Digital TV News

Virgin Media set to launch rival to Sky Player

Friday 26 March, 2010

By Becca Talbot - becca@consumerchoices.co.uk

Virgin Media customers will soon be able to watch their favourite Virgin TV programmes on their computers, with the launch of the Virgin Media Player.

Virgin Media (www.virginmedia.com) it will be launching its own online TV service, to rival to both the BBC iPlayer and Sky Player, before the end of the year.

Speaking at the IPTV World Forum earlier this week, Virgin Media’s executive director of TV and online, Alex Green, said twice that the Virgin Media Player would arrive this year and would offer the “highest quality experience.”

Green said: “We’ll be launching this year our player. This will deliver a super high quality click-to-watch experience for our subscribers to see their favourite on-demand shows online and on their mobiles.”

The Virgin Media Player could give cable TV customers access to high-definition (HD) programmes, sports and films online, as Green suggested the venture would allow the digital TV provider “to build on its recent slew of HD TV announcements like ITV1 HD, Eurosport HD, Discovery HD, E4 HD, Film4 HD and others.”

As reported by TechRadar, Green added: “We’re determined to get the experience right in terms of viewing quality and usability and we’re taking advantage of the way technology has developed in the past couple of years to do that.”

Virgin Media also confirmed earlier this month, it plans to offer TiVo internet-enabled set-top boxes to customers by the end of 2010. Using TiVo, subscribers will be able to search for what they want to watch either from a traditional broadcaster like Channel 4 or BBC, on online video websites such as YouTube, or download it from an online retailer like Amazon or Play.com.

Jon Ingram, operations director at Digitalchoices.co.uk, said: “The new online Virgin Media Player will rival similar subscription services, such as the Sky Player, as well as the free-to-view online catch-up platforms, like the BBC iPlayer.”

Ingram added: “With all its online features and web access, it’s very likely that Virgin Media will couple the launch of TiVo with the Virgin Media Player - the two services will probably work together in some way.”