Digital TV News

Cable customers love Virgin Media’s on-demand TV

Wednesday 28 April, 2010

By Becca Talbot - becca@consumerchoices.co.uk

When it comes to on-demand TV, Virgin Media customers are hitting the “play” button more than two million times a day according to the cable giant’s latest financial results.

More than 46,000 new homes in the UK have signed up to Virgin Media’s TV service since the beginning of the year, boosting the total number of homes with a package from the cable TV giant to just over 3.7 million.

In its first quarterly results for 2010, Virgin Media (www.virginmedia.com) - the UK’s largest cable TV, phone and broadband provider - revealed that over 50% of its TV subscribers now regularly use its on-demand catch-up TV service.

Neil Berkett, Virgin Media’s chief executive officer, said: “On average our customers pressed ‘play’ more than two million times a day, every day in the last three months.”

All Virgin Media TV subscribers have free access to the BBC iPlayer, the ITV Player and 4oD, the on-demand TV service from Channel 4. Customers with the Size XL package also have access to Virgin’s TV Choice menu, which offers thousands of episodes of series and shows to watch whenever you want.

Virgin Media said it is working on expanding the range of content that it offers on-demand, “including a substantial amount of high-definition (HD) content.”

Berkett added: “The latest addition to our set-top box range, the V HD Box, enables more Virgin Media customers to enjoy HD television without an on-going monthly fee.”

Virgin Media launched its V HD set-top box, which lets customers with a HD ready TV watch high-definition channels for no extra cost.

There are now 12 high-definition channels available through Virgin Media, and the cable TV giant plans to add more in the coming months.

To watch all 12 HD channels you will need the Size XL package, however homes with a subscription to the M+ and L packages will be able to watch the free-to-view HD channels, BBC HD and ITV1 HD.

Virgin Media’s TV packages start from just £5.50 a month for 65 channels, if you take a cable phone line too.