Standard&Poor's said today that Liberty Media Corp.'s (BBB-/Stable/--) planned $325 million share repurchase has no effect on the corporate credit rating. Denver, Colo.-based Liberty announced the share repurchase shortly after the termination of its discussions with NTL Inc. regarding a linkup, which followed the January termination of plans to acquire most of the cable TV operations of Deutsche Telekom AG. Despite the near-term share repurchase, Liberty is obligated under its tax-free spin-off agreement with the IRS to issue $500 million of equity by August 2003. Expected meaningful investments in the near term include a capital injection into Japan-based Jupiter Cable related to its refinancing. Nevertheless, the company is frequently in discussions regarding cable- and programming-related investments. Liberty's liquidity
