VIP/VIP+ New and Improved VIP Package

[mot12]

Originally Posted by Big Red

Yes all HD and are on top of the 12 Sky Sports/Movies

Nice one that would put Virgin up to about 36 to 41 HD channels by the end of the year , potentially only about 9 behind sky then.

---------- Post added at 21:12 ---------- Previous post was at 21:10 ----------

Originally Posted by jagsman

reading the OP, it says a "further" 10-15 channels. So I think that these are extra channels, probably including SKY 1 HD, Sky arts HD, Sky News HD and hopefully SKY Sports News HD, ESPN America HD.

Yep , and maybe also the likes of NEO Wild HD , BRAVO HD an Good food HD and possibly a few more.

[alwaysabear]

Originally Posted by Big Red

I get the feeling that VM/Neil Berkett have being bombarded with emails from VIP customer around both VIP package and £7 HD Fee - the good thing is the same thing is coming out of VM and we await an improved VIP package

That is for sure the young lady I spoke to gave me the distinct impression they had received a lot of complaints from XL/VIP customers.

[Big Red]

1 BBC
2 Living
3 ITV1
4 Channel 4
5 E4
6 FX
7 SyFy
8 Discovery
9 National Geographic
10 MTVN
11 Eurosport
12 ESPN
13 Five
At this point VM state another 20 HD Channels coming soon (Five press release)
14 Film4
15 Sky Sports 1
16 Sky Sports 2
17 Sky Movies Modern Greats
18 Sky Movies Drama & Romance
19 Sky Movies Family
20 Sky Movies Comedy
21 Sky Movies Action & Adventure
22 Sky Movies Crime & Thriller
23 Sky Movies Sci-Fi & Horror
24 Sky Movies Indie
25 Sky Movies Showcase
26 Sky Movies Premiere
At this point VM Executive staff member expects another 10-15 HD Channels Coming Soon
27 Sky 1
28 Sky Arts 1
29 Sky Arts 2
30 ESPN America
31 ??? History
32 ??? Bio
33 ??? Good Food
34 ??? Food Network
35 BBC1 - We know its coming its when
36 ??? Sky Sports News
37 ??? Sky News
38 ??? Bravo
39 ??? Comendy Central
40 ??? Hallmark
41 ??? Nat Geo Wild

??? - are what I believe will be added before end of this year (BBC1 Subject to BBC getting there act together)

[mot12]

Originally Posted by Big Red

1 BBC
2 Living
3 ITV1
4 Channel 4
5 E4
6 FX
7 SyFy
8 Discovery
9 National Geographic
10 MTVN
11 Eurosport
12 ESPN
13 Five
At this point VM state another 20 HD Channels coming soon (Five press release)
14 Film4
15 Sky Sports 1
16 Sky Sports 2
17 Sky Movies Modern Greats
18 Sky Movies Drama & Romance
19 Sky Movies Family
20 Sky Movies Comedy
21 Sky Movies Action & Adventure
22 Sky Movies Crime & Thriller
23 Sky Movies Sci-Fi & Horror
24 Sky Movies Indie
25 Sky Movies Showcase
26 Sky Movies Premiere
At this point VM Executive staff member expects another 10-15 HD Channels Coming Soon
27 Sky 1
28 Sky Arts 1
29 Sky Arts 2
30 ESPN America
31 ??? History
32 ??? Bio
33 ??? Good Food
34 ??? Food Network
35 BBC1 - We know its coming its when
36 ??? Sky Sports News
37 ??? Sky News
38 ??? Bravo
39 ??? Comendy Central
40 ??? Hallmark
41 ??? Nat Geo Wild

??? - are what I believe will be added before end of this year (BBC1 Subject to BBC getting there act together)

So basically if all this comes true only sky sports 3 an 4 Hd missing really , well of anything worth having anyway.

I personally dont have no clue what else is left and how sky will get to 50 hd channels that they claim they will have by the end of the year. Maybe someone else can fill in the gaps.

[Big Red]

Originally Posted by mot12

I personally dont have no clue what else is left and how sky will get to 50 hd channels that they claim they will have by the end of the year. Maybe someone else can fill in the gaps.

Sky Sports 3
Sky Sports 4
Rush
CI
Sky Real Lives (But soon to be removed)
MGM
Disney Cinemagic
Sky Box Office
Luxe

Remember they dont have Living (Yet as they now own) and Film 4

[greeninferno]

if they were serious about looking after the high paying VIP customers they would already have announced the new pricing at the same time or before this debacle over the Sky premium channels.

[Chad]

If they could do VIP+ with 50mb broadband and the HD channels for about £100 per month I'd be delighted.

[TMLeafs]

Originally Posted by kgollop

Nice work Red, I'd just emailed him tonight too before I saw your post. Keep the pressure up VIPs

I too emailed at round 5pm. I also mentioned the fact they could make a more complete VIP package. Hoping for a email or call 2moro the more people email the more likely to happen and also might speed them up. I will be adding HD SS and SM 2moro too.

[mason21k]

Originally Posted by Big Red

Having recently emailed Neil Berkett and surprisingly getting a reply direct from Neil Berkett and a member from the Executive Office call me with regards to the VIP Package

I asked the question around why VIP is not best of the rest like it was when it first came out and also asked the question the reason behind the £7 HD per charge

VIP Package - we discussed things like XXL (50mb) broadband coming under the VIP package, Picture Box and 1 Free Film Flex Movie each month and the future HD channel line up - She said that all of the above a more has being discussed and that decisions have already being made by Neil Berkett about the VIP package and that we should expect a new and improved VIP Package with the possibility of VIP+ which would cover Prem HD channels and much more.


Wot exactly is a VIP package, I av tv xl, virgin broadband and phone but I ain't a clue wot u need t be vip

One thing She was 100% on and was happy to state is that VM will offer all Non Prem HD channels to XL/VIP customer at no extra cost, I asked numbers in terms of channels and a further 10-15 by end of 2010.

£7 Prem HD Charge - I have no problems with this charge and as I have stated before its down to personal choice but I asked why VM needed to charge.
She stated that as part of the VMTV sale VM stated that no deal will be agreed unless Sky HD Channel were part of this deal - Sky did not want to give this away, apart from the fact that VMTV was costly to keep running VM saw fit to sell these channels and also get Sky's HD channels which VM have being after for a number of years.
She went on is saying that Sky wanted a % of all income from HD charges to VM customers and that the first offer is Sky recommend a £12 charge for HD channels.

After a number of months this was reduced to £7 and a 10+ Year carriage deal agreed along with sale of VMTV.

She did not want to give too much away but I kind of got the feeling I was on the right lines stating that Sky get around £4-£5 per HD package, with the rest covering VM's cost and hey they are here to make some profit.

Sky Sports 3/4 HD - I asked the question around why VM are not offering these channels, She said we have all seen the Sky's the only place to get all 5 Sports HD channels adds etc, Sky feel a treat from VM and now that VM can offer Full HD services they have to keep something back.

All in all I'm taking plus points - VIP package has already being looked at for improvement - so watch this space and the fact VM can offer Sky's Prem HD channels at a small £7 fee is a good deal in my eyes even though we all know Sky have got there finger in the pie on this one.

I have asked my insider to keep his ear to the ground on these changes.

---------- Post added at 23:37 ---------- Previous post was at 23:36 ----------

To the above wots a VIP package. I av tv xl but wor makes it VIP

[Ben B]

Originally Posted by mason21k

To the above wots a VIP package. I av tv xl but wor makes it VIP

http://allyours.virginmedia.com/webs...ct.do?id=11029

[frogstamper]

Originally Posted by Chad

If they could do VIP+ with 50mb broadband and the HD channels for about £100 per month I'd be delighted.

I think that if VM still want to go along the lines of the VIP pack being the best of everything they offer, then they may well add in 50mb and the premium HD channels.
If they do go down this road then I think its fair it goes up £7pm for the premium HD as VM have no control over that, but the 50mb could be thrown in free, this would be fair as when VM were dropping the price of their other BB packs we on VIP missed that party.
Also as BR says they could throw in picture box and maybe one or two free film rentals a month.
At least we now know they are aware of the problem and are acting on it.

[Nero182]

I am guessing If/When this does happen. All us VIPers will get the new deal automatically without having to phone up? And they will send us new 50mb modems?

[TheDon]

Originally Posted by frogstamper

If they do go down this road then I think its fair it goes up £7pm for the premium HD as VM have no control over that, but the 50mb could be thrown in free, this would be fair as when VM were dropping the price of their other BB packs we on VIP missed that party.

They can easily absorb the price of both when you look at the price reductions that haven't been passed on in the past.

Firstly there's £10 a month from when the V+ fee was dropped, which VIP still pays, and then there was no increase in discount when XL BB's price was dropped by £7 I think it was?

That's £17 of savings that can easily cover XXL BB, and Premium Sky HD.

I think they're more likely to drop the price of VIP (possibly by £10 whilst adding in the Premium Sky HD's) and add another tier that includes XXL BB, as the cost of doing modem swaps on all the VIP customers will make it prohibitive to just add it to the current VIP. That way they can charge you a new install fee to move from VIP to VIP+ that will cover the modem swap.

[jtaylor06]

Originally Posted by TheDon

They can easily absorb the price of both when you look at the price reductions that haven't been passed on in the past.

Firstly there's £10 a month from when the V+ fee was dropped, which VIP still pays, and then there was no increase in discount when XL BB's price was dropped by £7 I think it was?

That's £17 of savings that can easily cover XXL BB, and Premium Sky HD.

I think they're more likely to drop the price of VIP (possibly by £10 whilst adding in the Premium Sky HD's) and add another tier that includes XXL BB, as the cost of doing modem swaps on all the VIP customers will make it prohibitive to just add it to the current VIP. That way they can charge you a new install fee to move from VIP to VIP+ that will cover the modem swap.

That sounds feasible and is a good idea

[MattS]

Here's the email I sent to Neil Berkett this morning...

Dear Mr Berkett,

I subscribe the the VIP package and my monthly bill is in the region of £115-£120/month (I don't have my account number with me at the moment, but my phone number is 01XXXXXXXX).

Over the past year I have enjoyed Virgin Media's deployment of improved set top box software, and your launch of HD channels. Following the announcement that Sky HD channels were coming to Virgin Media I was excited; I have been a loyal customer with C&W/NTL/NTLTelewest/Virgin Media for more than 10 years and have always resisted the urge to switch to Sky.

I originally subscribed to the VIP as is was supposed to "the ultimate bundle" that included everything and up until recently, I have been relatively happy. However since then, the VIP broadband service has been superceeded by your 50MB service, and now I find out that the I am expected to pay an additional £7/month for the Sky HD channels.

I have to say I am very disappointed; Even though and I, and others VIP customers, contribute significantly to (read subsidise) your ARPU, it seems that if we are expected to retain "ultimate bundle" status, we must increase our monthly subscriptions.

The VIP package used to be good value, however I feel that its value proposition has been compromised and it is being eroded further. Who knows what the next add-on will be!

Over the past 10 years I feel like I've "made do" with service issues in terms of service reliability (primarily set top box software), quality of service (primarily customer service), functionality (primarily channel availability). It seems, finally things are getting sorted out, but it's me who has to pay for them.

I would like to get the Sky HD channels however I am not willing to increase my subscription. Therefore, I will move away from the VIP package, drop something (probably the Movies and Sports packages) to get the Sky Basics HD channels.

I urge you to seriously consider the value proposition of the VIP Package in the context of the value of some of your highest spending customers.

I'm not holding my breath.