UPC Ireland and VM
 

Interesting move.

http://www.broadbandtvnews.com/2014/...ins-mockridge/

Re: UPC Ireland and VM
 

Not really. It was one of the first questions asked when Liberty bought VM.

UPC Ireland used to be NTL Ireland.

I still know many of the people at UPC from the NTL days and we still work closely together on certain things.

Don't know what this may lead to though.

Re: UPC Ireland and VM
 

I will rephrase, interesting move to people who dont have the benefit of your insight.

Re: UPC Ireland and VM
 

Have Liberty made any soundings about moving operational management of network out of the UK NMCs into the Netherlands yet?

Merger of at least some parts of the Irish operation into the UK one would make a fair amount of sense.

Either way it's all unlikely to have any visible impact on VM customers as it would be Ireland into UK - an 855,000 homes passed operation is considerably easier to merge into a 12.6 million homes passed operation than the reverse.

EDIT: I still remember looking at the network that ntl had sold UPC and wondering if they knew what they had in store as far as upgrade bill went. Clearly they did! Dublin was always decent. Cork, Limerick and Galway were somewhat shoe-horned into handling broadband, in a fashion, the rest a one-way MATV platform; everything besides Dublin needed rebuild though.

Re: UPC Ireland and VM
 

Nope, I predict that would probably never happen.

They have aligned some parts of the business into a more European centric channel.

things like Architecture for example.

This would make perfect sense and I could certainly see management of the Eire operations moving to Langley.

Re: UPC Ireland and VM
 

I read somewhere that UPC Ireland may need to close in the coming years (Cant find link).

As Ireland are set to resell their broadcast streams by 2020.

Re: UPC Ireland and VM
 

I don't understand that at all I'm afraid

Re: UPC Ireland and VM
 

http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/...0UR2B920150112

Re: UPC Ireland and VM
 

Wonder if folding it into VM's corporate structure means that UPC Ireland could use the 'Virgin' brand?

They only dropped 'ntl' from the branding in 2010 :)

Re: UPC Ireland and VM
 

Personally can't see it happening in the short term, it would be potentially confusing if 'Virgin Media' did two different sets of products e.g. TiVo in one country and Horizon in another. Especially for those in Northern Ireland with relatives in the Republic of Ireland (and vice versa)

Although watch me now get proven wrong.

Re: UPC Ireland and VM
 

Stuff like that isn't beyond the norm in Ireland, I think we're all used to things just being a bit different across the border.

For example, Tayto crisps.

Re: UPC Ireland and VM
 

What on earth are tayto crisps

Re: UPC Ireland and VM
 

Tayto is a crisp manufacturer based in Northern Ireland.

Tayto is also a crisp manufacturer based in the Republic of Ireland.

The two are completely unrelated to each other. Other than they both make crisps.

EDIT: Apparently Tayto (NI) is the 3rd biggest crisp manufacturer in the UK, they own Golden Wonder and a few others. TIL.

Re: UPC Ireland and VM
 

And both have big smiley potato faces on their homepage

Re: UPC Ireland and VM
 

Indeed. I can tell you that they both taste very different from each other, or at least there's enough of a distinction for you to have a preference. So we're used to the "Same but not the same" thing when it comes to crossing the border.

Re: UPC Ireland and VM
 

As you know the Virgin brand isn't something that is just handed out. certain criteria has to be met before he'll let you use it, and then you have pay him a huge wedge of cash.

Obviously the UPC CEO is already reporting into Tom Mockeridge.

The article doesn't make much sense to me.

I think the "merger" that is suggested, may just be a merger of the balance sheet. I don't see an operational coming together at this time. But what do I know?

Re: UPC Ireland and VM
 

Speaking of, 3 is a communications provider that has operations on both sides of the border - 3 Ireland launched 4G well before the 3 UK, 3 UK operate separately and have completely different tariffs and propositions. Seems to work fine.

Re: UPC Ireland and VM
 

Would there be any advantage to using the VM brand? Would it add extra customers in Ireland? It would add extra cost in terms of licence fees to Virgin Group but in the long term when hardware and software becomes the same in both countries, there could be savings by having just one brand in the two English-speaking UPC countries.

Re: UPC Ireland and VM
 

And in the south, Gee means something amusingly rude but nobody was confused when EE was advertising with the #4GEE slogan. Made people laugh though.

Re: UPC Ireland and VM
 

Yeah that's exactly how it looked to me, was really just urinating in the wind :)

Makes total sense for the two to do a bunch of things together - volumes of scale from purchasing, co-operation on architecture, vendor meetings, etc, but to very much retain their own identity on a day-to-day basis.

I know that VM are not following the 'standards' that UPC have elsewhere, indeed UPC has been learning a fair amount from VM.

---------- Post added at 11:01 ---------- Previous post was at 11:01 ----------

Not really. Was just positing.

Re: UPC Ireland and VM
 

http://www.thesundaytimes.co.uk/sto/...cle1571464.ece

Re: UPC Ireland and VM
 

Was only a matter of time.

The honcho of UPC Ireland already reports to the CEO of Virgin Media, and as mentioned before much of the companies finances have already been aligned.

Re: UPC Ireland and VM
 

I still find it interesting that the Virgin Media brand is being used rather than pushing the UPC brand into the UK. Does LibGlob now have permission to use the Virgin name Europe-Wide? Will other countries follow suit or is this just for the UK and Ireland?

Re: UPC Ireland and VM
 

I think they need to use the Virgin name in the UK until 2037 (But they can stop using the name from 2017 if they want).

It was part of the deal with NTL Telewest took over Virgin Moble.

Re: UPC Ireland and VM
 

It's a good name and I get why they're keen to use the brand, it's more a case of "UPC" being used in several countries but Virgin Media only being used in one.

I mean, I doubt UPC means anything to most people in the UK but will Virgin mean much in say the Netherlands?

I suppose you could argue that it just doesn't matter.

Re: UPC Ireland and VM
 

ntl Ireland only completed rebrand to UPC in 2010, which alongside the obvious similarities between Ireland and the rest of the British Isles explains much.

It made great sense to have the entire British Isles under a single umbrella and to use the far more widely recognised Virgin name :)

Re: UPC Ireland and VM
 

True enough, it does make complete sense for the UK and Ireland, I was just musing over the entire European picture.

Re: UPC Ireland and VM
 

They have dropped UPC in Netherlands since the Ziggo buy out. Looks like they are going with the strongest brand in each country.

Re: UPC Ireland and VM
 

Ahhh, I did not know that. Makes sense, really.

Re: UPC Ireland and VM
 

Plus three letter abbreviations for company names just is vogue any more.

Re: UPC Ireland and VM
 

What are you trying to say about VMe? :P

Re: UPC Ireland and VM
 

Has this story been confirmed by Virgin Media or UPC Ireland yet?

Re: UPC Ireland and VM
 

No that I know of, but UPC did confirm earlier this year that they were making 200 people redundant. The Irish press reported that this was because UPC Ireland and VM were merging.

Re: UPC Ireland and VM
 

Both make a an amazing crisp sandwich :)

Re: UPC Ireland and VM
 

I've been advised the rebrand will be in October.

It needs to happen before any announcement about Vodafone, which I think will come either just before Christmas or in the New Year.

Re: UPC Ireland and VM
 

Virgin Enterprises Ltd who own the www.virginmedia.com domain registered www.virginmedia.ie in January.
https://who.is/whois/www.virginmedia.ie

Re: UPC Ireland and VM
 

Re: UPC Ireland and VM
 

Lot's of bluster : Building on the strong platform in Ireland, I know we will do great things together with [UPC parent company] Liberty Global and shake up the Irish market even further‎." but not according to 2Q2015 business results as Irish component is under performing compared to UK!

Re: UPC Ireland and VM
 

All the more reason to incorporate it then?

Re: UPC Ireland and VM
 

Vodafone talks with Liberty Global hit trouble over tax

Talks over a potential £140bn merger of Vodafone with Liberty Global have hit a roadblock over the cable operator’s complex tax arrangements, according to City sources.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/n...eal-talks.html

Re: UPC Ireland and VM
 

I love that there's a "complex" tax arrangement, yet it's somehow not Vodafone's.

I suppose not ****ing paying tax is simple, by comparison.

Re: UPC Ireland and VM
 

Vodafone and Liberty Global end asset-swap talks

http://www.theguardian.com/business/...set-swap-talks

Re: UPC Ireland and VM
 

Have to love how these stories run. Even if they're wrong.

Re: UPC Ireland and VM
 

It's debatable what their tax bill was or should have been, but they haven't been paying corporation tax and their CEO has fully admitted this.

Re: UPC Ireland and VM
 

The Irish Times: Branson gets geared up for UPC’s rebranding as Virgin Media.

Richard Branson-founded Virgin Media will launched in Ireland this Thursday, with cable broadband and TV provider UPC Ireland moving to the Virgin Media brand.

http://www.irishtimes.com/business/m...edia-1.2366647

Re: UPC Ireland and VM
 

Well I have to say I'm relieved.

Re: UPC Ireland and VM
 

Page now up here http://www.upc.ie/here-comes-the-magic/

Rebrand happening on the 5th October

Re: UPC Ireland and VM
 

RTÉ News: Virgin Media Ireland CEO to take up Hungary role with UPC.

Virgin Media announced (On October 12th) that Magnus Ternsjö, CEO of its operations in Ireland, has been appointed as CEO of UPC Hungary – a sister company within Liberty Global.

Mr Ternsjö joined UPC Ireland as CEO in June 2013 and became a member of the Virgin Media Executive Committee in December 2014.

His successor in Ireland “will be announced in due course”

http://www.rte.ie/news/business/2015...c-ireland-ceo/

Re: UPC Ireland and VM
 

Virgin Media: Virgin Media appoints Tony Hanway CEO of Ireland operations.

Virgin Media announced (On October 16th) the appointment of Tony Hanway as CEO of its operations in Ireland.

http://about.virginmedia.com/press-r...and-operations