LONDON (Bloomberg) — ITV Plc, the UK’s biggest commercial broadcaster, rebuffed a 4.73 billion-pound ($8.98 billion) offer from cable-television operator NTL Inc., saying the bid was too low and there was little reason for the deal.The rejection is the second blow to NTL and its biggest shareholder, Richard Branson, in less than a week. British Sky Broadcasting Group Plc, chaired by Rupert Murdoch, bought a 17.9 percent stake in ITV on November 17.

NTL’s offer was 122 pence per ITV share, comprised of 105 pence in cash and 17 pence in NTL stock, the broadcaster said today in a Regulatory News Service statement. The value of the offer was based on November 9 prices, ITV said. ITV shares fell 0.2 percent to 114.25 pence at 1.08 p.m. in London.

“From ITV’s perspective there is little, if any, strategic logic for ITV to combine with NTL,” the company said in the statement. London-based ITV also said the offer “materially undervalues” the company.

NTL, the U.K.’s largest cable company, had said November 9 that it was interested in a takeover of ITV, whose shows include “I’m a Celebrity Get Me Out of Here” and “The X-Factor”.

ITV owns four main ITV-branded channels as well as a children’s channel.

The company produces television shows for its own channels, giving it access to content developed in-house, as well as for other companies’ channels, including ones owned by BBC, Sky, and Channel 4.