Virgin Media TV

July 30, 2010

More on TiVo and Virgin Media

Virgin Media’s TV and online executive director Alex Green has given an interesting interview to paidContent:UK in which he talks about the arrival of TiVo on Virgin Media

“We see this very much as part of our multi-screen strategy - TiVo is at the centre of that. The way we are creating TiVo is replicated in this service - there’s a real focus on content discovery - you can search, browse, get recommendations and make playlists - helping you discover content you know you like or didn’t know you liked.
“It very much complements TiVo - that will be about bringing new content sources from the web to the TiVo.”
Green wouldn’t comment on from which web sources Virgin’s TiVo box will offer content, but he referred to “apps” as much as video and likened it to the TiVo Premiere service in the U.S., which includes YouTube, Time magazine, CNET, Twitter, Netflix and Blockbuster rentals, RSS, podcasts, a range of photo sharing and music access services plus side-loading of recordings and more.
“What TiVo does allow is a whole world of combining over-the-top delivered content with our core TV service. That can be a whole range of apps as well as pure video. TiVo Premiere opens up that whole new world from the web to TV.”
It’s the first time TiVo has operated in the UK since 2003, when it abandoned the Thomson PVR10UK box it built with with Thomson Multimedia and BSkyB. It gives Virgin Media exclusive UK rights to use the TiVo brand and technology.

July 29, 2010

Ever wondered what programmes Sky was going to put on all of those VMTV channels it has just bought? Wonder no more - according to The Guardian Sky has signed a massive deal securing it the entire HBO catalogue, old and new:

The satellite TV company has signed a content deal with HBO, the US channel that revolutionised the television market by launching a pay-TV service that screens big-budget dramas. The Sky deal, expected to be announced this morning, will give Sky access to HBO's archive and all forthcoming shows over the lifetime of the agreement. It is believed to be worth around £150m over five years.

It's a biggie, and means that the likes of True Blood and Treme will be Sky exclusives in years to come. Living may get Sex in the City repeats, Bravo The Sopranos and The Wire, whilst new series such as Boardwalk Empire are likely to debut on Sky Movies Premier (like The Pacific did last Easter).
It's an interesting deal, not just because it steals content from other commercial broadcasters (once their current deals run out) but because it signals an attempt by Sky to secure some of the highest quality programming around, something it has long been criticised for not attempting. These series aren't huge audience pullers and HBO's track record of late has been somewhat mixed - True Blood aside, there's been nothing new that has really caught light with US audiences - so it's a prestige acquisition more likely to booster perception rather than audiences.

July 28, 2010

Sky 3D launches on October 1st - chemists stock up on Nurofen

Having finally recovered from the 3D "experience" of (the otherwise excellent) Toy Story 3 - blurry vision for a good ten minutes after removing the glasses and a cracker of a headache later on - I plan to steer well clear of this particular innovation.
According to The Telegraph Jeremy Darroch, Sky’s chief executive, said: “As with High Definition, 3D is set to transform the way TV is enjoyed in homes nationwide. Following hot on the heels of the success of 3D cinema, Sky customers will now be the first anywhere in Europe to experience 3D TV from the comfort of their living rooms. They can look forward to a fantastic mix of live sport, blockbuster movies, and innovative entertainment and arts shows.”
I think not.

Virgin Media Q2 2010 Results

Virgin Media Inc. announces results for the quarter ended June 30, 20101.

Financial performance driven by strong revenue growth in all segments
* Total revenue up 7.1% to £964m; strongest revenue growth since merger over four years ago
* Revenue growth in all areas, including improved performance in both Mobile and Business
* Third successive quarter of double-digit percentage OCF2 growth, up 12.9% to £370m
* Operating income increased to £80m from £9m

Strong operational performance driven by ARPU and best Q2 customer net adds since merger
* Cable ARPU, up 4.9% to a record £45.88
* 9,100 total new customers in traditionally the weakest quarter for growth, compared to 27,800 customer loss a year ago
* Cable gross additions of 188,600, up 18.2%
* 120,800 product net additions, up 26.2%; HD customers up 79.7% to 1.2m
* Churn remains flat at 1.3%; triple-play penetration increased to 62.4% and quad-play penetration increased to 11.3%, reflecting continued success with our bundling strategy

Bringing "Digital Entertainment" into homes

"We grew our digital TV base by 25,900 in the quarter to over 3.7m customers. These viewers continue to enjoy our market-leading video-on-demand (VOD) service with well over half of them using and watching VOD as part of their everyday lives.

"We are also continuing to aggressively expand our High Definition (HD) offering. A year ago, we carried one HD channel, but this will increase to a total of 26 channels in the next few weeks. We have announced the August launch for Sky Sports 1 and 2 HD and ten Sky Movies HD channels and we expect to continue to increase the number of HD channels. As a result, our HD base is growing rapidly and we added a record 259,000 customers in the quarter to reach an installed base of 1.2m.

"Through our agreements with BSkyB, we have also secured long-term carriage of the Sky Basic channels and the former VMtv channels, along with access to interactive red button sports coverage and the opportunity to deliver selected Sky standard definition programming over the internet.

"We continue to work with TiVo to develop and launch a new converged TV and broadband interactive platform in the fourth quarter."

July 27, 2010

Virgin broadband speeds

I don't normally post on VM's broadband offering, but anyone seriously considering Sky or BT for their triple play bundle should check out this BBC article on ISPs failing to deliver on broadband speeds.

Dear Five HD...

...there's no point in having a brand spanking new HD channel if you don't show your better films in widescreen, let alone in high defintion. Ronin was on last night but only in SD and 4:3. Bloody hell...amateurs.

July 26, 2010

BBC HD out of sync?

Anyone else finding HD channels on Virgin out of sync? I noticed that The One Show last week seemed to be notably out of sync and Dennis reports that Top Gear had problems last night. Pre-recorded stuff (eg. the movie The Damned United) appears to be okay but the studio stuff seems out. Anyone else noticed this? Anyone seen it on other HD channels?
UPDATE: just checked my recordings of Sherlock and Top Gear from BBC HD last night: neither look on the button to me. Watching the VM iPlayer versions though (both in HD) and they seem okay. Something wrong with the BBC HD live feed at Virgin Media maybe?

Clash of the Titans

Here's an odd one: Virgin have done a deal with Warner Bros to make this year's Clash of the Titans remake available through on demand before the DVD and Blu Ray discs are in the shops, but you have to pay a premium price for it and you get the DVD as part of the deal:

Virgin Media’s TV customers will be able to watch Clash of the Titans at home three days before the film is released on DVD. The blockbuster movie will be available via Virgin Media’s Movies on Demand service for £14.95. Customers will be able to watch the movie as many times as they’d like over a 48 hour period before receiving a DVD copy just a few days later.

Not sure if there will be many takers for this, but it's an interesting approach. Is anyone that keen on seeing the film that they would pay £14.95 to get it three days early? Amazon.co.uk is listing the film at £9.99 for the DVD and only £15.93 for a triple pack that contains the DVD, Blu-Ray and Digital copy, so Virgin's pricing looks way of the mark. And the Virgin offer ain't for an HD version - the on demand film is only SD.
As an idea it has potential, but this particular execution leaves something to be desired.
(Oh, and the film's pretty average if you haven't already seen it.)

July 23, 2010

Off topic: VMHD landmark

As of this week, this blog's passed 1m pages served since it launched in November 2007. Traffic peaked this week at 5,000 visits on Tuesday and we've had a 250k unique visitors since launch. Thanks, y'all!