Liberty Global Results out May 9th.

[Media Boy UK]

Liberty Global plc today announced plans to release its first quarter 2016 results on Monday, May 9, 2016.

http://www.libertyglobal.com/pdf/pre...l-In-FINAL.pdf

[denphone]

Virgin Media Reports Preliminary Q1 2016 Results.

http://www.libertyglobal.com/pdf/pre...port-FINAL.pdf

[steveh]

UK TV customers down from 3,749,000 in 2015 to 3,719,800 for the same quarter. Only European TV growth in Hungary, Romania and Poland, where I guess there's less competition.

[Kushan]

Hardly surprising that TV customers are dropping, Virgin doesn't really offer a compelling TV service any more. It has always been a poor-man's sky.

They had an opportunity to really leverage VoD before Sky could (And before Netflix was even in the UK), but that ship has sailed.

[1andrew1]

Originally Posted by Kushan

Hardly surprising that TV customers are dropping, Virgin doesn't really offer a compelling TV service any more. It has always been a poor-man's sky.

They had an opportunity to really leverage VoD before Sky could (And before Netflix was even in the UK), but that ship has sailed.

I think it's a bit of cord-cutting going on. Sky combines its figures with Now TV but I suspect its traditional satellite subscribers are down as well. However, VM does not have such an offering.
Good news for VM on broadband additions of 55,000 customers.

[denphone]

Yes Sky hide their traditional satellite subscribers TV figures so one never really knows what their true figures are but one suspects they are struggling to win new TV customers and are offering generous discounts to keep some their own traditional satellite subscribers.

[Horizon]

Originally Posted by Kushan

Hardly surprising that TV customers are dropping, Virgin doesn't really offer a compelling TV service any more. It has always been a poor-man's sky.

They had an opportunity to really leverage VoD before Sky could (And before Netflix was even in the UK), but that ship has sailed.

Yep, and if they're not careful, they'll lose the broadband advantage too.

If I were VM, I'd offer a killer broadband offer to wipe the floor with BT and Sky. Say a 100mb basic tier for a cheaper price than what the others offer for their 76mb services. So, not only would it be cheaper than rivals, but the VM basic tier would be faster than the others highest tier.

In another 3-5 years, they'll be a lot more FTTP out there to compete against VM, so time it short. And probably before then, Vodafone will come back and put a spanner in the works and mess everything up....

[1andrew1]

Not ruling out O2 UK bid

Financial Times Asked if he would make a bid for O2, Mike Fries, Liberty Global’s chief executive, said on an investor call on Tuesday: “We look at all options in the marketplace and it would be strange if we didn’t evaluate that option.”...However, Mr Fries added that “we like our current plan” in the UK, by which its Virgin Media broadband and TV operation also provides mobile services to its customers by renting mobile capacity on EE’s network.

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/6d0da158-1...#axzz48FCCBX00

[denphone]

Diddly squat chance of that happening....

[Horizon]

...especially as Liberty and Vodafone are merging their operations in Holland as a possible precursor to a full blown merger in the future.

[Kushan]

Originally Posted by Horizon

...especially as Liberty and Vodafone are merging their operations in Holland as a possible precursor to a full blown merger in the future.

Didn't those talks fall through a month or so ago?

Originally Posted by Horizon

Yep, and if they're not careful, they'll lose the broadband advantage too.

If I were VM, I'd offer a killer broadband offer to wipe the floor with BT and Sky. Say a 100mb basic tier for a cheaper price than what the others offer for their 76mb services. So, not only would it be cheaper than rivals, but the VM basic tier would be faster than the others highest tier.

In another 3-5 years, they'll be a lot more FTTP out there to compete against VM, so time it short. And probably before then, Vodafone will come back and put a spanner in the works and mess everything up....

The problem is that Virgin can't just ramp up capacity without significant investment. They're only just about on top of the majority of the congestion they currently have, bumping the majority of users to 100Mbit would just cost them a lot of money and, if capacity isn't there, actually cause them to lose customers.

I do think Virgin is missing a trick with the landline pricing, but now that ISPs are going to be forced to quote the full price of broadband including telephone line (if required), Virgin could make a compelling argument that they're significantly cheaper than the competition. Perhaps with their VoIP offering, they could basically give you broadband without a landline for no additional cost. That would be an incredible win.

[Travelstar]

Originally Posted by Kushan

Didn't those talks fall through a month or so ago?



The problem is that Virgin can't just ramp up capacity without significant investment. They're only just about on top of the majority of the congestion they currently have, bumping the majority of users to 100Mbit would just cost them a lot of money and, if capacity isn't there, actually cause them to lose customers.

I do think Virgin is missing a trick with the landline pricing, but now that ISPs are going to be forced to quote the full price of broadband including telephone line (if required), Virgin could make a compelling argument that they're significantly cheaper than the competition. Perhaps with their VoIP offering, they could basically give you broadband without a landline for no additional cost. That would be an incredible win.

It is so easy to go down the voip path yourself without bothering to use Virgin for that. Virgin's own telephone service is fairly uncompetitive so it does make sense for customers to go down their own path. Obviously the only problem with voip is that should the internet go down, you also lose your phone service.

[Kushan]

Originally Posted by Travelstar

It is so easy to go down the voip path yourself without bothering to use Virgin for that. Virgin's own telephone service is fairly uncompetitive so it does make sense for customers to go down their own path. Obviously the only problem with voip is that should the internet go down, you also lose your phone service.

Of course it's easy if you know what to do, but the vast majority of people on Virgin won't have the know-how to set up VoIP. Besides, the point of VoIP that I was getting at is it could allow Virgin to all but ditch the PSTN lines (including the absurd line rental fees) while still offering a phone service, i.e. as far as the customer is concerned they lose nothing but get a good £15+ off their bill each month. That's a hell of a difference and enough to set Virgin well apart from any DSL provider out there.

[Pierre]

Originally Posted by 1andrew1

Not ruling out O2 UK bid

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/6d0da158-1...#axzz48FCCBX00

We don't need it as long as the relationship with EE remains amicable.

---------- Post added at 10:58 ---------- Previous post was at 10:56 ----------

Originally Posted by Horizon

...especially as Liberty and Vodafone are merging their operations in Holland as a possible precursor to a full blown merger in the future.

Different horses for different courses. It made sense for Holland doesn't make sense for the UK.

Vodafone have nothing to offer LG in the UK that they don't already have.

[1andrew1]

Originally Posted by Pierre

Vodafone have nothing to offer LG in the UK that they don't already have.

Except retail 4G which LGI have from Chile to the Netherlands and shortly in Eire but not the UK.