Virgin Media News

[daveetwo]

Originally Posted by TV Boy

I have just found that Gemstar-TV is 41% own by News Corporation. [The Sun and The Times ]

Whilst that correct at present i did read yesterday that gemstar in the middle of being taken over so murdocks share may not exist after that.

[TV Boy]

Virgin Media announces speed boost

Virgin Media is to give customers on its 4Mbps downstream broadband service a free upgrade to 10Mbps starting next month.

The upgrade will roll out on a region-by-region basis and is designed to position the mid-tier offering ahead of "up to 8Mbps" services offered by ADSL providers.

"Virgin Media's cable network gives us a natural superiority over other broadband services and we're delighted to reward our customers with this free upgrade," said acting CEO Neil Berkett, who will be speaking at tomorrow's Superfast Broadband symposium. "We've barely scratched the surface of what's possible with our cable network, and we will continue to look for new ways to satisfy the growing demand for even faster broadband in the UK. We're proud to be leading the country's superfast broadband revolution."

More info here: http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/digitalt...eed-boost.html

Info from Digital Spy.

[grabbi]

Forbes summed it up perfectly: (Search Virgin Media on Google News for details)

BSkyB 1, Virgin Media 0.

Sky may have to sell their stake down to 7.5%, but its sill effectively blocked Virgin from buying ITV.

Plus the fact that no one actually knows or will know the date the share has to be sold by, then Virgin couldnt stand a chance, and the shares could end up anywhere.

Im not too sure, though, that Virgin couldnt raise about £250m and equal the share Sky holds right now...

[Toto]

Originally Posted by grabbi

Forbes summed it up perfectly: (Search Virgin Media on Google News for details)

BSkyB 1, Virgin Media 0.

Sky may have to sell their stake down to 7.5%, but its sill effectively blocked Virgin from buying ITV.

Plus the fact that no one actually knows or will know the date the share has to be sold by, then Virgin couldnt stand a chance, and the shares could end up anywhere.

Im not too sure, though, that Virgin couldnt raise about £250m and equal the share Sky holds right now...

I doubt they (VM) will bother to be honest. The money markets at the time that Sky blocked a share purchase with their own stake in ITV was favourable.

Right now, it isn't.

[grabbi]

As soon as Sky bought that share, I already knew it was a bad move.

They werent intet on doing anything with it, apart from block Virgin.

I agree that Virgin will stay away from the company, now, simply because it is falling so rapidly. Although, on the same token, the Shares look a lot more desireable now at the price they are, than the price they were.

And also, you have to look at the current situation with Northern Rock. Branson has said Virgin are very interested in taking it national, even though Northern Rock is probably the least favourable bank/building society in the world. (Of course, I am in no way saying that Branson runs Virgin media, but I reckon that once Virgin sees the UKs biggest Commercial Broadcaster up for a bargain, they may instruct Virgin Media to apply for it again.)

A bit of ambition doesnt hurt, and given the price of the shares in ITV, I believe you can never say never.

[Toto]

Hmmm, if that's the case, who's gonna lend them the stake money, they are not exactly liquid at the moment.

[grabbi]

...And Virgin Media has already been mortgaged once...

Eitherway, Ive found this today, regarding the Gemstar thing.

Gemstar, a Nasdaq-listed firm 41% owned by News Corp, said it was seeking a high court injunction to prevent Virgin handing out any new set-top boxes, since Gemstar claims the boxes infringe its patents. Virgin, in which Sir Richard Branson's business is a big shareholder, dismissed the action as opportunistic.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2008...rss&feed=media

So they want an injunction to STOP VM distributing Set Top Boxes, effectively blobking them from getting new TV Customers.

Now, all of a sudden, it sounds like a proper News Corp. Dirty Tactic.

---------- Post added at 22:23 ---------- Previous post was at 22:19 ----------

Also, the big Bandwidth debate goes on, with Virgin Media stating that;

...download services such as iPlayer are a sign of increasing demand for higher bandwidth speeds and said it will continue to improve its network to cope.

Other quotes from BT and Tiscali are here:

http://www.businessweek.com/globalbi...ge_top+stories

Aparently Tiscali cant cope with the demand, but BT arent complaining, with the hint being dropped that BT are going to start traffic shaping customers.

Also, there is a little bit that says the BBC iPlayer will be added to our TV Service, and it wont impact the Broadband Bandwidth (much).

[grabbi]

4th Q Results Notification

Virgin Media (Nasdaq:VMED) will be announcing its Fourth Quarter 2007 results on Thursday, February 28, 2008 at 8:30am UK time, 3:30am ET. The company will host a conference call for analysts and investors to discuss these results on February 28, at 2pm UK time, 9am ET.

http://money.cnn.com/news/newsfeeds/...ire/135557.htm

For those that dont know, these conferences display the current number of customers on all platforms of Virgin Media, and also what the future holds, profit, churn and total income.

It makes for very interesting reading.

Im particularly looking forward to hearing news on the DOCSIS 3.0 roll out, and also any further developments on VoD and Program Acquisitions.

---------- Post added at 20:40 ---------- Previous post was at 20:09 ----------

The new Terminator SERIES was advertised last night in the coveted Superbowl Ads.

They were only shown in America, but it shows how hard this is going to be pushed.

[on in an hour!]

Originally Posted by grabbi

4th Q Results Notification



http://money.cnn.com/news/newsfeeds/...ire/135557.htm

For those that dont know, these conferences display the current number of customers on all platforms of Virgin Media, and also what the future holds, profit, churn and total income.

It makes for very interesting reading.

Im particularly looking forward to hearing news on the DOCSIS 3.0 roll out, and also any further developments on VoD and Program Acquisitions.

---------- Post added at 20:40 ---------- Previous post was at 20:09 ----------

The new Terminator SERIES was advertised last night in the coveted Superbowl Ads.

They were only shown in America, but it shows how hard this is going to be pushed.

dont you sleep grabbi..sheesh!!!

[grabbi]

HAHA. Yes... not much, but yes!

[JG3870]

David Elstein has resigned from the Virgin Media board where he was the primary independent voice.

Full Story Here

http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/digitalt...gin-board.html

[grabbi]

Neil Berkett has announced Virgin is officially out of the race for ITV.

http://money.cnn.com/news/newsfeeds/...6_FORTUNE5.htm

"Unless there's a change in the (U.K.) regulatory landscape, you will not see us employing shareholder capital in the premium TV space," Berkett said.

That means Virgin wont compete with Sky on the Premium TV side, but will compete on Middle Ground TV.

After reading that Virgin were out of the race, actually got me thinking about the BSkyB 1; Virgin Media 0 article previous.

If anything, Sky have done Virgin a favour by buying that share. They have lost money, as they didnt see the Credit Crunch coming. So because Sky blocked Virgin, Virgin SAVED money!

Id say thats BSkyB 0; Virgin Media 1.

---------- Post added at 01:53 ---------- Previous post was at 01:49 ----------

Talk Talk has sent a complaint to the ASA for the adverts containing “Truth, Lies and Broadband”:

“There are lots of companies out there selling “high speed” broadband, claiming to be the fast and cheapest in the land.

"Most broadband companies wouldn’t tell you that. We’re not most broadband companies.”

http://www.broadbandgenie.co.uk/broa...gin-media-ads/

Once again, the ASA ruled in favour of Virgin and stated that they cant see how the advert makes other companies look "decietful".

Virgin said that would make their service less popular.

[Neptune]

....I said last year that VM should've just gone ahead with the ITV bid rather than announce their intentions first. The door was left wide open and you never do that with Murdoch. A brilliant move by Sky, that despite the cost, was a masterful strike against VM.

As for Mr Berkett and his "we're not interested in premium content anymore" comment - if people believe that, they'll believe anything... VM is a company that sells pay tv. For such a company not to be interested in premium tv, would be like saying that Comet isn't interested in selling LCD tvs. Don't believe a word of it.

[Toto]

Originally Posted by Neptune

....I said last year that VM should've just gone ahead with the ITV bid rather than announce their intentions first. The door was left wide open and you never do that with Murdoch. A brilliant move by Sky, that despite the cost, was a masterful strike against VM.

As for Mr Berkett and his "we're not interested in premium content anymore" comment - if people believe that, they'll believe anything... VM is a company that sells pay tv. For such a company not to be interested in premium tv, would be like saying that Comet isn't interested in selling LCD tvs. Don't believe a word of it.

Well, Berkett said "premium TV space" so they won't be placing a stake in ITV, so I tend to believe that as fact. They still have their own TV channels which they will continue to invest in those.

He mentioned nothing about premium content in that article Neptune.

[Neptune]

....for VM to make the most of it's VOD and faster broadband services, it needs to "monetise" these resources, ie use them to their fullest. The way to do this is by using its own content, especially premium content. VM has said this to the City multiple times and until they say different, I do not believe for a second that VM aren't interested in premium content.

Mr Berkett's comments (or, at least a few comments) were reported in several publications including the Guardian. In the Guardian article (link below) Mr Berkett says in one paragraph that VM is not interested in premium content and in the next paragraph says that he doesn't just want to be a utility company but wants to control content too. Make of that what you will, I know what I think.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2008...rss&feed=media