Virgin Media News

[grabbi]

DS JUST reporting that Sky/Virgin are "negotiating" again...

http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/digitalt...e-dispute.html

It still says that negotiations are still "some way off"...

[smiler316uk]

gotta be good news to virgin customers hasnt it really! for people who have sky just because they cant bear to miss their favorite programmes on sky1 and watching sky sports news.

im included in this because i subscribe ,being honest purely because i love lost lol ,ill save twenty odd quid a month if vm gets sky basics back

[TV Boy]

Equity groups 'to launch bid' for Virgin Media

Four private equity firms are considering launching a multibillion dollar takeover bid for Virgin Media.

According to The Observer, Blackstone, Cinven, KKR and Providence Equity are preparing to offer between $6bn and $7.5bn for the US-listed cable operator in a plan known as "Project Coaxial".

Story from DS.

http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/digitalt...2BSegmentation

[grabbi]

Project Coaxial? How original! :P

---------- Post added at 01:14 ---------- Previous post was at 00:08 ----------

Just a reminder about the topic we have for the new Code Drop on the V+ Boxes.

Ive recieved some information about improvements and so forth, which I have posted there.

http://www.cableforum.co.uk/board/10...l#post34504486

[grabbi]

Carlysle Group out of the running for Virgin Media.

http://www.reuters.com/article/indus...33188920080311

[gadge]

Virgin appoint new managing director of strategy.
http://www.broadbandtvnews.com/?p=3998

[TV Boy]

Liberty 'could buy Virgin channels'

International cable giant Liberty Global would consider buying Virgin Media's television channels, it has said.

Liberty's chief strategy officer Shane O'Neill, also head of its European channels group Chellomedia - (TV Boy) who own Zone Horror - told The Sunday Telegraph: "If [Virgin Media TV] came on the market we would be duty bound to have a good look at it."

Liberty Global is chaired by US media tycoon John Malone.

Info from The Sunday Telegraph/Digital Spy.

[windy]

Originally Posted by TV Boy

Liberty 'could buy Virgin channels'

International cable giant Liberty Global would consider buying Virgin Media's television channels, it has said.

Liberty's chief strategy officer Shane O'Neill, also head of its European channels group Chellomedia - (TV Boy) who own Zone Horror - told The Sunday Telegraph: "If [Virgin Media TV] came on the market we would be duty bound to have a good look at it."

Liberty Global is chaired by US media tycoon John Malone.

Info from The Sunday Telegraph/Digital Spy.

Would that be a good thing or bad...????

I think a good thing..we would hopefully get the sky channels back.

[TV Boy]

Murdoch slams BBC for stifling competition

News Corporation's Europe and Asia CEO James Murdoch has hit out at the BBC for "crowding out" and "squashing" competitors with its iPlayer catch-up service.

In a Q&A after the UK Marketing Society's annual lecture in London last night, Murdoch said the iPlayer was "a pre-emptive intervention in a marketplace otherwise hugely competitive and moving very fast."

Murdoch added that the iPlayer had "hoovered up" otherwise productive resources and "squashed other competitors." He said: "I'm not saying it is a bad product, but I am saying it does crowd out competition and innovation. But we have it now, so there you are."

BSkyB's own catch-up service, Sky Anytime, runs on the same technology as the BBC iPlayer, the VeriSign-owned Kontiki platform.

Murdoch was asked whether he regretted BSkyB's £940m (US$1.47bn) purchase of a 17.9% stake in ITV, now that its shares have plummeted and competition authorities may force BSkyB to cut its holding to less than 7.5%.

"All shareholders would look and say the shares are worth less than what they were, and that's frustrating as an investor," said Murdoch, although he defended ITV, adding there was "potential over the long term for value to be realised" from the commercial terrestrial broadcaster.

"Over the long term ITV is still very attractive," he said.

Story from C21 Media.

[gadge]

Setantas racing world to close.
http://www.broadbandtvnews.com/?p=4640

Police and virgin carry out more raids.
http://www.lep.co.uk/news/Home-raide...-TV.4030656.jp

[TV Boy]

Originally Posted by gadge

Setantas racing world to close.
http://www.broadbandtvnews.com/?p=4640

Racing World was not on Virgin to start with but all the US Racing will move over to Racing UK.

[TV Boy]

ITV inflicts more pain on Sky

BSkyB has reported a loss for the past nine months due to the plunge in value of its stake in ITV, as speculation that it has been approached to offload this to RTL in return for channel Five was revived yesterday.

The UK satellite TV company recorded a pre-tax loss of £118m (US$232.3m) for the nine months to March 31 as a result of a £474m impairment charge relating to its 17.9% shareholding in ITV.

Sky said in February it would take a £343m blow to its finances for the quarter ending December 31 last year due to its rapidly depreciating ITV investment. A further £131m has been heaped on in the three months since.

But revenue for the past nine months rose 10% to £3.71bn. Revenue for the past quarter rose to £1.25bn from £1.2bn for the same period a year earlier, with the company nudging nearer nine million customers on the back of 56,000 net additions.

The company said that it had signed up another 262,000 customers to its DVR service Sky+, putting it in 3,393,000 households, or 38% of its overall base. 465,000 Sky customers now have high definition, up 43,000.

Sky Broadband added 229,000 customers, taking it to1,428,000 while the Sky Talk telephone business grew 180,000 to 1,095,000. Average revenue per user hit an all-time high of £424 while churn stood at 10.5%, its lowest for four years.

BSkyB CEO Jeremy Darroch said it was a strong set of results: "We are delivering for customers through a combination of great quality, value and service. As a result, more customers are choosing Sky, they are more satisfied and they are taking more products than ever before," he said.

Darroch would not comment on whether Sky would consider swapping its stake in ITV for Five after rumours that RTL Group was interested in such a deal in conjunction with Haim Saban first emerged earlier this month.

Speculation on this was revived yesterday when ITV MD of global content Dawn Airey quit suddenly to join RTL as chair and CEO of Five, a broadcaster she was previously CEO of before moving to Sky.

In January the UK Competition Commission instructed Sky to reduce its 17.9% stake in ITV to less than 7.5% - a move it subsequently challenged and is awaiting a high court ruling on in June.


http://www.c21media.net/news/detail....&article=41464

Info from C21.

[gadge]

Bskyb looking to buy cable channels.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2008...yb.virginmedia

[windy]

Originally Posted by gadge

Bskyb looking to buy cable channels.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2008...yb.virginmedia

I know this is a long shot but if that where to happen do you think we might get the sky channels back..?????

[foreverwar]

You are confusing content with distribution - the channels (content) may be bought, but the distribution (Virgin Media) is still separate, and the case is still going through the courts.

So, in short, probably not.