VM announces latest figures and confirms 4 new linear HD channels in July/Aug

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VM announces latest figures and confirms 4 new linear HD channels in July/Aug

Written by Robert Piercy

Tuesday, 05 May 2009 13:13

Virgin Media has announced its latest set of figures and confirms that it hopes to launch four linear high-definition channels in the autumn. The cable company made this announcement as it published its latest set of figures which saw a slight increase in its customer base and a reduction in churn.

The company now has a customer base of 4.76 million, a net increase of 7,100 in this period, quarter one of 2009 with 57% of them having the triple-play of TV, telephone and internet. 47,300 more have broadband than three months ago, down from 57,100 new broadband connections last time. Around 80% of its customer base has Virgin's broadband product. 30,600 more are subscrbing to TV with 17% having the V+ service. Monthly churn fell from 1/2% to 1.1%

Revenues were improved this quarter although average revenue per customer fell to £42.29 although this figure is up 34p when compared to a year ago. Total income was down slightly but operating cashflow rose by £3 million to £312 million. The company's total debt stands at £5.9 billion and servicing this debt resulted in the company making at £132.9 million loss this quarter although this is down from £188.8 million due to favourable exchange rates.

VM announced a major push to increase usage of its on-demand service. Only just over half of its TV subscribers - 53% - use it and the company says that it plans to continue to increase the amount of content available including adding more high-definition on-demand programming. Virgin plans to change the EPG to try to make it as easy to find catch-up content as easily as it is to find programmes. Virgin also said that it is evalutating the recent advertising trial on the VOD service which saw adverts inserted around programems made by VMTV, Channel 4 and Warner.

Concerning new linear high-definition channels, Neil Berkett, VM's chief executive, said "we are launching, in July or August, another half a dozen linear HD channels as well. We think it is time to start to join the evolution of HD viewing. Economically it is about the right time." Virgin says it is currently negotiating with a number of broadcasters to make these launches happen.

With regard to the internet, Virgin says it proposes to continue the roll-out of the 50Mb service with the intention of it being available to all customers in the third quarter. The company reported a 48% increase in customers upgrading from the basic 2Mb service although around 60% of customers still just have the basic service, which Virign is in the process of upscaling from 2Mb to 10Mb.

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