March 04, 2009

In the news

ITV's dire trading will no doubt curb any HD investment plans but may lead to ITV HD appearing on satellite and cable a wee bit quicker than planned - can they afford to keep it as a FreeSat exclusive? (Suggested in an email I received from Matt B today - cheers Matt)
BBC's gloat-free account of Michael Grade's blackest day at ITV here.

OFCOM has greenlit BT's request to charge ISPs the earth for its fibre-to-the-cabinet- network of the future. Virgin's advantage with broadband speeds in the major conurbations. BBC story here.

And Malcolm Wall, Virgin Media TV's Chief Executive, is leaving the company to "pursue other interests". According to the report on BroadcastNow:

Virgin Media CEO Neil Berkett said: "Malcolm's long experience in broadcasting, combined with an acute understanding of the changes that are taking place in the industry, have helped steer our content business into the digital age. On behalf of Virgin Media, I wish him every success for the future."

In a statement, Virgin Media said: "An announcement about the future management of Virgin Media Television and Virgin Media's subscription TV services will be made in due course".

It's been widely reported that VM are looking to sell Virgin Media TV (Living, Bravo, Trouble etc) and it's share of the Flextech stable (Watch, Gold, Dave et al), so his departure is not really a big surprise. Not sure what they're going to announce on the management of the "subscription TV services" but hopefully it will be about someone who's vocabulary includes the words "high", "definition" and "now". And less of the "soon".

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Any new announcements too late for me, I signed up to the evil empire of murdoch on Friday, the VM person I told once again spaan the 'new HD channels soon' but when they couldn't give me assurances about timescales or channels, it was time to go. I'll keep reading this fine blog to see just what and when gets dished up.

the_gaffer said...

It was also reported in thelondonpaper yesterday that Blockbuster is suffering in the recession and could close.

Fairly significant news for VM customers filling the Sky Movies HD hole with Blu Ray rentals

Anonymous said...

Not surprised blockbusters are doing badly looking at the prices in some of the local stores and offers going on.

I don't rent blu-rays, some of the offers have been so aggressive, 3 BDs for about £19 or one for £8.98 I've bought them.