June 30, 2011

Virgin Media launches the TiVo for new customers

July is when customers new to Virgin Media are able to order TiVo, and July starts tomorrow, so Virgin's marketing campaign kicks off this weekend with some new ads featuring Marc Warren and  "the best way to watch TV." I can't find the ads online yet but once I do I will post the videos.
We'll soon be sick of the sight of them no doubt, but at least we can fast forward through them these days.

12 comments:

Greg said...

I was new to Virgin and I've had my Tivo for 2 months?! July is just for the 500gb box

campbellg said...

"The best way to watch TV"... unless you want to watch a lot of HD channels, or Sky Atlantic, plus...er... the red button isn't quite working yet!

Even an actor of Mr Warren's talent would be hard pushed to sell this to me and I'm an existing Virgin customer - will Sky punters really be tempted to jump ships for a hell of a lot less channels and content?

Anonymous said...

@campbellg lol,Dont think sky have anything to worry about.Lack of new content/channels for 12 months as put most of my friends off,If would be like a downgrade for them

theironchimp said...

If the situation doesnt improve then I will be forced to jump ship once we get high end broadband in these parts.

Anonymous said...

spot on campbellg.....no where near the finished article...far too many `gremlins`..

alan said...

VM gotta be kidding who in there right mind would sign up for less channels,just for the over rated tivo wont be long i am off soon,fed up with VM keep saying in the future,you will have this,problem is they are all talk no action,and the future never comes

campbellg said...

"At Virgin Media, we think you should have all the TV you want. So you can enjoy all your favourite channels.
Love your Sky channels? Bring them with you. At Virgin Media, you can watch Sky 1 and Sky 2. Plus, add Sky Movies and Sky Sports if you fancy it, too."

Virgin media actually have the brass neck to include this wording in their advertising! I'm glad Virgin think I should have all the TV I want, I want Sky Atlantic, where is it? Yes I love Sky channels, especially Sky Atlantic, where is it?

Payton said...

We need more HD channels! TiVo will not stop customers leaving or encourage Sky viewers to switch. I am just waiting for High speed BB from BT then I am going back to Sky after 14 years with VM. I am fed up waiting for all these promised new HD channels.

Square eyes said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Square eyes said...

It makes me laugh, you moan you want more HD, you get it, yes not as many channels as Sky, but you them anyway, you want HD movies & sport you get them, yes only two HD channels for sport, but thats all that were available at the start of the wholesale arguement.

You want more recording space you get it with TIVO plus a whole lot more.

Now you want Sky Atlantic, so when you get it because eventually you will.

What are you going want then? more wants more want more...

You are never satisfied - there is an old saying - "ROME WASN'T BUILT IN A DAY"

Perhaps you should be thankful for what you have got, yes Sky have more channels, I will not say content, because some of the content is just worth broadcasting it crap.

What have most of the people who post comments on here got in common, everyone thinks Sky has got a monopoly on the PTV industry, yet because VM havn't got Sky Atlantic you want to "JUMP SHIP" as you say, well I guess your not all hypocrites then!

Anonymous said...

@square eyes nobody is expecting to have as many channel as sky,But the lack of new content in 12 months is very disappointing.Especially when some channels are on freesat,As for sky atlantic are we gonna get it if vm cant do a deal now well there will be no chance when murdoch gets full control of sky,Even vod on vm as become disappointing and as for wasting money on 3d when they cant get more hd channels is running before they can walk.
Tivo is a great product,But it is not without is flaws(constant reboots and bad epg).Its needs some backing and that will require new content,Where`s universal hd or even the missing disney hd channels.I read somewhere that several months ago they signed new deals with disney,why didn`t that include hd channels.
I have been for many years a supporter of vm,But even i am getting a bit dissapointed whith what promised to be a great year so far apart from tivo being a complete let down

sibod said...

So, SKY don't have half the content on VOD, let alone any in HD - they don't have 50meg + broadband, and don't have lifetime support for all their boxes.

Sky don't have Film 4 HD either, and they show far more HD content than the majority of so called 'HD' channels on Sky that VM don't have.

So, for example, you want ITV4 in HD? What, so you can watch the Casebook of Sherlock Holmes in HD? Yeah, they managed to extract extra resolution out of 30 year old video footage there!

Virgin have hit the brick wall of Sky exclusivity with all these channel providers and simply cant carry channels that Sky have an agreement with. Sky paid for the HD upgrade for many of them, and as part of that, only Sky is allowed to show them at the moment!


Personally there's only 1 show Im interested in that I cant get, Game of Thrones - but it's not worth the hassle of downgrading my broadband, losing the superior VOD offering, losing Tivo and paying another £150 to get a 1tb Sky+ just for that. I'll wait for it to come out on Blu-Ray and rent it via Love Film instead.
Yeah, it's frustrating, and I'd rather have Sky Atlantic than not, but it's not the end of the world.

The trouble is folk are always seeing the grass as greener on the other side, and I bet that when they get there, they'll miss all the benefits that are

Also, it's almost certain that VM will carry Sky Atlantic at some point, especially if they see value in having it, as lest we forget, VM saw no viewing figures before the channel launched, only Sky's aspirational pricing that almost certainly was too high to make sense!


Anyway, Good luck with your jumping of ships! See you again in a year when you realise it really isn't all that much better with Sky!