Digital TV News

Virgin Media boosts number of cable TV customers

Thursday 25 February, 2010

By Becca Talbot - becca@consumerchoices.co.uk

As the number of homes around the UK with cable TV increases, Virgin Media says its TV customers are regularly watching their favourite shows and recently released films via its on-demand menu.

More than 3.7 million homes in the UK now have a subscription to Virgin Media’s (www.virginmedia.com) cable TV service, according to the telecommunications giant’s 2009 fourth quarter results.

Virgin Media said over 58% of its 3.7 million cable TV customers are now regularly using the on-demand TV feature available via their set-top boxes, watching catch-up TV on the BBC iPlayer and the ITV Player.

On-demand TV services let customers watch what they want, when it’s convenient for them.

Neil Berkett, chief executive officer at Virgin Media, said: “We continue to invest in the quality of our services…We are steadily enriching our pay TV service with exclusive on-demand content and new HD channels, and the use of our market leading video-on-demand service has reached record levels.”

The digital TV provider is expanding its range of high-definition (HD) channels, and now offers nine channels that show programmes with a clearer picture and sharper sound. Most recently, Eurosport HD and Discovery HD were added to the line-up, though these are only available to subscribers of the largest, more expensive package, XL TV.

More Virgin HD channels will be launched later in the year, as the demand for content grows. Over 862,000 customers now have the Virgin V+ HD digibox, letting them pause, rewind and record live TV.

Berkett added that Virgin had successfully increased the size and quality of its customer base, with customers taking advantage of “competitively priced” TV, phone and broadband bundled packages.

The results show that over 225,000 more homes have subscribed to a triple-play bundle with Virgin Media since 2008. The cheapest phone, TV and broadband package from the cable giant costs just £18 a month, plus £11 a month for line rental.