Cable Forum - View Single Post - Virgin Media Cable Network

m419 · 05-05-2010, 22:50

The problem in Milton Keynes and Westminster lies down to local planning and council regulations amongst other factors.

Basically, the licenced Cable operator for those two areas are:

NTL Westminster (Formerly Westminster Cable TV ltd) (Cable TV)
NTL City and Westminster (Formerly Videotron) (Telephone network only)
NTL Milton Keynes (Milton Keynes CableVision) Cable TV

NTL Westminster formerly Westminster Cable TV ltd is owned by Virgin Media Group plc and is licenced to offer Cable TV and Broadband Internet services to the City of Westminster, however, the street cabinets,cabling and general management is leased by BT and Openreach who have set tough terms and conditions on the use of the network.

NTL City and Westminster (Formerly Videotron City and Westminster) was given a licence to offer Telephone services as well as IPTV and ADSL Internet services in 1991, its licence allows it to offer any of those services to businesses,residents and goverment sectors of the borough of City of Westminster. There is no C.A.T.V network built in with the network or cabinets or ducts. In January 2000,BT prohibited NTL from offering new customers this service as part of the conditions for its lease of 'NTL Westminster' (Westminster Cable TV Limited) (The C.A.T.V and F.M Radio network)

NTL Milton Keynes is licenced to provide Cable Television services to Milton Keynes and is also leased from BT, the management and developments are down to BT.

Westminster City Council:

The borough is listed as a conservation area and tries to avoid allowing people to dig up streets as much as they can.

The only way is to get the local councils and Ofcom to revoke the licences given to BT for these franchises as they are technically refusing to offer Digital TV! in fact, because it is underused,once Virgin Media pulls out, there will be no Cable operator listed so they could re-apply and re-cable from scatch costing between £50 Million to £70 Million per 150,000 homes.

And from what I have heard the Cable system used in these two areas isn't gonna be easy to upgrade because they are ancient and are totally different to the Analogue Cable systems used by say Nynex and Telewest of the mid-90's. The system dates back to the early 70's and 80's.

05-05-2010, 22:50	#6
m419 Inactive Join Date: Jul 2005 Location: London Services: BT Broadband,BT Anytime calls,Sky entertainment extra HD,Vodafone pay monthly Posts: 1,512	Re: Virgin Media Cable Network - Milton Keynes The problem in Milton Keynes and Westminster lies down to local planning and council regulations amongst other factors. Basically, the licenced Cable operator for those two areas are: NTL Westminster (Formerly Westminster Cable TV ltd) (Cable TV) NTL City and Westminster (Formerly Videotron) (Telephone network only) NTL Milton Keynes (Milton Keynes CableVision) Cable TV NTL Westminster formerly Westminster Cable TV ltd is owned by Virgin Media Group plc and is licenced to offer Cable TV and Broadband Internet services to the City of Westminster, however, the street cabinets,cabling and general management is leased by BT and Openreach who have set tough terms and conditions on the use of the network. NTL City and Westminster (Formerly Videotron City and Westminster) was given a licence to offer Telephone services as well as IPTV and ADSL Internet services in 1991, its licence allows it to offer any of those services to businesses,residents and goverment sectors of the borough of City of Westminster. There is no C.A.T.V network built in with the network or cabinets or ducts. In January 2000,BT prohibited NTL from offering new customers this service as part of the conditions for its lease of 'NTL Westminster' (Westminster Cable TV Limited) (The C.A.T.V and F.M Radio network) NTL Milton Keynes is licenced to provide Cable Television services to Milton Keynes and is also leased from BT, the management and developments are down to BT. Westminster City Council: The borough is listed as a conservation area and tries to avoid allowing people to dig up streets as much as they can. The only way is to get the local councils and Ofcom to revoke the licences given to BT for these franchises as they are technically refusing to offer Digital TV! in fact, because it is underused,once Virgin Media pulls out, there will be no Cable operator listed so they could re-apply and re-cable from scatch costing between £50 Million to £70 Million per 150,000 homes. And from what I have heard the Cable system used in these two areas isn't gonna be easy to upgrade because they are ancient and are totally different to the Analogue Cable systems used by say Nynex and Telewest of the mid-90's. The system dates back to the early 70's and 80's.