So Its War .. good or bad for us the customer?
 

I dont think i really need to say much because all this stuff going on with Virgin Media and BSkyB is everywhere.

But what will this mean for the future of tv in the UK?

Ive been an NTL customer for the good part of 5 years on and off and generally had no problems with them until the last 6 months of last year where they seemed to be heading down hill pretty fast, they probably already knew that they were going to sell and as a result the investment in the network probably halted to an extent.

Now Richard Bransons playing the field (as he does) and its no secret that BSkyB could have finally met its match!

But whats this going to mean for us the customers?

I think one things for sure, they both have alot of dosh, and i would expect that they dont wanna lose any of that precious dosh but with that much dosh your not gonna wanna lose face either, especially in something like media which is worth a huge amount of money, we all know the saying, you need to have money to make money.

So Virgin lost a few sky channels, Sky are advertising like the world is thier oyster and virgin media to date have implied that they will be making a huge effort to match the services they lost, i think this is a good thing because BSkyS have had the ball in thier half for along time and when that happens things start getting relaxed and so does our subscriptions and quality of service.

So roll on I say! Bring it on and show us what you can do Virgin Media and BSkyB, we have money and we know you want it!! :D

Re: So Its War .. good or bad for us the customer?
 

I agree ... I have just moved to VM from Sky (not without hassle though :( see my new to VM post). When I first started with Sky, I had the full package and was paying about £23 p/m way back in 2000. Since then Sky have increased the sub with impunity.

Knowing all along that us viewers would keep paying it ... my last Sky bill was for £58 (Multiroom & Sky +) once I added this to the £49 I was paying for NTL phone & bb I was paying well over £100 p/m. With VM I'm paying £85 for everything on the VIP package.

No brainer for me ... just hope the issues i'm having are sorted soon!! Because I cannot wait for someone to take on Sky and the ridiculous control they have over sub tv ... also, what are Sky going to do next year when Setanta start screening 48 exclusive premiership matches ??? no doubt spit the dummy out again ;)

Re: So Its War .. good or bad for us the customer?
 

In the long run it's going to be good, both companys will be doing deals to get new customers etc

Re: So Its War .. good or bad for us the customer?
 

I don't think it will be good for consumers. If Sky get, for example, 24 and Lost and VM get Simpsons and Battlestar and you're a fan of all of those you need to subscribe to both Sky and VM to stay up to date. Or you just say nuts to the both of them, get Freeview and download torrents of the TV shows you want to watch which of course makes you a criminal like a car thief according to the DVD trailers.

In a roundabout way this might be what VM are going for. Maybe they have correctly forseen a future in which TV schedules are a thing of the past and we all watch what we want to watch when we want to watch it. I think there's going to be a messy intermediate stage if this is where we are going.

For the meantime I'll stick with VM and see where Branson's new approach will take us but I'm hoping it's more Virgin Megastore and less Virgin Trains. Even he can't get the hang of putting enough carriages on the damn things that I don't have to stand in the corridor outside the toilet every time I travel on one.

EDIT: The deals for new customers idea is all well and good but what about existing customers? Are we to carry on getting ripped off?

Re: So Its War .. good or bad for us the customer?
 

I think it's going to end up being good for the consumer in terms of choice - but we're going to have to get used to the fact that we may not be able to get all the channels from the one company, and may need to choose which (if any) company we go with based on the one with the most channels/features we are interested in.

For example, do we go with the company with most scheduled programming, or the one with the most versatile programming?
Do we go for the one with the cheapest TV package, or the one with the best overall package?
Do we go with the best price per month but requires an initial outlay and repair costs, or the one that costs a bit more but has the equipment fully covered?

It could prove very interesting indeed over the next few years, although I fear in the short to mid term the consumer is going to take the brunt of the problems associated with the changing situation.

I'm personally hoping that Virgin will add more niche stuff to the on demand content in the future, as chances are much of it will be cheap, and because it's not viable on a normal channel (too small an audience to interest advertisers) it could pull in customers from Sky.
If they play it right the loss of however many customers due to no Sky 1 could be offset in the long run by customers after cheaper to obtain niche shows moving to cable for the on demand access to stuff they cannot watch easily elsewhere.

Re: So Its War .. good or bad for us the customer?
 

Always when the war begin between two or more companies customers gets more benefits and better services. And I hope that will happend the same with V+, especcially that I thought I get more with V+ than with telewest what is not unfortunatelly, but I'm positive about the future.

Re: So Its War .. good or bad for us the customer?
 

so this is yet another thread on a subject thats been done to death and has an existing thread

Re: So Its War .. good or bad for us the customer?
 

Please folks, use the search feature, it is really very good.

Re: So Its War .. good or bad for us the customer?
 

Yes. I think this is exactly what will hapen. We have got used to TV providers providing every channel. It doesn't have to be that way. I foresee the situation over the next few years where you will have to have two (or more) decoders if you want to receive each channel.

As the current deals run out I can see a point where thr TV providers will buy programmes on a non exclusive basis and, rather like gas or elctricty, you buy the programmes you from your choice of provider.

Re: So Its War .. good or bad for us the customer?
 

I don't think Virgin-media have a big war chest, as Branson is
only a titular head. Virgin media are still working with the
fiscal limitations of what was NTL. The only cash cow seems to
be the Mobile phone business, but that cannot drive Virgin alone.

Richard is aiming for value and technological innovation over
bidding wars. Which is why he has already stepped away
from football and first show options on some programs

Virgin Mobile became a success not through undercutting
rivals but by simplifying bills and promoting a distinct
Virgin way of doing things. He is doing exactly the
same for NTL. No bidding wars, just working out
the value in a product, and passing it on to
the consumer. He done it with Sky-sports
and he will do it with Sky movies.

It is the easy (not of the Stelios ilk) way of getting
brand loyalty and creating feel good factor. I mean,
if you can't find a way of cutting bills after the tenure-ship
of a monopolistic behemoth, then you're doing something wrong