Cable Forum - View Single Post - V+ Virgin to stop giving out V+ HD Boxes.

Superblade7 · 21-02-2012, 04:45

This thread surprises me a little to think that VM will no longer offer a PVR that doesn't have a monthly fee with it. I know that people on packages lower than XL tv pay £5 a month for V+ but obviously this encourages people to take out XL tv to avoid the £5 fee. I would imagine there would be little cost difference between say L tv + £5 fee and XL tv with no fee if you have a bundle.

It is a bold move from VM to think that they can increase the charges for the tv packages, increase the TiVo fee and remove the V+ all at the same time as this will ultimately mean an increase in charges for a lots of existing customers (triggering the release clause) and higher costs for potential new customers.

It will be interesting to see the 1st quarter results for 2012 to see if this strategy works as I can only see this backfiring on them and not only losing customers but not attracting new ones due to the higher charges and current lack of top quality content.

I personally think the TiVo box is great and am currently willing to pay the £3 fee. However, unless they have something big up their sleeves (which potentially they do according to other threads) I don't really believe it's a service worth £3 a month (let alone £5) as whilst there are some useful features on it (wishlists) they really haven't delivered on it's potential and the biggest draw for most has got to be the additional storage compared to the V+.

Compared to Sky, they offer the Sky+ HD box as standard with no monthly fee, a HDD similar to the 500GB TiVo and the option to add HD if you wish. This is a clever strategy as you already have a PVR capable of doing everything, the customer just needs to decide how many services they want to take.

I'm not sure whether they can but obviously VM could use a bit of this clever strategy and offer a fee free TiVo box which only has basic PVR features but the option to upgrade to the monthly fee version to add the extra stuff such as wishlists, apps, etc.

I've been with VM for over 5 years and am extremely interested in where they are going at present as they seem to be focused on delivering super fast broadband (so they can advertise as the UK's fastest) at the expense of their tv side as TiVo has great potential providing they deliver key content and super apps but it's been a little stale since launch.

The big test I see on the horizon which has already been mentioned on here is BT Infinity, especially when Sky get access to it as the content of Sky tv accompanied by fibre broadband could (dependant on price) encourage many people to switch to what would be a superior product unless VM deliver something to encourage people to stay.

Interesting times ahead and come on VM, deliver on TiVo's potential!!!

21-02-2012, 04:45	#47
Superblade7 Inactive Join Date: Mar 2011 Location: Sheffield Services: Sky Q 2TB & Sky Q Mini (Box Sets with Cinema & Sports HD) with VM VIVID 100Mbps Broadband & M Phone Posts: 582	Re: Virgin to stop giving out V+ HD Boxes. This thread surprises me a little to think that VM will no longer offer a PVR that doesn't have a monthly fee with it. I know that people on packages lower than XL tv pay £5 a month for V+ but obviously this encourages people to take out XL tv to avoid the £5 fee. I would imagine there would be little cost difference between say L tv + £5 fee and XL tv with no fee if you have a bundle. It is a bold move from VM to think that they can increase the charges for the tv packages, increase the TiVo fee and remove the V+ all at the same time as this will ultimately mean an increase in charges for a lots of existing customers (triggering the release clause) and higher costs for potential new customers. It will be interesting to see the 1st quarter results for 2012 to see if this strategy works as I can only see this backfiring on them and not only losing customers but not attracting new ones due to the higher charges and current lack of top quality content. I personally think the TiVo box is great and am currently willing to pay the £3 fee. However, unless they have something big up their sleeves (which potentially they do according to other threads) I don't really believe it's a service worth £3 a month (let alone £5) as whilst there are some useful features on it (wishlists) they really haven't delivered on it's potential and the biggest draw for most has got to be the additional storage compared to the V+. Compared to Sky, they offer the Sky+ HD box as standard with no monthly fee, a HDD similar to the 500GB TiVo and the option to add HD if you wish. This is a clever strategy as you already have a PVR capable of doing everything, the customer just needs to decide how many services they want to take. I'm not sure whether they can but obviously VM could use a bit of this clever strategy and offer a fee free TiVo box which only has basic PVR features but the option to upgrade to the monthly fee version to add the extra stuff such as wishlists, apps, etc. I've been with VM for over 5 years and am extremely interested in where they are going at present as they seem to be focused on delivering super fast broadband (so they can advertise as the UK's fastest) at the expense of their tv side as TiVo has great potential providing they deliver key content and super apps but it's been a little stale since launch. The big test I see on the horizon which has already been mentioned on here is BT Infinity, especially when Sky get access to it as the content of Sky tv accompanied by fibre broadband could (dependant on price) encourage many people to switch to what would be a superior product unless VM deliver something to encourage people to stay. Interesting times ahead and come on VM, deliver on TiVo's potential!!!