Re: Virgin Media lack of tv investment
 

Virgin has come a long way but there is still a long way to go and why can,t you seperate yourself from your Virgin bias as it is very prevalent when you post your threads.

Re: Virgin Media lack of tv investment
 

VM tend to only increase the prices when they have to. ie when Sky raise their prices.

What channels were lost recently?

As I tried to say earlier, my Gas and Electric have just gone up in price again even though I am still getting exactly the same as I had before, or I used to pay 35p for a mars bar and yet now its 55p and its actually lighter and smaller than it used to be. Should I demand they increase the size inline with the price increase?

---------- Post added at 16:26 ---------- Previous post was at 16:25 ----------

This has nothing to do with me working for VM at all. I am posting my own point of view on the subject and I don't agree with the postings of VM put up their prices so I want more channels, that a few people seem to keep posting.

Re: Virgin Media lack of tv investment
 

How long are VM staff going to flog this line of blaming Sky for all VM shortfalls :rolleyes:

Re: Virgin Media lack of tv investment
 

We cannot blame Sky for everything even though l cannot stand them.

Re: Virgin Media lack of tv investment
 

People seem to forget that. And they're free, not an extra £10.25 a month as they would be with Sky.

Re: Virgin Media lack of tv investment
 

Well we are in mid May and we have had 2 HD channels added this year and we had to wait a year for them.

Re: Virgin Media lack of tv investment
 

I ain't blaming anyone! I am just stating a fact:mad:

Re: Virgin Media lack of tv investment
 

There's 19 available free on XL , however 4 of those are available sub free BBC one HD , BBC HD , Channel 4 HD , ITV HD , so there's 15 subscription channels free however still not a bad offer.

Re: Virgin Media lack of tv investment
 

Yes but you have your bias view based on your facts and l have a non bias view based on proper facts.:mad::D

Re: Virgin Media lack of tv investment
 

So why are you still with Sky the dark side then.:D

Re: Virgin Media lack of tv investment
 

You stated Sky price rises , when in fact the last increase was £1.00 on XL and Sky prices were held , I can provide a link if you need it :D

Re: Virgin Media lack of tv investment
 

I'm not saying there is no need for more channels, I think there is, even though for me, it's very desireable rather than essential (Sky atlantic being my 'biggest want') but to say VM haven't invested, I think is wrong.

The increase in free HD channels as previously mentioned is one and there must have been a massive investment in Tivo and an ongoing one to improove it and add the apps that are coming to tivo (wonder if we'll get the ones from 'The Apprentice'; I'd probably agree with Mersey70's view on apps if that happened :D).

Re: Virgin Media lack of tv investment
 

There,s is a definite need to add new channels just listening to most forum members so its not just my view also its great that tivo has arrived but they must keep investing in that and other things to keep competitive.

Re: Virgin Media lack of tv investment
 

I fully agree , if you check my posts I'm not claiming VM haven't invested , my posts have been more related to Stephens post about not expecting more if prices go up which is wrong as I proved in post 91.

Re: Virgin Media lack of tv investment
 

Amazing how everyone is biased but you....:D

btw, what are improper facts? (as opposed to proper facts).

Re: Virgin Media lack of tv investment
 

I speak as l see which is forthright and giving a proper opinion on things, certain unnamed forum members have a in built bias before they start and is due to their close links with Virgin and l speak without a bias either way.:mad:

Re: Virgin Media lack of tv investment
 

If we are talking about Sky Premium channels...Sky puts it's prices up every September, without fail. ;)

VM usually absorbs the cost for a while, then they have to increase.

Quite a lot was added to XL in the 2 years or so without increases. :)

Re: Virgin Media lack of tv investment
 

Right behind your masters again DF.

Re: Virgin Media lack of tv investment
 

come on Denphone, you are better than that :nono:

I'm stating the facts of the case here.

Re: Virgin Media lack of tv investment
 

I'm not stating your wrong I merely stated the last rise was a pound on XL , Sky prices were held.

Re: Virgin Media lack of tv investment
 

They just change their prices at different times.

Re: Virgin Media lack of tv investment
 

Come on DF its clear that Virgin need to do more in adding new channels and in doing it much quicker then they are doing at the moment, l was only jesting when l mentioned your masters.:D

Re: Virgin Media lack of tv investment
 

I know :)

Re: Virgin Media lack of tv investment
 

Employers....

Re: Virgin Media lack of tv investment
 

Employee of the year.:D

Re: Virgin Media lack of tv investment
 

Indeed they do , the Sky Sports OFCOM case is currently being dealt with in court so we'll see the outcome

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/money/art...=feeds-newsxml

Re: Virgin Media lack of tv investment
 

Thats going to take a eternity with Skys legal team.

Re: Virgin Media lack of tv investment
 

Also the Movies are been handled by the Competition Commission as well?

http://www.competition-commission.or...y_tv/index.htm

The working papers are a good read.

Re: Virgin Media lack of tv investment
 

Anion of the year, more like....:D

Re: Virgin Media lack of tv investment
 

Even Sky have the right to defend themselves Den :D

Re: Virgin Media lack of tv investment
 

Now, Now, Now less of that my dear Hugh.:D

Re: Virgin Media lack of tv investment
 

Like you say one increase was VAT and every company put their prices up so why call it two increases. The VAT increase is irrelevant as it is a government increase.

Sky prices weren't held. Sky increased their tv packs by £1 as well. Last September. I think they also increased sports by a wopping £3. They also put their prices up in line with the VAT increase, same as every other company.

Re: Virgin Media lack of tv investment
 

Yes this is true:)

Re: Virgin Media lack of tv investment
 

If you read back you'll see I said XL increased by a pound , Sky prices meaning premium channels to VM subscribers were held on the last increase, but as DF has correctly stated the Sky increases are at a different time to VM , I've never claimed Sky don't increase prices.

Re: Virgin Media lack of tv investment
 

l would say they are both greedy buggers.:mad:

Re: Virgin Media lack of tv investment
 

https://www.cableforum.co.uk/images/...2011/05/76.gif https://www.cableforum.co.uk/images/...2011/05/76.gif https://www.cableforum.co.uk/images/...2011/05/76.gif https://www.cableforum.co.uk/images/...2011/05/76.gif

https://www.cableforum.co.uk/images/...2011/05/77.gif

Re: Virgin Media lack of tv investment
 

VM Did not increase their TV prices for 2 years before this APRIL. So how can VM be greedy buggers.

Re: Virgin Media lack of tv investment
 

Then why has my bill risen relentlessly in the past 18 months.:mad::mad:

Re: Virgin Media lack of tv investment
 

Couldn't agree more mate , I personally believe TV subs are at an astonishing all time high , with youview , connected TVs and internet content so readily available pay TV companies will have to be careful.

Re: Virgin Media lack of tv investment
 

Perhaps I misunderstood you but you did say this. :)

Re: Virgin Media lack of tv investment
 

l totally agree as l remember paying 30 quid a month now its 103 pounds.:mad::mad:

Re: Virgin Media lack of tv investment
 

You must have added a lot of services though. :shocked:

Re: Virgin Media lack of tv investment
 

The TV side of the bill for the last 2 years have been down to SKY and do not forget that I think that they are putting their prices up later this year as well?

Re: Virgin Media lack of tv investment
 

l have added a couple of services but l still say prices have moved relentlessly up with tv providers and maybe some of that is down to Skys greedyness but tv providers have to be careful about customers especially in the current economic climate.:mad:

Re: Virgin Media lack of tv investment
 

I will give you that one , however I just assumed people would understand as we were talking VM price increases , apologies for the confusion.

Re: Virgin Media lack of tv investment
 

No problem. ;)

Re: Virgin Media lack of tv investment
 

Here we go Den a timeframe

Ofcom’s original ruling forcing BSkyB to offer Sky Sports was handed down on March 31 last year and tomorrow’s case, involving leading QCs, is expected to last for up to eight weeks.

Re: Virgin Media lack of tv investment
 

I don't know if you are referring to me but I have no bias toward Virgin Media at all. My posts are my own opinions and I make my own mind up about whether I like something or not.

I might work for them but that doesn't mean I will always stick up for everything the company does. What I post in here is what I think.

Re: Virgin Media lack of tv investment
 

Thats quicker then l thought.:mad:

Re: Virgin Media lack of tv investment
 

A couple of services....seriously?

Perhaps Sky Movies, Sky Sports, 30mb BB, XL TV, TiVo and another V+ box may be the reason your bill has gone up? What services did you have when you paid £30?

fwiw, my bill (not including call charges) has gone up around £5 in the last 2 years, but I have gained TiVo and an upgrade to 30Mb, so I consider that reasonable - ymmv.

Re: Virgin Media lack of tv investment
 

I see VM have spent approx $15.6 million(£9.5 million) buying back there own shares in the last week.
http://phx.corporate-ir.net/phoenix....556&highlight=
http://phx.corporate-ir.net/phoenix....577&highlight=

Re: Virgin Media lack of tv investment
 

Wish they had buy some new content whilst there at it ;)

Re: Virgin Media lack of tv investment
 

The channels that VM chose to remove were MTV Classic, MTV +1 and MTV Shows.

The channels that have been shut down on all platforms are the Bravo channels and Channel One and its timeshift. They were closed by the channel's new owners.

Altogether around ten channels have disappeared from VM and just one - ITV1's timeshift channel - has been added. Yes I know that the Sky Arts HD channels have also appeared but they had been waiting to be laucnhed for many months and they are just a HD simulcast of a channel already on the platform rather than a new channel.

I know that True Entertainment has appeared fairly recently but another channel was removed at the same time.

Re: Virgin Media lack of tv investment
 

You sure about that, l be keeping my eye on your opinions.:D:D

---------- Post added at 06:11 ---------- Previous post was at 06:09 ----------

I am talking about 5 years ago when it was 30 quid and l suspect with your close contacts you will get some tidy discounts.:D:D:D:D

Re: Virgin Media lack of tv investment
 

Once again, you are mistaken - the only discounts I get are the standard XL bundle discount, and a £6 per month discount for a year because when I upgraded to 30Mb, they put on a charge they shouldn't have, and this balances that.

But I am sure you will caveat your smear/innuendo with "I was only joking".

FYI, I have no contacts with VM (formal or informal), and I receive no discounts for being a mod (as there is no connection between VM and CF, besides an informal one for escalating CF'ers problems).

Re: Virgin Media lack of tv investment
 

:mad:l am not in to smear and innuendo and resent that comment and my advice to you is to calm down and have a cup of tea.:mad::mad::mad:

Re: Virgin Media lack of tv investment
 

I think it is you that needs to calm down Denphone. You post to try and wind people up and don't like it when you get called out for it. :dunce:

Re: Virgin Media lack of tv investment
 

I would invest in broadband instead of tv also. I think its more future proof as tv on schedule is a dying trend. VOD is taking over slowly as well as IPTV. Also do VM still make a loss on various tv services? if so it would make sense to not invest in that.

Re: Virgin Media lack of tv investment
 

The whole 'prices have gone up so I should get more channels' really annoys me.

I'm not a VM tv customer anymore but if I had been I presume my price would have gone up from 24.50 to 25.50. That is around 4% which is also around the inflation rate. I doubt VM actually make any increases in margin through the increase. So why people keep on expecting more channels is beyond me when the price increase wasn't actually to increase its margins. This thread is full of some members that are just arguing for the sake of arguing.

Re: Virgin Media lack of tv investment
 

You wouldn't think so looking at what's on TV Choice on demand.:erm:

---------- Post added at 11:22 ---------- Previous post was at 11:16 ----------

Possibly some peoples bills are the same or more than Sky , if your theory is correct why do companies feel the need to tell you what's being added on the price rise letter , its because they no full well people expect more.

Re: Virgin Media lack of tv investment
 

My theory is correct as inflation is a fact.

If, e.g., VM tv faces inflation of 3% a year on the selling price of a sub and let's say at a price of 24.50 VM do not raise their price for 5 years then in year 5 as per VM's inflation rate they should have received 28.40 but only receive 24.50 meaning they lose 3.90 on each sub that year. That 3.90 is an actual loss of revenue per sub to VM as they pay 3.90 more to deliver that sub.

Re: Virgin Media lack of tv investment
 

A pity your posts do not support each other....

Re: Virgin Media lack of tv investment
 

I was more referring to , people will always expect more especially when prices go up , be it right or wrong , its easy to switch to another service or go down the freeview , youview route.

Re: Virgin Media lack of tv investment
 

Yet they also expect prices to fall when channels, most of which are not under VM's control, close, even though they also don't rise when channels are added :confused:

Re: Virgin Media lack of tv investment
 

Its about time vm got rid of the packs and charge for each channel individually, at least then you are getting what you pay for and removing 50% of the rubbish you dont watch or need thats buddled into each pack to look like your getting a large amount of channels.

Re: Virgin Media lack of tv investment
 

You'd lose a lot of smaller niche channels as they wouldn't get much sub revenue. It could be a channel you like.

The choice would be limited to the bigger channels

Re: Virgin Media lack of tv investment
 

People can wind me up as much as they want, its other members that seem to take things too seriously.:D:D

Re: Virgin Media lack of tv investment
 

You are like clockwork, You need winding up everyday:p:

Re: Virgin Media lack of tv investment
 

Tick tock. Tick tock.:D:D

Re: Virgin Media lack of tv investment
 

That is more or less the thinking I was referring to. In light of time between the last VM price increase and this increase plus increase from the government in VAT it is obvious that even after the tv sub increase, VM must be absorbing some of the hit it has on the higher outgoings it has.

This price increase should IMO be applauded as it is very measured. Instead some people on this thread want something for nothing and continue to complain relentlessly when, as you quite rightly pointed out, they have other options.

Re: Virgin Media lack of tv investment
 

I was just going to reply to make the same point. Though, thinking about it, maybe Sky has the right idea in bundling channels together into the various genres; Doco, Childrens.... etc.

Then again, I appreciate having certain channels available should I ever want to watch something off them without having to get them for a whole month.

So I guess it's the usual "six of one..." situation :)

Re: Virgin Media lack of tv investment
 

Lets be clear l do not want something for nothing but Virgin should be adding more channels more quickly then they are currently doing.:mad:

Re: Virgin Media lack of tv investment
 

Maybe, but channel carriage agreements take time to ... well... agree... on :) VM is not like Satellite where anyone can start a channel.

Re: Virgin Media lack of tv investment
 

How long does paint take to dry.:D:D

Re: Virgin Media lack of tv investment
 

A while when you are deep in debt and cannot really afford too much paint at once.:D:D:D

Re: Virgin Media lack of tv investment
 

Why, who is in 'deep' debt?

Re: Virgin Media lack of tv investment
 

Not really. You knew what you were getting when you subscribed.

Re: Virgin Media lack of tv investment
 

Yes at the last count they were nearly 6 billion in debt unless by some miracle they have paid it off.

Re: Virgin Media lack of tv investment
 

Virgin media are.

http://investors.virginmedia.com/pho...85&p=irol-debt

Current debt as of end of march 2011.

Re: Virgin Media lack of tv investment
 

That's not really deep debt though.

Re: Virgin Media lack of tv investment
 

Well if that is not a big debt then what is.:erm:

Re: Virgin Media lack of tv investment
 

Deep enough probably to stop them adding channels at a fast pace imo, ie unlike sky vm is not sitting on a "cash mountain" i point to the example of it taking 9 months to add sky arts HD and only after the april price increase went through.

To me virgins debt is substantial,now i am well pleased with the tv service it carries all the channels i require now so i am in no way being critical of vm at all,just putting or trying to put a rational argument as to why vm perhaps cannot afford to add new channels as fast as people may like.:)

To me vm HAVE invested in tv substantially in the past 18 months more HD,sky sports Red Button,upgrading the headends ect,the pace in future may slow a little.

Re: Virgin Media lack of tv investment
 

At the moment it has slowed to a snail,s pace.

Re: Virgin Media lack of tv investment
 

Considering the way the actual debt is structured and the fact that VM has an infrastructure which is tangible, I would say the debt is sensible.

You are ignoring the fact that VM can fund its operations via its current revenue stream. If that wasn't the case you wouldn't see the core infrastructure investment plus operational investment that VM have consistently made since its inception as a media co.

Re: Virgin Media lack of tv investment
 

Sky Arts HD has nothing to do with any money issues. That channel was part of the deal done with Sky last year. It may have taken a while to appear on the tv platform but the deal was done ages ago.

Carriage rights and contracts can take a long time to agree. So new channels could be coming and VM could have been talking to other parties for a long time for all we know.

VM isn't really that in debt. A lot of companies are operating in debt these days.

Re: Virgin Media lack of tv investment
 

They have been in talks for a awful long time with some companies then.:(

Re: Virgin Media lack of tv investment
 

Its good to talk:D:D:D:D

Re: Virgin Media lack of tv investment
 

Well i am not party to wether vm can fund its current operations totally from their current revenue stream as i am only joe public,but i will bow to your knowledge on the subject,as i say i am not waiting any new channels i am happy enough now sky sport red button is here.:)

---------- Post added at 18:13 ---------- Previous post was at 18:08 ----------

No i am aware the deal was done last year but the channel took 9 months to appear! wether that was down to finances i do not know for sure,but it seems an awfully long time to me.:shocked:

I know carriage rights can take a long time no argument there but it was rumoured at least 2 years ago that History HD ws in negotiation they must have fallen asleep,as i say iam happy with my channel selection now though.:)

Re: Virgin Media lack of tv investment
 

It certainly is on this wonderful forum.:D:D:D:D

Re: Virgin Media lack of tv investment
 

Yes that is true and I for one am happy with the channel line up as well:D

Re: Virgin Media lack of tv investment
 

Me too. Obviously I hope we get certain channels that I have mentioned previously at some point, but I'm sure we will :)

Re: Virgin Media lack of tv investment
 

Always look on the bright side of life.:D:D:D

Re: Virgin Media lack of tv investment
 

It would be boring if we did not talk:( So all opinions are welcome, If not agreed with:D

---------- Post added at 18:27 ---------- Previous post was at 18:27 ----------

Monty Python:D:D:D

Re: Virgin Media lack of tv investment
 

Good to have some happy customers tonight in the VM camp.:LOL::)

Re: Virgin Media lack of tv investment
 

Now they were worth paying for.:D

Re: Virgin Media lack of tv investment
 

Oh for goodness sake don't break into song :erm::monkey::Yikes::D

Re: Virgin Media lack of tv investment
 

l am always happy but the perceived perception from some members is that l am a bit of a Victor Meldrew.:rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes:

Re: Virgin Media lack of tv investment
 

We can have a duet on the X Factor.:D:D:D:D

Re: Virgin Media lack of tv investment
 

No " i do not believe it":D:D:D:LOL:

Re: Virgin Media lack of tv investment
 

One of the great series me thinks.:rolleyes::rolleyes: