about the business, including Soup, the incumbent on the ntl account, and Framfab, the incumbent on the Telewest business.
The pitch does not include digital marketing for Virgin Mobile, which was bought by ntl:Telewest earlier this year.
The account is understood to include online advertising, e-mail and mobile marketing, website builds and some digital TV work. Agencies have been told that the business will either be consolidated into one agency or divided among an expanded roster. A decision is expected within the next week.
Ntl:Telewest, which completed a long-awaited merger in October last year, has recently embarked on a review of its media agency arrangements, which consolidated the combined business into Mediaedge:cia, the incumbent on the Telewest account.
This review does not affect Rapier's hold on the £30 million advertising and direct marketing business, which it won in July last year. The agency already worked on the Telewest business, and was awarded the combined account without a pitch just weeks before the two companies merged.
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