February 25, 2009

Coming "Soon"

I haven't got the time to sit through Virgin MD Neil Berkett's presentation to investors this lunchtime, but the slides supporting it are now up on the Virgin Media Investors' site here.
It's mainly a financial presentation, but on slide 9 there is the following:
  • Developing our HD capability>100 hours of HD VOD content; Launching more HD channels this year
  • Ofcom Market Investigation may deliver access to Sky premium sports and movie channels on HD
Please feel free to draw your own conclusions from this exciting statement. And here's that link again for those looking for high definition channels today rather than a vague promise of tomorrow...

16 comments:

Anonymous said...

thats clear then virgin are banking on tothless ofcom to get premiun hd channels hope virgin win i think sky will come on top thoe

Anonymous said...

Will the last person to leave Virgin Media remember to switch the lights off.

Afront said...

Here's a slide with the original speaker notes scribbled on:

vmhdspeakernotes.jpg

Possibly... ;)

Anonymous said...

Interestingly I just phoned CS to confirm the price to drop the TV from our VIP package, and I was assured that virgin are launching 4 new HD channels before the end of March. I pointed out that I didn't think this was likely given the fact that they had not been mentioned in the news conference but he was insistent that they would launch. He couldn't tell me which channels they were however, and wouldn't promise to refund a months subscription if they didn't turn up !

So after 8 years with virgin I'm ordering my Sky HD subscription.

Anonymous said...

Bye bye NTL. Its been a pleasure being abused by your customer service opperators over the years.

Hello sky HD.

Anonymous said...

In a way today has been quite useful. I've been waiting for the last two years for VM to add some new HD channels but I've realised today it's not going to happen - at least not in any major way. They are simply not interested, the HD VOD has all but disappeared and the most that they may do is add Ch4 HD and possibly ITV HD.

So I've done it - ordered Sky HD and have an installation date of 9th March. I can't wait now.

Anonymous said...

@Anonymous above who called to find out the cost of dropping the TV and moving down from VIP, what was the answer?

Anonymous said...

I considered a move to Sky a few weeks ago but then I remembered that Sky are still Sky. Over 30 HD channels is attractive but then you have a look at the channels and it starts to look a bit less tempting, particularly when you consider that a lot of the programmes shown on these channels are upscaled SD. The channel I'm most interested in is BBC HD and we already have that.

With Sky you pay a bastard business man to get an ugly temperemental dish for a ridiculous price.

It is easy to point a finger and blame Virgin for everything but Sky play a huge part in throttling competition as we all know.

I am unwilling to give up my Sky boycott just yet. HD has still yet to take off and while Virgin are running out of time to catch up, they have not been left behind completely yet.

My plan is to give Virgin another year then if there is no sign of more HD channels then I'll drop everything for freeview when HD is available on there. Looking forward to that. Also looking forward to H2O 100mb broadband because I'm greedy =]

Anonymous said...

Rob,

I moved from the VIP package last August but retained my broadband (dropped to 10meg) and telephone (free weekend and evening calls) and the cost for this is £25.95.

I am also considering dropping my Movies subscription with Sky as I simply don't watch enough of them to warrant keeping it - there is so much HD stuff which I want to watch on Sky1 HD, C4HD, FX HD, Sci-Fi HD, Nat Geo HD, Discovery HD, History HD and despite Andy's assertion that much of this is upscaled SD I have certainly not found this to be true.

Anonymous said...

In answer to Rob - when I phoned up to get the cost of dropping TV from our VIP package the cost was the same as I calculated with the virgin 'build you own bundle' tool here and the CS guy confirmed that this tool will give us the cost of any thing we want to change to.

I haven't yet cancelled the TV because I'm waiting for the Sky install but once thats through I'll change to XL BB, M TV and XL phone. We are probably going to keep the V+ (for iplayer and the hdmi output) and that all comes to £43.95. The Sky package is about £45 from memory so we will pay a few pounds more.

Sniper in the Trees said...

Too late for me.
My first non terestrial TV was Sky back in the mid/late 90's and I went to NTL in 2K3. It's the right time to go back now. Sky's telly service kicks VM's ass and I just can't see a way back for VM on that front. Not with the current pace of advance from BskyB

I'll be sad to lose the phone/BB though, which is a real endorsment of those services,considering that I work for BT (IT systems not phones!!)and can get their BB & BT Vision FOC if I so chose.

Anonymous said...

The things that are holding me to VM TV right now are the three tuners, VOD and fairly decent upscaling of SD channels. These things are a big plus in my household.

The negative things like small hard drive (which can only be fixed by new hardware) and limited HD material (which is either restricted by current bandwidth limitations or limited because commercial deals with channel vendors have not been signed).

So jumping to sky over current lack HD material might just feel like I am cutting my nose off to spite my face.

Anonymous said...

Does the delay of the new Samsung V+ PVR have something to do with the lack of new HD channels? Maybe they want to launch the channels as mpeg4, even if it means replacing the existing V+ boxes.

Sniper in the Trees said...

Well I've just made the leap. Set up the transfer of my phone line back to BT in advance of moving to Sky. Next in the list is to ring VM and listen to their magical stories about how "HD is Just around the corner" then when the boys from BT do their thang, I can book my installation. The whole sky/BT package including BB and HD still works out over £10 a month cheaper than VM!! I'm pleasantly surprised!!

Sniper in the Trees said...

I think we need to remember one thing from all this. At the end of the day this is only a simple and reversible consumer choice. I'm as guilty as the next man for over dramatising the issue. If at some point in the future, VM ups it's game and becomes the better platform for quality televeision service, the I will just move back. It isn't like I've burned any bridges, or moved to another continent and left my family behind. VM would have me back with open arms if/when I deceded to return. Just like Sky have done this time around!! So please do not cry for me, for I am not dead, I have risen again.

Anonymous said...

Well said Sniper in the Trees. What people don't seem comfortable with is the switching aspect, but thats well known anyway - people stay with the same banks, supermarkets, energy providers etc instead of switching for a better deal.

I'd have no issue coming back to VM in the future - afterall it's only a 12 month contract with Sky and you can sell the boxes on eBay afterwards.

Thanks to both Carol and Anonymous above for their information, I was hoping that was the case, but I did see a VM staff member on a forum recently implying that anyone looking to switch down a bundle would be liable for full standard prices, which I'm not willing to take on.

I think I've pretty much made my decision now...