Cable Forum - View Single Post - Virgin Media sells UKTV stake to Scripps for £339m

**Chris** · 15-08-2011, 19:57

What he said.

Also bear in mind that despite Sky channels being available in more than half the homes in the UK, their top-rated entertainment channel - Sky One - still only has an average viewing share of about 1% and struggles to screen anything that garners more than 1 million viewers. Sky Atlantic's share (still available in more than 10 million homes) is well under half of one percent. Sky's TV channels simply aren't all that special in the minds of the vast majority of British TV viewers, even those viewers that have access to those channels. That anybody would think otherwise says lots for the skill of Sky's marketing department. But at the end of the day, it's all gloss and very little substance.

On top of that there is nothing to suggest that people with Virgin Media TV aren't watching broadly the same stuff as everyone else, namely big-name shows on the big-name public service channels, with a little of 'all the rest' thrown in when there's nothing else worth watching.

VM's strength lies not in what linear channels it has available, but in how it can deliver content to its customers. That's where the company's focus has been for quite some time now, and today's announcement is simply another path along that road.

15-08-2011, 19:57	#35
Chris Trollsplatter Join Date: Jun 2003 Location: North of Watford Services: Humane elimination of all common Internet pests Posts: 38,249	Re: Virgin Media sells UKTV stake to Scripps for £339m What he said. Also bear in mind that despite Sky channels being available in more than half the homes in the UK, their top-rated entertainment channel - Sky One - still only has an average viewing share of about 1% and struggles to screen anything that garners more than 1 million viewers. Sky Atlantic's share (still available in more than 10 million homes) is well under half of one percent. Sky's TV channels simply aren't all that special in the minds of the vast majority of British TV viewers, even those viewers that have access to those channels. That anybody would think otherwise says lots for the skill of Sky's marketing department. But at the end of the day, it's all gloss and very little substance. On top of that there is nothing to suggest that people with Virgin Media TV aren't watching broadly the same stuff as everyone else, namely big-name shows on the big-name public service channels, with a little of 'all the rest' thrown in when there's nothing else worth watching. VM's strength lies not in what linear channels it has available, but in how it can deliver content to its customers. That's where the company's focus has been for quite some time now, and today's announcement is simply another path along that road.