* Liberty Global aims to beat Vodafone to the punch - report
* Report comes after regulator blocked similar deal
* Liberty Global, Kabel Deutschland decline to comment
* Kabel Deutschland shares up 5.2 percent (Adds background, sector banker comment)
FRANKFURT, April 17 (Reuters) - U.S. cable company LibertyGlobal is preparing a takeover offer for KabelDeutschland, Manager Magazin reported, sending sharesin Germany's biggest cable company higher.
By preparing a bid, Liberty Global wants to steal a march onUK-based telecommunications company Vodafone, which isalso interested in buying Kabel Deutschland, the monthlymagazine said in an excerpt of an article to be published onFriday. The excerpt did not cite sources.
Kabel Deutschland and Liberty Global declined to comment.
Any attempt by Liberty Global to buy Kabel Deutschland,which has a market value of 6.2 billion euros ($8.1 billion),would likely meet resistance from anti-trust regulators as theU.S. company already owns Unitymedia Kabel BW, Germany's No. 2cable company.
The German cartel office blocked a similar deal earlier thisyear. Kabel Deutschland had wanted to buy Germany's No. 3 cablecompany Tele Columbus, but the regular said such the move wouldcement a duopoly and crimp competition.
A banker familiar with the sector said he could imagine thatLiberty Global was only preparing a bid to drive up the price ofKabel Deutschland beyond what Vodafone would be willing to pay.
A source had told Reuters earlier this year that Vodafonewas considering a bid for Kabel Deutschland to expand itsservices in Europe's biggest economy.
Shares in Kabel Deutschland were trading 5.2 percent higherat 73.94 euros by 0955 GMT.
On Monday, Liberty Global won unconditional EU regulatoryapproval for its $15.8 billion takeover of Britain's VirginMedia.
($1 = 0.7616 euros) (Reporting by Maria Sheahan; Additional reporting by SabineWollrab and Arno Schuetze; Editing by Mark Potter)