Virgin Media News

[grabbi]

Any one else thinking that at the moment its "Kick Sky while they are down" time?

ITV Come out and say it is an "influencing stake"
BBC and Channel 4 complain about the competitiveness with VM
Setanta reduce their prices to compete and also nab a few pundits in the process.
Setanta take the FA Vase and Youth Cups etc away from Sky too
CompetitionComission thing and OFCOM too.
BTVision offering a lot of stuff, including all near live matches and Setanta.

If this Setanta deal goes through, and we get a significant reduction or even a channel on XL, then Sky are really gonna be in the dirt.

[grabbi]

Wow! I forgot Top Up TV, Setanta, VM and BT complaining about the premium freeview thing and also about a retail price competition.

Its all crazy!

It doesnt seem to be tarnishing Skys reputation in Customer additions, though...

[TV Boy]

Here some BskyB news for you

-On trying to get the Virgin Media Viewers to move to Sky all the ADs have cost Sky £70m.

FULL STORY HERE

Info from The Mail on Sunday.

[willas00]

Originally Posted by TV Boy

Here some BskyB news for you

-On trying to get the Virgin Media Viewers to move to Sky all the ADs have cost Sky £70m.

FULL STORY HERE

Info from The Mail on Sunday.

Thats Mad!

Id never move to Sky! Im a VM Man myself

[Toto]

Its a mad sum yes, but its netted them a fair amount of BB customers, question is though do they have the capitol to keep investing in the network they purchased off Easynet or whoever it was?

[grabbi]

It was Easynet, and there was a reason they only picked that up for £5m... because its...

Anyway, before I swear, lets see what I found!

Private equity bidders for Virgin Media are expected to cut the cost of buying the UK cable operator by inviting big shareholders – such as Sir Richard Branson and Franklin Templeton, the US fund manager – to keep stakes in the company.

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/c5606088-387...b5df10621.html

Looks like Sir Rich and the Virgin name will stay! Hurrah!

---------- Post added at 00:32 ---------- Previous post was at 00:31 ----------

Also:

Virgin has rebuffed suggestions that would-be suitors for Virgin Media will pull the plug on the brand and has given its strongest indication yet that it will invest more in the cable company rather than sell out.

http://www.marketingweek.co.uk/item/57134/254/260/3

Thats good to know... After all the talk of selling off the Arms of VM, VMTV et al, this is kind of a relief!

[TV Boy]

Virgin's high court claim that Sky has abused its dominant position in the pay-TV market has been scheduled for trial next year.

Andrew Morritt, chancellor of the high court, formally approved a timetable under which documents will be exchanged in March, followed by a trial some months later, Reuters reported.

Meanwhile, Virgin has asked for first round bids from potential buyers, which could be prepared to pay as much as £11.5bn including debt.

Earlier this month, Virgin confirmed it had received an approach, understood to be from the private equity group Carlyle.
Since then, a consortium involving four private equity houses - Providence, KKR, Cinven and Blackstone - has also entered the fray, as has US buyout firm TPG.

Apax Partners is also believed to be interested in the auction, which is being conducted by Goldman Sachs.

Potential trade buyers so far mentioned are Viacom, Time Warner, John Malone's Liberty Media and US cable group Comcast.

Interested parties are being asked to submit first bids in the first 10 days of August, with second round bids likely to go in by mid-September.
Virgin declined to comment.

http://media.guardian.co.uk/broadcas...133713,00.html


Info from Media Guardian

[guild]

http://news.independent.co.uk/busine...cle2795710.ece

Will be on Ebay knowing VM

[grabbi]

:O

eBay.co.uk

[guild]

Originally Posted by grabbi

:O

eBay.co.uk

Love it nice one

[on in an hour!]

Originally Posted by grabbi

:O

eBay.co.uk

damn it,ive forgotten my pay-pal password

[TV Boy]

Virgin are to offer an 'Flood Victim Package'.


The Time Out Package option will allow the customer to suspend their services for the maximum period of 9 months with a monthly charge of 5 pounds.

This will be welcome for those who can no longer live in their homes and will ensure that they do not run up huge bills for services that they cannot use.

The customer will have their services suspended and a call bar put on the phone but they will also get enhanced voice mail so that they can access their messages from another phone.

Info from Digital Spy.

[ufitm]

Originally Posted by TV Boy

Virgin are to offer an 'Flood Victim Package'.


The Time Out Package option will allow the customer to suspend their services for the maximum period of 9 months with a monthly charge of 5 pounds.

This will be welcome for those who can no longer live in their homes and will ensure that they do not run up huge bills for services that they cannot use.

The customer will have their services suspended and a call bar put on the phone but they will also get enhanced voice mail so that they can access their messages from another phone.

Info from Digital Spy.

good for virgin

[gadge]

Originally Posted by ufitm

good for virgin

Sky too try and outgun virgin over the setanta deal running scared or what.
http://www.marketingweek.co.uk/item/57203/254/260/3

[cadire]

Originally Posted by gadge

Sky too try and outgun virgin over the setanta deal running scared or what.
http://www.marketingweek.co.uk/item/57203/254/260/3

Well! Even for a PR weasel that's way OTT, not to mention wrong.

Virgin customers don't need to have phone or broadband to get TV XL, so no 'artificial force' there.

He then has the nerve to say that 'Sky, Surf and Speak customers (note the 'artificial forcing' of phone and broadband) can save yada yada yada!

Amazing.