Tele Communications Corp

It's one of the few markets in the country where customers have a choice in cable TV service--a town where cable operators must offer more for less in the battle to win subscribers. But in this affluent, very wired community of gates and groomed lawns, cable perks--such as digital pictures, Internet modems and fiber-optic nodes--are a bit ho-hum. To the company with the pet rocks go the spoils. Fake rocks, actually.

It's one of the few markets in the country where customers have a choice in cable TV service--a town where cable operators must offer more for less in the battle to win subscribers. But in this affluent, very wired community of gates and groomed lawns, cable perks--such as digital pictures, Internet modems and fiber-optic nodes--are a bit ho-hum. To the company with the pet rocks go the spoils. Fake rocks, actually.

Liberty Media Corp. said Tuesday it would buy six cable television firms from Deutsche Telekom for 5.5 billion euros ($4.94 billion), creating a potential powerhouse in the European cable market. The deal, which gives Liberty 20 million cable subscribers, makes it possible for Liberty Chairman John Malone to build a cable industry in the image of his erstwhile U.S. cable giant Tele-Communications Corp. in a European market.