Chorus, officially Chorus Communication Limited, was a communications provider in Ireland offering internet, television and telephone services. It was owned by Liberty Global Europe and ultimately controlled by John C. Malone's Liberty Media. Based in Limerick (and also with offices in Cork), it owned the cable television licenses for the cities of Cork and Limerick as well as for most towns where cable networks existed. A small number of towns (notably Dungarvan) had locally run cable networks. It also held the MMDS licences for many towns across Ireland. The cable networks in the cities of Dublin, Galway and Waterford and the MMDS services for towns in those counties as well Mayo were operated by NTL Ireland. In 2005 NTL sold its Irish operation to Liberty Global. As a result, cable and MMDS services across the country were temporarily branded "Chorus NTL" before ultimately rebranding to "UPC Ireland" (now Virgin Media Ireland) in 2010, bringing them into line with Liberty Global's TV offerings elsewhere in Europe. History The company was formed in 2000 following the buyout of CMI (Cable Management Ireland) by Irish Multichannel (an offshoot of Princes Holdings Limited). Irish Multichannel, a joint venture between Independent News and Media and TCI (later Liberty Media) had been the result of a series of mergers between several regional companies, most notably East Coast Multichannel, Horizon Multichannel, Cork Communications and Westward Cable. Irish Multichannel held the MMDS licences for most of Ireland apart from counties Dublin, Galway and Waterford which were held by Cablelink (later NTL Ireland). It also had an extensive cable network in Cork and Limerick. CMI was owned by a number of Irish businessmen. Its network was pure CATV, having been assembled from a number of private providers. it was thus expected that the newly formed Chorus would have to perform some extreme network consolidation. It went on to purchase Suir-Nore Relays shortly after the merger. In late 2004 Independent News and Media sold its shares in Chorus to Liberty Media International which in turn transferred its shareholding in the company to its affiliate, UGC Europe (now Liberty Global Europe). On 12 December 2005 Liberty Global Europe completed its acquisition of NTL Ireland, the country's other major cable operator. The two companies were soon integrated into one business called Chorus NTL, later adopting Liberty Global's UPC brand. Services The fractured nature of the network led to consumers in different areas