Re: Virgin Media News
 

The Mail on Saturday did not tsay what have they been doing to get into debt. I think it the money they have still have to pay back on their bank loan from when NTL takeover Telewest.

Re: Virgin Media News
 

and the virgin mobile takeover.this was over £700 mill.

Re: Virgin Media News
 

Sky One's new US reality series Pirate Master found itself grounded on its first outing, getting 159,000 viewers and a share of just 1% of multichannel homes. The ensuing second episode only managed 57,000 (0.2%).

The 16-part series from Mark Burnett Productions, which sees contestants on a pirate galleon competing for prize money, launched at 7pm with 218,000 (1.65%) and saw its audience decline over the hour to 97,000 (0.62%) in the final 15 minutes.
Despite being given a helping hand with the 400th episode of The Simpsons performing strongly at 6.30pm with 725,000 (5.62%), the first edition of the reality show was significantly below the channel's slot average for the year so far of 425,000 (2.46%).

On other Channels that the time: [ Channels who beat Sky One ]
-ITV2's film Sister Act. The two-hour movie gained 475,000 (3.01%).

-A repeat of Friends on E4 with 322,000 (2.13%) at 7.30pm.

-BBC3 also managed to get the upper hand over Sky One with The Real Hustle at 7pm on 229,000 (1.68%) which was followed by Dog Borstal Unleashed with 204,000 (1.35%).

Info from Broadcast.

Full Story here. http://www.broadcastnow.co.uk/broadc...StoryID=169408

NON-Virgin Media News
 

Did you know: News Corp [ Who own Fox Films & TV, Star TV, The Sun & The Times newspapers and own 30% of BSKYB. ] also own My Space.

Re: Virgin Media News
 

Yes I did. :P

Re: Virgin Media News
 

ITN chief executive Mark Wood has said the news operation wouldn't rule out supplying news for a 24-hour TV news channel, if approached by another broadcaster. Recently there has been speculation that cable group Virgin Media is considering launching its own news channel to rival Sky News and BBC News 24, with some reports suggesting it may look to partner with a news producer such as ITN.

Re: Virgin Media News
 

Hey there

Dont panic, the £5bn Debt is the loan they got from the Government- they still havent paid off the network they own, which means bad news for me (they wont be rolling out to any other areas any time soon) - ontop of this debt they have (as you say) got all the takeover £££

Oh and BTW. for "legal reasons" Telewest "bought" NTL - (worked out cheaper but i cant remember the reason)

^ Or at least - thats what my research has told me about these two problems.

Oh if only VM would move closer :angel: :-)

Re: Virgin Media News
 

The reason was the UKTV deal, under the deal if a company bought out Telewest, Flextech would have to pay a large sum of cash to the BBC because it owns a 50% stake in the UKTV network., I believe £100,000 was touted.

Re: Virgin Media News
 

I far as I am aware this is from the days the cable company had to lay all those nice cables to all the homes. Yes some of this will also be down to the merging of cable companies. Sky on the other hand only have to pay to use astra service. So they are bound to have less debt or none.

It will take years to pay off the debt. However once it has done SKY know they would be in trouble. SKY cannot compete in america and this is there biggest fear.

Incidently apparantly Hull seperate cable company kingston comunications is up for offers by there council will Virgin media take this too. Would that then make virgin media the only cable company in the uk or is there any more out there

Re: Virgin Media News
 

There are two more, the 'Small World' in the far north west of England and South Scotland, and Wight Cable which is only available on the Isle of Wight.

Re: Virgin Media News
 

When is this all supposed to launch? So there's no chance of getting the SKY channels back?

Re: Virgin Media News
 

thanks for that. Not much left then for them to own every thing.

Whether VM interested in blanket ownership is another matter.

Re: Virgin Media News
 

I believe Wight Cable is available in some areas in the North West.

Dunno where I heard that, but apparently it is. (Only a few places though)

Re: Virgin Media News
 

Wight Cable North, which is what you are referring to, is what is now known as 'Small World'

Re: Virgin Media News
 

;) Thanks.

Thought I was going mad!

Re: Virgin Media News
 

Last night Sir Richard Branson admitted that he might consider buying back Virgin Radio.

In The Big Listen live debate on the future of commercial radio last night, Branson was quizzed on whether he would buy back Virgin Radio, which he sold to Chris Evans in 1997.

He replied: "I don't know. It's certainly a possibility. It's not something which we're looking into immediately but we had some exciting days when Chris Evans was involved. And it has perhaps lost some of the gloss that it had once… We're always interested in new challenges."
News from Broadcast.

Re: Virgin Media News
 

Well, apparently Virgin Media want that to add to the portfolio, so with Branson undecided I guess that Virgin are the front runners for that.

In the mean time, I know that this isnt Virgin Media NEWS, (Although Virgin Media do use the product in Question) FaceBook and Sky are dealing with each other.

What gets me is Sky are dealing with Facebook, een though Sky is affiliated with MySpace!

Could it be that Sky want to remove FaceBook?

Re: Virgin Media News
 

Virgin Media is on the verge of selling international distribution arm Minotaur and is understood to be in exclusive talks with Target Entertainment for a price estimated to be between £6m and £7m.

This is not the first time rumours about a deal between Minotaur and Target have circulated.

The pair were thought to have held discussions about a possible merger in the past.

News of the potential acquisition comes just weeks after the Digital Rights Group acquired Portman Film and Television, ID Distribution and the distribution arm of Zeal and further represents a move towards consolidation within the distribution sector.

Minotaur was set up in 1995 by Jane Lighting, now chief executive of Five.

She sold the company to Flextech Television, now Virgin Media Television, in 1999.

Minotaur, whose catalogue includes programmes such as Taggart and Rebus, had a turnover of £5.7m in 2005, according to Broadcast's 2006 distribution survey.

Target was set up by Alison Rayson in 1998.

It had a turnover of £7.9m and a pre-tax profit of £1.02m in 2005.

Virgin refused to comment.
Info from Broadcast.

Re: Virgin Media News
 

Mike Darcey, BSkyB's chief operating officer, speaking yesterday at the IEA conference on the Future of Broadcasting, could not resist a dig at Virgin Media.

He said Virgin Media had spent £40m on its new Virgin One channel, more than would have been required to retain the Sky channels.
"Time will tell whether Virgin Media's customers view this is a good choice," he said.

News from the Telegraph.

---------- Post added at 15:28 ---------- Previous post was at 15:23 ----------

Virgin Media Television has appointed David Clarke to the newly created post of channel controller Bravo, Bravo2, Challenge and Trouble.

Reporting directly to Celia Taylor, director of programmes for Virgin 1, Bravo, Bravo 2, Challenge and Trouble, he begins this role with immediate effect. He will oversee the direction of each brand and help drive the programme strategy while supervising all commissions and acquisitions.

Clarke joined Virgin Media Television in 1998 and was appointed channel editor for Bravo in June 2003, before being promoted to managing editor Bravo and Bravo2 in September 2006. He has been integral with revitalising the Bravo brand, including working on the rebrand last year to tie in with its 21st anniversary.

During his time with Bravo, Clarke has been responsible for bringing the likes of Blade: The Series and David Mamet’s US drama The Unit to the channel. He also brokered exclusive rights deal to Football Italia in 2005, Virgin Media Television’s largest sports acquisition to date.

Celia Taylor, director of programmes, said: "Dave’s passion and enthusiasm is a real asset and it’s great to have such smart and dedicated people to work with. I’m delighted that Dave will play such an important role with the growth of Bravo, Trouble and Challenge."

Elsewhere in the programming team, Ronan Hand has been appointed acquisitions manager for Bravo and Bravo2. Formerly acquisitions executive, Hand has been integral with negotiations around cult series Dog The Bounty Hunter, now in its fourth season on Bravo, Monster Trucks and TNA Wrestling.

Info from Broadcast.

Re: Virgin Media News
 

Nice one!

Sky having a bit of a laff then. Let's hope that VM, when it pulls its socks up, will wipe the smile of his greedy fat face!

Re: Virgin Media News
 

Wouldnt it be great to have Living and Bravo in HD - Exclusive to Virgin Media?

Re: Virgin Media News
 

It would - but they'd still need the audiences that Dsat provides to get ad revenue and in to help pay for the cost of running them, as well as viewers. Otherwise they'd have pulled the SD versions as a tit for tat in the Sky battle - and VM can't afford to lose 8 - 10 m Sky homes for distribution.

Cable exclusive channels have been tried before time and again by ntl and its predecessors and all of them have failed, the most recent being a couple of years ago - "The Studio" I seem to remember, which was a movie channel JV with Universal Studios.

In any case, Virgin One very likely isn't going to have a HD channel simulcast, so why expect a HD variant of Living or Bravo? Virgin management don't have the imagination to think that way - or the inclination to even turn the existing channels widescreen in SD.

Re: Virgin Media News
 

Do you think that VM or Sky will start issuing equipment that automatically adjusts to whatever the TV is?

Like Xbox 360's, they make HD games downscale to go on normal Scart Recieving TVs. Thatd eliminate the need for more channels, and the same channel with the same number would broadcast in HD and SD formats?

Re: Virgin Media News
 

Sky files Virgin court response

BSkyB has filed its defence against Virgin Media in the High Court, stating that the cable company's accusation of anti-competitive behaviour is "without foundation".

In a statement issued today, Sky said Virgin Media customers deserved to know that the reason they were without of the basic channels was because the cable operator's management team "chose to stop negotiating months ago".

It added that the compromise offer made by Sky to Virgin Media in May - "which was rejected by Virgin with no counter-offer", had requested a like-for-like increase of just 6% in the cost of carrying Sky basic channels.

Two months later "Almost two months have passed since then and Virgin has yet to put forward an alternative proposal," Sky said adding that Virgin Media's legal claim did not fit with either its public criticism of the quality of the Sky basic channels or its admission that it chose not to carry them for commercial reasons.

The statement said: "In February, Sir Richard Branson called Sky One programmes 'pretty rubbish' and, only last week, Virgin Media boss Steve Burch publicly confirmed that it was a 'business decision' not to carry the Sky basic channels.

"The fair thing to do is for Virgin's management to put customers first and do a deal."

Change of ownership Referring to Virgin Media's potential change of ownership, following the cable operator's admission yesterday it had been approached by a bidder, understood to be the Carlyle Group, Sky said: "If there is a change of ownership at Virgin Media, we hope that any new management would take a more rational and credible approach and return to serious commercial negotiations with the aim of restoring Sky basic channels to Virgin Media customers within days".

"Our response shows that Virgin Media's claims are without foundation."

Sky was given three extensions by which to submit its defence to the High Court.
Info from Broadcast.

Re: Virgin Media News
 

This intresting aswell the group if they buy virgin will end the sky spat.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/money/mai...nvirgin203.xml

Re: Virgin Media News
 

just goes to show how much virgin lie to the people that pay their wages.

screw them

Re: Virgin Media News
 

I like that! Its so true! lol

It should be noted Sir Rich is still gonna be a big shareholder in the company, and still going to have a say, so there isnt a gurantee that the SKY dispute will be fully closed.

Re: Virgin Media News
 

Details of the deal made between Sky and Tiscali TV have been revealed, showing that Tiscali were happy to pay what Virgin Media wasn't for the carriage of Sky's basic channels on the IPTV platform.

Earlier this week, Sky filed its defence at the High Court as part of its legal battle with Virgin Media, after Virgin refused to pay the amount Sky wanted for carrying its basic channels, disputing the cost as "anti-competitive." Sky One, Two, Three, News and Sports have not been shown on the Virgin Media cable platform since the end of February.

The Tiscali deal was agreed on June 27 at a price reported to be "broadly similar" to the offer Sky made to Virgin Media on May 10.

Reports suggest IPTV provider Tiscali paid 81.5p per subscriber, equivalent to £335.7 million annually. This works out slightly more per customer than Virgin Media, as Tiscali has 50,000 customers, while Virgin Media has 3.4 million.

Additionally, Sky has agreed new carriage deals for its basic channels with regional cable operators Newtel, Smallworld and Wightcable. Outside of the Virgin Media network, the operators cover Jersey, the Borders and the Isle of Wight.

Mike Darcey, chief operating Officer, Sky, said: “Sky has always sought to achieve wide distribution for its channels and we’re pleased to extend our relationships with three valued and long-standing partners. All three have recognised the increasing value of Sky’s basic channels and we welcome their decision to invest in bringing their customers the TV they enjoy.”

Info from Digital SPY.

Re: Virgin Media News
 

This will have interesting ramifications for VM's assertion that Sky's stance was anti-competitive.

Re: Virgin Media News
 

I wonder if virgin will give in now then that smaller operators have paid up,
they will save a lot of money if they do a deal out of court.:confused:

Re: Virgin Media News
 

You can't really see how they could claim it to be anti-competitive when all the other regional cablecos as well as Tiscali all paid up.

The whole anti-competitive thing falls on its' face a bit when the rest of the market accepts the pricing. The blatant dissing of the Sky channels along with comments on it being a commercial decision does make me struggle to see how VM expect to win this, however I wonder if they ever expected to win it or if it was just another part of their ongoing PR scrap with Sky.

Re: Virgin Media News
 

Well, that will depend.

You can't compare the price offered to Tiscalli for their basic channels based on 50K worth of subscribers.

What is quoted in the press and what was actually offered could be completely different. You also have to understand that VM is a competitor to Sky TV, Tiscalli isn't.

EDIT: It is also possible this deal is needed by Sky in order to satisfy disgruntled advertisers who lost a large customer base when Sky pulled (yes, sky pulled) the channels off VMTV.

Re: Virgin Media News
 

Umm. Rrright. You are aware Tiscali are currently rolling out IPTV, including Sky's channels, nationwide yes? You are also aware that in Central London there are well over 2 million homes to which Tiscali TV is available. They also offer TV, broadband and phone. Correct me if I'm wrong but that would make them a competitor to Sky?

Yes.... same products... same markets... in competition... a competitor!

Doubt it. Out and out lying when evidence is in black and white is very stupid. Considering how VM have made sure this stayed in the press as much as possible if what was in the press was inaccurate I'm fairly sure the VM PR department would have made sure we knew.

*Sigh* Nice anti-Sky comment, kinda blows trying to discuss something impartially out of the water coming out with something like that though.

Re: Virgin Media News
 

Icomplete, I make no claims of impartiality at all. But if you check my post again I was very carefull using words such as:

And

I wasn't aware that Tiscalli were rolling out IPTV, but I would hope that they could sort out their ADSL service first though. :)

Re: Virgin Media News
 

Newtel = 12,000 business, government and residential customers. link
Smallworld (as was WightCable North) = Currently serve about 40,000 homes in Carlisle, Lancaster, Morecombe, Irvine, Troon and Kilmarnock link
WightCable = 5000 customers link (only thing I could find with numbers)
VN = over 3,300,000 customers.

I wonder if the other companies have the same "minimum payment" clause that was proposed to VM?

Re: Virgin Media News
 

Agreed their broadband is dire, but perhaps a bit of research was due in that case before claiming that they were not a competitor?

---------- Post added at 16:13 ---------- Previous post was at 16:10 ----------

I am sure all will be made clear in time. Personally though I agree with the commentator who suggested VM stop whinging about what everyone else is doing, especially Sky though also Carphone Warehouse, etc, and get their own house in order in order to more effectively compete through differentiated quality products rather than hoping PR and regulation will do it for them.

To claim that a supplier's goods are of low quality and you don't want them for business reasons then accuse that supplier of being anti-competitive for refusing to supply this low quality product to you at the price you want to pay just doesn't wash for me.

Re: Virgin Media News
 

total 57,000 subscribers,not much clout then when bargaining for a price.if they didnt pay the price sky asked theyd be dead in the water!!! remember,VM annonced cust losses of 47,000 after the removal of the sky basic channels.youd think VM would have some clout when negotiating a price with sky,weve got 3.3m subs,thats a big audience for you to add to your figures and impress your potential advertisers with,wouldnt you want to do business with such a big potential audience??? obviously sky didnt.:(

Re: Virgin Media News
 

VM was told to pay £260.6m (3p per customer) for the channels and that includes the VoD content and HD content also.

If Tiscalli paid £335.7m, you have to wonder what extra perks Tiscalli are getting...

Either that or Sky werent willing to budge.

I believe, personally, that there wont be any minimum payment clauses for these companies, as they only pose a minor threat to Sky's dominance. Plus, on the PR side of it, it looks good for Sky.

At the end of it all, just because one or two people in the Higher-Ups of VM think Skys Basics are crap, doesnt mean that everyone will think so, even if I do agree with them.

They havent utilised the opportunity to brand their own channels, therefore failed in that text, and the latest offer given to VM (must have been sometime ago now) was satisfactory especially with the HD content and so on.

I believe there is something amiss here. We know about the Minimum price thing, but I think there could be more that is keeping VM from signing this deal.

I wonder if the Carlysle Group would just stump up the cash. or if their lawyers would see why VM wouldnt stump up.

Re: Virgin Media News
 

The contracts talked of a minimum figure which worked out more than the per customer figure due to Virgin not having enough customers to fill that condition. I don't know either way, but i wouldn't rule it out actually.

Re: Virgin Media News
 

Where did you get that VM figure from?

Re: Virgin Media News
 

I whould have paid that bit extra just to get the hd content if that was the case

Re: Virgin Media News
 

Yes indeed, I'm waiting for the response to see if its fact or specualtion.

Re: Virgin Media News
 

DO you not remember everyone saying it would be 3p per day, per customer?

Sky said it would "be like 1 person sending a Virgin Mobile Text every day". Thats 3p.

---------- Post added at 20:58 ---------- Previous post was at 20:49 ----------

http://www.reuters.com/article/wtMos...1?pageNumber=2

Sorry, I excluded the Minimum Payment thingy, which I shouldnt have... but as I dont really understand it, then I cant comment really.

Re: Virgin Media News
 

Its still not ringing true though, because Tiscalli are being charged about 85-89p per customer, so I'm assuming that is a per month figure per customer, which means that the so-called VM figure of 3p per day, 90p per month is way over the odds given that VM have a much larger customer base.

I'm not doubting your source, but as more figures come out about other deals with other companies, it appears more to the point that Sky were not interested in securing a deal, they simply wanted to poach VM's customers.

Re: Virgin Media News
 

I agree.

I think the source says that "Sky said 3p per customer" so it could have been wrong anyroad.

Plus, VM said it had the potentioal to rise to DOUBLE the quoted "3p per day per cust" thus being £520m!!!

Re: Virgin Media News
 

I suppose only time will tell. Still, not missing Sk One at all. :)

Re: Virgin Media News
 

Virgin Media and Channel 4 fear BSkyB's 17.9% stake in ITV could lead to fewer free-to-air stations and stifle competition for acquisitions and emerging technology, according to submissions to the Competition Commission published today.

The commission invited views on the move after Ofcom and the Office of Fair Trading warned that Sky stake could be anti-competitive and against the spirit of public service broadcasting.

For the full story see this http://www.broadcastnow.co.uk/broadc...StoryID=169961
Info from Broadcast.

Re: Virgin Media News
 

So, to put it simply, Sky could have ITV on a Subscription. SO to watch the main terrestrial stuff such as Corrie and so on, youd have to pay one of the package prices.

Anyone for £15 p/m to watch ITV, on top of the £130 per annum TV license?

£130 divided by 4 (quarters) = £33.33
£15 x 3 (months = 1 quarter) = £45

£33.33 + £45 = £78.33 per quarter.

Divided by 3 (months) = £26.11 p/m

£26.11 per month to watch and listen to the BBC and ITV. Great stuff....

Nope. Virgin Media, Channel 4 and the BBC are right to point this out, and this would again open the door for a new offer for ITV from VM, to add to the content to UKTV, VoD and bring money in from the States in content agreements with other countries, much like the BBC America offering.

BBC and VM already have a good partnership, and along with C4 also, an ITV proposal with VM coul be just the ticket, providing that Private Bid fails.

---------- Post added at 17:48 ---------- Previous post was at 17:46 ----------

EDIT: Does anyone think the England matches are now on ITV because of Sky?

Re: Virgin Media News
 

It seems to be one hell of an argument for the commission to force them to relinquish some or all of its voting rights.

Re: Virgin Media News
 

Virgin Media has this week completed a deal to show Coca-Cola Football League matches on Virgin Media’s broadband and mobile platforms.

The agreement will run for two seasons and begins in time for the start of the new Coca-Cola Championship, League 1 and League 2 season on August 11.

Highlights of Football League matches will be available to watch on-demand for up to one week after transmission.
Info from Digital Spy.

Re: Virgin Media News
 

James Murdoch said this morning that Sky is 'trying to engage' with Virgin Media's management and is 'ready to meet in the middle.'

'We have been trying to engage with Virgin's management over a resolution for our basics channels,' Murdoch told reporters today.

'[We are] ready to meet in the middle.'

When asked about rumours that Virgin Media is a potential target for a private equity takeover, he added: 'Perhaps new leadership would engage in a more real way. We would like to have a more productive relationship with current management.'

He also said that Virgin Media management had provided 'no meaningful response' to the most recent of Sky's offers.
Info from Media Guardian.

Re: Virgin Media News
 

How many customers do you think VM have?

366 days in the year say x 3p / day = £10.98 / customer / year.

£260 million (your figure) / £10.98 = 23,679,417.

Now call me cynical but I don't think Virgin have nearly 24 million TV subscribers.

I'll take the £35 million figure quoted in the press most recently thanks.

EDIT: Also those 'extra' doubling costs were I believe for HD and VoD content, not randomly added on.

Re: Virgin Media News
 

3p per day x 365 x 3,400,000 = £37,230,000
6p per day x 365 x 3,400,000 - £74,460,000

Re: Virgin Media News
 

The battle for Virgin Media intensified last night as Providence, the American buyout firm, instructed advisers to prepare an offer for the $22 billion (£11 billion) television and broadband group.

Providence is understood to have joined with KKR, [ who owned Boots ]; Blackstone and Cinven to enter the auction for the cable operator.

Other private equity groups are understood to be considering joining the fray.

Virgin Media confirmed last week that it had received an approach from Carlyle, whose $33 to $34-a-share offer values the company at $23 billion including its £6 billion of debt.

Rivals insist that their offers will not top that price.

Factors including the volatility in the debt markets would give bidders ammunition for ruling out a higher offer, they said.

However, sources dismissed those claims as an attempt to talk down the price.

Related LinksPrivate equity targets Virgin Media BSkyB recruits Virgin customers Sky shrugs off Virgin and puts on a show Carlyle, which declined to comment, is unlikely to welcome the competition.

The group had sought to secure a period of exclusivity with Virgin.

It is thought to have felt that its offer put a full value on the cable group, which has struggled to fulfil its aim of becoming a formidable player in the home communications market.

However, Virgin’s confidence about securing interest elsewhere has led it to insist on a formal auction run by its advisers, UBS and Goldman Sachs.

They are seeking to increase the competitive tension by drumming up interest from US cable giants such as Comcast and Time Warner Cable.

Interested companies are to be invited in shortly for presentations from Virgin Media’s management with a deadline for first-round indicative offers set for some time in August.

It is understood that Carlyle has not yet had access to the Virgin figures and has received no formal acknowledgement of its offer beyond a brief meeting with management.

However, the buyout house is thought to remain confident about its chances.

A Providence-led group first approached Virgin, which was then still called NTL, last year, with an offer of about $30 a share.

The group’s approach was thwarted by factors including opposition from Bill Huff, the New Jersey hedge-fund investor.

Carlyle is understood to be working alone, although it is open to leading a consortium.

Interest from Apax, which had held talks with it about joining forces, is understood to be waning.

In an attempt to prevent groups of private equity operators joining forces at a later stage Virgin’s advisers are expected to lay down rigid nondisclosure clauses for participants.

KKR, Blackstone and Cinven declined to comment.

For More See this: http://business.timesonline.co.uk/to...cle2072690.ece
Info from The Times Online.

Re: Virgin Media News
 

Sorry. My maths isnt what it used to be.

I did think that it was 10m VM customers in total, not just TV Customers. :S

My bad! lol

Re: Virgin Media News
 

Any one else thinking that at the moment its "Kick Sky while they are down" time?

ITV Come out and say it is an "influencing stake"
BBC and Channel 4 complain about the competitiveness with VM
Setanta reduce their prices to compete and also nab a few pundits in the process.
Setanta take the FA Vase and Youth Cups etc away from Sky too
CompetitionComission thing and OFCOM too.
BTVision offering a lot of stuff, including all near live matches and Setanta.

If this Setanta deal goes through, and we get a significant reduction or even a channel on XL, then Sky are really gonna be in the dirt.

Re: Virgin Media News
 

Wow! I forgot Top Up TV, Setanta, VM and BT complaining about the premium freeview thing and also about a retail price competition.

Its all crazy!

It doesnt seem to be tarnishing Skys reputation in Customer additions, though...

Re: Virgin Media News
 

Here some BskyB news for you

-On trying to get the Virgin Media Viewers to move to Sky all the ADs have cost Sky £70m.

FULL STORY HERE

Info from The Mail on Sunday.

Re: Virgin Media News
 

Thats Mad!

Id never move to Sky! Im a VM Man myself ;)

Re: Virgin Media News
 

Its a mad sum yes, but its netted them a fair amount of BB customers, question is though do they have the capitol to keep investing in the network they purchased off Easynet or whoever it was?

Re: Virgin Media News
 

It was Easynet, and there was a reason they only picked that up for £5m... because its...

Anyway, before I swear, lets see what I found!

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/c5606088-387...b5df10621.html

Looks like Sir Rich and the Virgin name will stay! Hurrah!

---------- Post added at 00:32 ---------- Previous post was at 00:31 ----------

Also:

http://www.marketingweek.co.uk/item/57134/254/260/3

Thats good to know... After all the talk of selling off the Arms of VM, VMTV et al, this is kind of a relief!

Re: Virgin Media News
 

Virgin's high court claim that Sky has abused its dominant position in the pay-TV market has been scheduled for trial next year.

Andrew Morritt, chancellor of the high court, formally approved a timetable under which documents will be exchanged in March, followed by a trial some months later, Reuters reported.

Meanwhile, Virgin has asked for first round bids from potential buyers, which could be prepared to pay as much as £11.5bn including debt.

Earlier this month, Virgin confirmed it had received an approach, understood to be from the private equity group Carlyle.
Since then, a consortium involving four private equity houses - Providence, KKR, Cinven and Blackstone - has also entered the fray, as has US buyout firm TPG.

Apax Partners is also believed to be interested in the auction, which is being conducted by Goldman Sachs.

Potential trade buyers so far mentioned are Viacom, Time Warner, John Malone's Liberty Media and US cable group Comcast.

Interested parties are being asked to submit first bids in the first 10 days of August, with second round bids likely to go in by mid-September.
Virgin declined to comment.

http://media.guardian.co.uk/broadcas...133713,00.html

https://www.cableforum.co.uk/images/local/2007/07/6.gif
Info from Media Guardian

Re: Virgin Media News
 

http://news.independent.co.uk/busine...cle2795710.ece

Will be on Ebay knowing VM :p:

Re: Virgin Media News
 

:O

eBay.co.uk

Re: Virgin Media News
 

Love it:D nice one:D

Re: Virgin Media News
 

damn it,ive forgotten my pay-pal password :D :D :D

Re: Virgin Media News
 

Virgin are to offer an 'Flood Victim Package'.


The Time Out Package option will allow the customer to suspend their services for the maximum period of 9 months with a monthly charge of 5 pounds.

This will be welcome for those who can no longer live in their homes and will ensure that they do not run up huge bills for services that they cannot use.

The customer will have their services suspended and a call bar put on the phone but they will also get enhanced voice mail so that they can access their messages from another phone.

Info from Digital Spy.

Re: Virgin Media News
 

good for virgin

Re: Virgin Media News
 

Sky too try and outgun virgin over the setanta deal running scared or what.
http://www.marketingweek.co.uk/item/57203/254/260/3

Re: Virgin Media News
 

Well! Even for a PR weasel that's way OTT, not to mention wrong.

Virgin customers don't need to have phone or broadband to get TV XL, so no 'artificial force' there.

He then has the nerve to say that 'Sky, Surf and Speak customers (note the 'artificial forcing' of phone and broadband) can save yada yada yada!

Amazing.

Re: Virgin Media News
 

Wonder if Sky will include the price of a MUST HAVE BT landline Line Rental?

;)

I think that is something that should be addressed by Ofcom too!

Re: Virgin Media News
 

I have been told that Virgin Media will be announcing its Second Quarter 2007 results on Wednesday, August 8, 2007 at 9am UK time,

Re: Virgin Media News
 

Virgin will drop its mobile TV service after less than a year, according to the Guardian.

BT and GCap are set to end their involvement with mobile phone operator's TV project after fewer than 10,000 mobile TV handsets were sold by the start of 2007.

Despite a £2.5 million advertising campaign that featured Pamela Anderson, the five-channel service failed to entice viewers.

Critics of the service blamed the lack of interest on the bulky handset that viewers needed to view the channels, and the absence of any bespoke programming.

Marketing director at mobile TV group ROK Entertainment, Bruce Renny, said: "Why pay a subscription fee to receive the same TV content on your mobile that you already get at home? Particularly when people don't watch TV on mobiles for more than a few minutes at a time.

"To be commercially successful, you have to provide a combination of live news, sports updates and video-on-demand, made-for-mobile content which is instantly engaging. Simply broadcasting linear TV to mobiles is not the answer."

Info from the Guardian.

Re: Virgin Media News
 

you are doing a great job tv boy:tu: keeping us up to date with whats going on with vm thanks for your time and effort you put into your posts :D

---------- Post added at 14:19 ---------- Previous post was at 14:15 ----------

what a guy !! you are a class act thank you :tu:

Re: Virgin Media News
 

Is this all for this week comeing?

Re: Virgin Media News
 

That was posted in January and it still has not happened yet. I don't doubt that it will happen, but for some reason VM are still messing around. You'd expect them to be able to get their own channels to their own customers pretty quickly, not 6 months later :rolleyes:

Re: Virgin Media News
 

That was the info I got from an Ex-insider in January but my new insider told me last week that Virgin are hoping to do the following by the end of THIS year:

-Have the same EPG Channel lineup on both lineups. [RE: UKTV Drama on Virgin Channel 129/147 ]

-Have the same TV & Radio Channels on both lineups.

---------- Post added at 15:58 ---------- Previous post was at 15:49 ----------

The following channels may close on Ex-NTL


epg Channel Name
143 More4 +1
153 Challenge +1
231 National Geographic +1
235 History Channel +1
345 Bliss
347 Scuzz
348 Flaunt
350 Classic FM TV
545 Motors TV
350 Zee Music
833 PCNE Chinese
863 BBC One Northern Ireland
864 BBC One Wales
921 Radio: The Arrow
926 Radio: Fun Radio
928 Radio: Magic Radio
929 Radio: Q Radio
931 Radio: BBC Radio Wales
932 Radio: BBC Radio Ulster
936 Radio: BBC Radio Cymru
962 Radio: The Hits Radio
963 Radio: Kiss 100
964 Radio: Kerrang!
966 Radio: Smash Hits!
967 Radio: Oneword

May close on Ex-Telewest:
epg Channel Name
209 UKTV Documentary +1 [ Testing on Ex-NTL Boxes ]
261 UKTV Food +1 [ Testing on Ex-NTL Boxes ]
830 Deutsche Welle
832 Leonardo
911 Radio: BBC Radio 4 LW
917 Radio: RTE Radio 1
920 Radio: WRN Europe
951 Radio: Virgin Radio Xtreme*
952 Radio: Virgin Radio Classic Rock*
953 Radio: Virgin Radio Groove*

* = Virgin Radio are own by Scottish Media Group [ SMG ] not Virgin Media.

Last update 28th of July.

Re: Virgin Media News
 

I'd expect Challenge +1 to appear on ex TW and all the missing UKTV to appear on both networks.
I would also expect More 4+1 to appear along with the new Ch4+1 (they are under negotiation).

As for the other channels, you may be right they may just disappear. We'll find out in due time.

Re: Virgin Media News
 

Don't mind +1 channels going, but Classic FM TV and Motors TV are the two I watch the most. As for chopping everything Welsh, can't see the Assembly allowing that !!!!

Re: Virgin Media News
 

I hope that they don't get rid of Motors TV. It is a great channel

Re: Virgin Media News
 

It always makes me laugh, when we have all this talk, over the various companies out there and they give all these deals, to get the customers, that pays silly prices, l am not praising Sky or anything, l go for the company that gives the BEST deal, and l believe that if Sky knocked all there sub's down to say £10.00 per month FOR ALL the products, they could sustain that costs for a few years, as they have the big guns, compared to VM, BT Vision etc, as they could not keep up the pressure, we already have VM being sold off, to the highest bidders as they are so much in Debt, ( and Sir Richard listening to offers, now if that wasn't someone who has given up, l don't know what is ) and remind me, how long have they been going - less than a year, what the customer - that forum members - has to worry about is going in for a silly deal, and after the contract is up, the price goes up, and get hit in the pocket, I think that VM will get there fingers burned in the court battle, as the courts will probabely say, that Sky have got a product to sell, and they will go for the best price possible, but VM don't want to pay the price, thats business.:)

Re: Virgin Media News
 

Europe's largest cable operator Liberty Global is considering a bid for Virgin Media.

Liberty Global chairman and US mogul John Malone told the Financial Times that the group was 'doing [its] homework' with regards to entering the £12m auction for the US-listed British cable firm.

Any deal would involve taking on around £6bn of debt.

'The UK market is big and complex and [Virgin Media] has a lot of interesting financial attributes to it,' Malone said.

Virgin Media was up for sale earlier this summer after receiving a £5.5bn takeover bid from private-equity firm Carlyle Group.

A $32-$33 per share proposal from Carlyle triggered a formal auction the company.

Virgin has asked for indicative offers by August 8 with bids exepcted from a host of private equity firms and fellow cable companies.

Virgin Media's Nasdaq-listed stock has fallen from above $29 ten days

Info from Broadcast.
For on this story see here: http://www.broadcastnow.co.uk/broadc...StoryID=170327

Re: Virgin Media News
 

having experienced what the liberty service is like I would reconmmend vm staying well clear.

Re: Virgin Media News
 

[quote=TV Boy;34362364]Europe's largest cable operator Liberty Global is considering a bid for Virgin Media.

Liberty Global chairman and US mogul John Malone told the Financial Times that the group was 'doing [its] homework' with regards to entering the £12m auction for the US-listed British cable firm.

Any deal would involve taking on around £6bn of debt.

'The UK market is big and complex and [Virgin Media] has a lot of interesting financial attributes to it,' Malone said.

Virgin Media was up for sale earlier this summer after receiving a £5.5bn takeover bid from private-equity firm Carlyle Group.

A $32-$33 per share proposal from Carlyle triggered a formal auction the company.

Virgin has asked for indicative offers by August 8 with bids exepcted from a host of private equity firms and fellow cable companies.

Virgin Media's Nasdaq-listed stock has fallen from above $29 ten days

Info from Broadcast.
For on this story see here: http://www.broadcastnow.co.uk/broadc...StoryID=170327
/quote]
Is this the same Liberty that provides the software fot the set top boxes ?

Re: Virgin Media News
 

I think they are.

Re: Virgin Media News
 

The sale of Virgin Media may be postponed because recent financial market conditions mean that potential private equity buyers are questioning whether offers for such a large target can be financed.

The cable giant had requested bids to be submitted by 8 August but it is now expected to name a new deadline next week.

However, according to reports the delay should not prove too much of a problem for Virgin because the sale process is at such an early stage.

For full story: http://www.broadcastnow.co.uk/broadc...StoryID=170437
Info from Broadcast.

Re: Virgin Media News
 

I think they've delayed it because potential suiters are pulling out.

It hasn't attracted as much attention as they'd hoped, so its delayed.

Re: Virgin Media News
 

Virgin Media have lost 60,000 viewers in the last THREE months.

-They lost 40,000 viewers from they Virgin Media TV Network.

-They lost 20,000 viewers from they Phone and internet.
Info from the Mail on Sunday.

Re: Virgin Media News
 

Its not just the PE companies but the banks that provide the finance. According to reports the main bank players have holding back because they havent been able to sell on the huge finance they provided for some recent deals such as the boots one.
Its leaving the banks with a lot more risk than they are used to.
Does this all sound a bit like the dot com boom when banks were throwing money around like there was no tomorrow without any real substance to it and then it all went sick. (well most of it)

Ive been thinking for a couple of weeks now that the virgin deal might not happen, at least not yet.

Re: Virgin Media News
 

there may all come back now , now that sky have gone up and we have got satanta sports on xl for free on virgin media

Re: Virgin Media News
 

According to the Observer/Guardian, John Malone has reiterated his interest in Virgin Media, which, I must admit does sound promising.

It states that Murdoch and Malone used to work together (!) and Murdoch sold his DirecTV Satellite group to Malone, only for Malone to sell it at a bigger price.

He also owns 17 Countries Cable groups, and Virgin media could be the pinnacle of that, if he were to buy it.

Malone and Murdoch have a decent enough relationship to see a healthy competitiveness in the TV Market, but not a RIVAL Competitiveness like we have seen in the past 8 Months.

The thing I like about this guy is his willingness to move his family to a State that has really poor TV Signals, dug up the roads and installed Cable to people so they could watch Multi-Channel TV.

It says "against all the doubters, he did it, and proved them wrong!"

http://observer.guardian.co.uk/busin...141703,00.html

Re: Virgin Media News
 

Thanks for the link.

If Malone gets vm, it will not be anything except a "rival competitiveness" with Murdoch...He did try to wrestle News Corp out of Murdoch's grasp. Hardly friendly...

I wrote up my own cv about about Malone the other day on DS. Albeit it's loaded with my own personal opinion, but have a look, it's in this thread at post 19: http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/forums/s...d.php?t=630503

Re: Virgin Media News
 

Well, if you are Horizon, which you are, that is a very informative read.

He looks ruthless!

So what would your spin on it be then? That the relationship between Malone and Murdoch did go sour, or that, somehow, VM could become affiliated with Sky with the EPG providers and so forth, or would Sky "technically" be paying VM's Heads for content and operations of their own company?

Whichever happens, you did some mighty fine research there.

Re: Virgin Media News
 

...I didn't actually, but thanks anyway;) That was all from memory. If I had done my research before posting, I would've altered a couple of things especially the bit about Malone owning a stake of Discovery Networks. He owns the whole lot, not just a stake.

Re Malone's relationship with Murdoch, as far as I know there isn't one. They are powerful businessmen competing against each other in the same industries. I can't imagine though, that Murdoch is overkeen on him as Malone did try and make a grab for News Corp.

Sorry, but I didn't understand the bulk of what you saying about Sky and vm affiliating with each other and paying for content in their own company.

Sky and vm are competitors and will never affiliate with each other on any level and competition law ensures it stays like that. My titbit was thrown in for others to speculate, but potentially vm and sky might use the same software platform that their epgs are written on. Whether Murdoch would want to pay fees to Malone for the use of the software is debatable.

What would be interesting is that if Malone did buy vm, Malone would control a huge bulk of channels on both Sky and vm. Whether this would cause additional arguments between Sky and vm, or whether peace and love would break out, is something I would follow eagerly.

It is by no means certain that Malone would buy vm as many others are interested. What you can be assured of is that things would be interesting, for customers too... Malone has been known to raise prices 2 or 3 times in a year, if he feels like it...

Don't forget Malone is not new to the uk cable industry. He was the majority shareholder in the company that become Telewest and look what happened to that.... it went bust. Perhaps second time lucky.

Re: Virgin Media News
 

This is basically what I meant.

OpenTV would then supply VM with the EPG, and OpenTV already supply Sky with theirs, but it would annoy Murdoch that VM are now using that also, and probably get a discount for being an affiliated company (plus it would probably improve the V+ EPG we currently have).


And your right about him owning a fair few channels on Sky and VM too, which would be seen as to level up the "playing field" a little more.

The dominance suit which has been ongoing would, really, be out of the window then, wouldnt it, because you would have two competitors with ruthlessness and the cash to back it up, aiming to supply the number one content in Britain.

If he does raise prices, I cant see the problem. Sky will do the same, and that just goes to show how inflations affect our market today.

Unless everyone stops watching TV, were not going to see a price drop. Just like with housing. Unless everyone stops buying, House prices will continue to increase.

Its only a matter of time before Digital TV is a Middle and Upper Class luxury again, with the rate things are happening.

Im on VIP, paying £8p/m ontop of call charges, and I wouldnt pay anymore. Thats the very limit I am willing. and I only went on this pack because I was spending that before! lol

Re: Virgin Media News
 

....I certainly wouldn't be happy about multiple price rises, but to each his own I guess!:)

Re the epgs and as another poster said on DS (which i knew) Open tv is merely the platform that the epg is written on. Both Sky and vm would still write their own epgs and this has nothing to do with the platform it's written on.

Re your digital tv will be a middle and upper class thing only in the future due to price rises, that's a interesting point and may well become the case.

My real interest in whether Malone or someone like Time Warner buy vm, is not on standard services but on premium services: films and sports. Malone has numerous interests already and if he were to buy vm, the Hollywood studios might consider breaking up the monopoly that Sky enjoys on film rights. If Malone could make certain guarantees. And as for sports, it looks likely that vm and setanta will join up in the future. So, when it comes to bidding for the football rights again, Malone could put in a huge bid which if won would finally break Sky's monopoly in this area too. It aint quite broke yet as Setanta currently have too few matches in comparision to Sky.

Re: Virgin Media News
 

I don't think people will jump back on board as fast as they left, but the Satanta deal will stop the flow and might bring some back.

I know i used to like watching the odd program on Sky One, but i think I'd take the free Satanta sports deal over the Sky deal any day.

New Simpsons plus the odd few other programs i used to watch V Live football, live NRL rugby league and the odd other sporting event i might watch.

Re: Virgin Media News
 

The launch of Setanta Sports News has been delayed.

http://media.guardian.co.uk/broadcas...143268,00.html

A question mark hangs over the launch of the Setanta Sports News service, designed to rival Sky Sports News, after a key production partner, TWI, the sports-content production arm of IMG Media, pulled out of the project.
A barrage of costly advertising by Virgin Media, the platform for the new Setanta service, promised: "Very soon you'll be able to keep track of the whole world of football with our exclusive new channel, Setanta Sports News." But just how soon?

The service, planned to take on the exhaustive rolling tickertape and breaking news coverage of Sky Sports News, was planned to launch on September 29 but that has now been ruled out.

Re: Virgin Media News
 

As long as its here before I lose SSnews on freeview I won't care :)

Re: Virgin Media News
 

Why dont virgin setup theyre own sports news channel