Coming Soon to Virgin TV (2011) Vol. III.

[Stephen]

Can we get back to the topic please. If that means nothing is coming soon then I expect the thread to be a little quiet.

[devilincarnate]

Originally Posted by denphone

Well Devil we would not ask questions if we were getting some answers but as usual Virgin are very vague with their words and promises.

Yes i understand this but all companies try to strive to get the best for the customers as if they do not the customers will walk? So for some of the smaller companies e.g VM against SKY it will take a lot longer as they do not have the financial power of the other? As they are able to throw the money at the channel owners to get them.

Originally Posted by denphone

but as usual Virgin are very vague with their words and promises.

Its a nationwide company who don't need to tell you if/when channels are coming etc. You sign up on the premise you get what they are currently offering for the length of your contract, if at the end of that a rival is offering what you want then you move there.

Its just like swapping your insurance everytime it expires for the best deal. They don't tell you that in 6 month you'll have to pay £7 a month if you want to upgrade to AA instant breakdown instead of regular breakdown recovery, they have no obligation to.

[denphone]

Originally Posted by Jameseh

Its a nationwide company who don't need to tell you if/when channels are coming etc. You sign up on the premise you get what they are currently offering for the length of your contract, if at the end of that a rival is offering what you want then you move there.

Its just like swapping your insurance everytime it expires for the best deal. They don't tell you that in 6 month you'll have to pay £7 a month if you want to upgrade to AA instant breakdown instead of regular breakdown recovery, they
have no obligation to.

l get your point but better communication would go a long way in stopping criticism of their TV platform and it would appease a lot of customers.

[alwaysabear]

Originally Posted by Jameseh

Its a nationwide company who don't need to tell you if/when channels are coming etc. You sign up on the premise you get what they are currently offering for the length of your contract, if at the end of that a rival is offering what you want then you move there.

Its just like swapping your insurance everytime it expires for the best deal. They don't tell you that in 6 month you'll have to pay £7 a month if you want to upgrade to AA instant breakdown instead of regular breakdown recovery, they
have no obligation to.

Then no doubt there TV customers will dwindle even further by the time the next set of figures are released, unless they finally come up with the channels people want.

Virgin are the sort of company that will do things in time when its right for them, Sky are the sort of company that are at the front of the queue with their hands outstretched shouting 'Gimme!' regardless of what it is and what the consequences are.

Virgin are a different class of TV supplier and in all honesty should be compared more to the likes of BT (also noting that they both own internet and phone networks) instead of Sky. If it were still Telewest or NTL I think it would have probably folded.

[devilincarnate]

Originally Posted by Jameseh

Virgin are the sort of company that will do things in time when its right for them, Sky are the sort of company that are at the front of the queue with their hands outstretched shouting 'Gimme!' regardless of what it is and what the consequences are.

Virgin are a different class of TV supplier and in all honesty should be compared more to the likes of BT (also noting that they both own internet and phone networks) instead of Sky. If it were still Telewest or NTL I think it would have probably folded.

Virgin are not as open as Sky (no pun intended there)

[alwaysabear]

Originally Posted by Jameseh

Virgin are the sort of company that will do things in time when its right for them, Sky are the sort of company that are at the front of the queue with their hands outstretched shouting 'Gimme!' regardless of what it is and what the consequences are.

Virgin are a different class of TV supplier and in all honesty should be compared more to the likes of BT (also noting that they both own internet and phone networks) instead of Sky. If it were still Telewest or NTL I think it would have probably folded.

Fair comment.
VM seem to have thrown all there money at TiVo on the TV side which means they have neglected the content side of the TV platform. Surely a moor balanced approach would have been more beneficial and placated customers like me,

[Chad]

Originally Posted by Jameseh

Its a nationwide company who don't need to tell you if/when channels are coming etc. You sign up on the premise you get what they are currently offering for the length of your contract, if at the end of that a rival is offering what you want then you move there.

Totally agree with some of your points however the real problem is the lack of communication from Virgin. Sure they are not obliged to tell us everything they've got going on behind the scenes however their usage of the term coming soon is laughable.

Brand loyalty can be a big thing, and some people will never go to SKY, however brand loyalty is being tested. SKY content wise just seem to be getting better and better all the time. Virgin are ahead tech wise but content wise SKY just keep moving further and further ahead. SKY Go and SKY Anytime+ are great additions for SKY. I suppose loyal Virgin customers are getting tired of hearing about what SKY are adding for their customers free of charge with a price freeze for the next 12 months. Loyal Virgin customers want to know what Virgin plan to offer, before their loyalty finally runs out.

I'm currently out of contract considering my options. I'm not interested in TiVo, only content. If Virgin can deliver Premier Sports, SKY Anytime and some new HD channels within the next 2 months then I'll happily stay. If nothing new comes soon then it's SKY for me. I want to remain a Virgin customer but Virgin are failing to supply what I demand.

[BenMcr]

Originally Posted by alwaysabear

Fair comment.
VM seem to have thrown all there money at TiVo on the TV side which means they have neglected the content side of the TV platform. Surely a moor balanced approach would have been more beneficial and placated customers like me,

The money has been spent on TiVo because it needed to be

Virgin couldn't continue indefinately with the current V box platform, it's old and eventually would become unsupported. So they needed to choose another one

However unlike Sky, choosing a new platform for Virgin is a lot more complaicated than just abandoning the old boxes/EPG and doing a new one. Therefore it's more expensive

---------- Post added at 21:40 ---------- Previous post was at 21:39 ----------

Originally Posted by Chad

however their usage of the term coming soon is laughable.

What you've just said makes me bash my head against the wall

Virgin don't pre-announce stuff = 'They don't tell their customers what is going on, they are rubbish'

Virgin pre-announce stuff = 'Haha, typical Virgin and their 'Coming Soon', they are rubbish'

And most of the use of 'Coming Soon' is actually on here, not from Virgin

[devilincarnate]

Originally Posted by BenMcr

What you've just said makes me bash my head against the wall

Virgin don't pre-announce stuff = 'They don't tell their customers what is going on, they are rubbish'

Virgin pre-announce stuff = 'Haha, typical Virgin and their 'Coming Soon', they are rubbish'

And most of the use of 'Coming Soon' is actually on here, not from Virgin

Calm down Ben mate ( I'am the same as well)

[Chad]

Originally Posted by BenMcr

What you've just said makes me bash my head against the wall

Virgin don't pre-announce stuff = 'They don't tell their customers what is going on, they are rubbish'

Virgin pre-announce stuff = 'Haha, typical Virgin and their 'Coming Soon', they are rubbish'

And most of the use of 'Coming Soon' is actually on here, not from Virgin

I'd much rather Virgin try to give us a timescale if they are making an announcement. Rather than using the term Coming Soon, or something very similar, I'd much rather they used terminology along the lines of:

"Virgin Media today confirmed Good Food HD will launch within the next 3 months on it's award winning TV platform."

If something then happens which prevents the channel launching, it'd be good if Virgin would then release another announcement explaining the delay.

Maybe Virgin don't want to take this approach with their announcements, and I don't want to speak on behalf of anyone, however I'm sure most customers would appreciate this approach more than "Coming Soon".

[alwaysabear]

I can understand where Chad is coming from eg "Sky Sports Red button" It has been promised for the start of the football season . We have had no up date as to whether it will launch and the season is upon us this weekend. Some how I doubt it will launch, but confirmation either way is the least customers deserve.

[devilincarnate]

Originally Posted by Chad

I'd much rather Virgin try to give us a timescale if they are making an announcement. Rather than using the term Coming Soon, or something very similar, I'd much rather they used terminology along the lines of:

"Virgin Media today confirmed Good Food HD will launch within the next 3 months on it's award winning TV platform."

If something then happens which prevents the channel launching, it'd be good if Virgin would then release another announcement explaining the delay.

Maybe Virgin don't want to take this approach with their announcements, and I don't want to speak on behalf of anyone, however I'm sure most customers would appreciate this approach more than "Coming Soon".

This is not just you but all the others as well? The staff are able to post what they are able to post. But all the time they are the first to get in the firing line. No wonder they do not post on here as much as they did, And I think that this is due to what they are allowed to say.

Never mind standing for consumer rights? I'am standing for the staff rights

I feel for Ben as he does his utmost on here for all of us and there NO need to tell him to calm down IMO!!! but alwaysabear does have a point, until it happens we never seem to get much info! How is it that SKY can say, this will be happening soon and then say this is happening on this date when all VM can give us is the favourite cmoing soon.

They are on the whole a great company but they are not so good about information.

For e.g. Premierhsip starts very soon, but no word on what Red button functionality we are getting... I asked VM Twitter if we would be getting Match Choice/Foorball first... they couldn't say.... WHAT? THIS close no-one can say yet if it's happening or not?? It just seems a bit backward!