Quote:
Originally Posted by passingbat
Strange how Sky can offer a package of all the pay TV channels, without having to add free premium sports.
Are VM's management a bit thick compared to Sky's management then?
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I've always wondered how valuable adding Setanta, ESPN and finally BT Sports to the XL package has really been to Virgin Media over the years. I've never seen any facts or figures to show how many customers upgraded their package from M+ or L over the years to XL to get "free" sports. One thing I do know however is Virgin have been pretty much stagnant during the "free" sports years.
In 2007, before adding Setanta Sports to XL, Virgin Media had 3,600,000 TV customers. Today they have just short of 3,800,000. 200,000 additions in 8 years.
During the same period SKY had 8,200,000 TV customers in 2007. Their now sitting at 10,300,000. Just over 2 million additions. Nearly 11,000,000 if you add NOW TV customers.
BT launched their TV service in December 2006 and now have 1,100,000 TV customers whilst Talk Talk have only been going for a few years with 1,400,000 TV customers.
So during the "free" sports years Virgins competition have added 4,500,000 new TV customers whilst Virgin have added virtually nil in comparison.
It looks like "free" sport has been a great retention tool for Virgin, and a great up-selling feature for existing customers, but it's hardly been a game changer.
I agree with others that Virgin maybe need a new XL package option without BT Sports. The things is the current XL package is actually priced very competitively. With the £3 increase XL with TiVo will be £36.00 per month. SKY's Family Bundle with SKY+ is the exact same price. If Virgin offered XL, minus BT Sport, for about £25.00 per month I'm sure they'd attract the crowd who are looking for great TV at a value price.