Branson unveils Virgin Media offerings

Virgin boss Richard Branson will unveil Virgin Media today, throwing down the gauntlet to rival broadcasting giant BSkyB for top spot in the UK’s entertainment and telecoms industry.

Virgin Media, rebranded from NTL after the cable operator bought Virgin Mobile and Telewest last year, launches with a pledge to “shake up the industry”, offering digital television, broadband internet access, and mobile and home telephone services.

The company will announce details today of plans to reach more than 97% of UK households, rolling out services into non-cable areas throughout the year to improve on its current coverage – reportedly just 55% of the population.

Virgin Media is also set to hit the high street, with 15 Virgin Mobile stores offering the “quadplay” of telecoms and entertainment, adding to more than 100 promotional sites in shopping centres across the country and concessions in Virgin Megastores.

The group will confirm today that it hopes to announce soon a further deal to sell the offering in other retail stores.

Richard said: “For the first time there is a single brand set to provide a more extensive range of television entertainment, broadband and communication services than previously offered by anyone in the UK.

“Our transition to Virgin Media has been under way since last July and will continue over the coming months as we roll out an outstanding 21st century customer experience in home entertainment and communications.”

Virgin Media will also feature an interactive TV-on-demand cable channel created just for the service, Virgin Central, which is set for launch later in the month.

Customers will have access to four price plans due to be outlined today: Two products from the “quadplay” menu for £20 (€30), three for £30 (€45) or four for £40 (€61), plus the option of a “VIP” premium package.

The offering launches after NTL bought Virgin Mobile last July for £962.4m (€1.4bn), which brought together NTL’s 5.1 million cable customers and 4.3 million users of Virgin Mobile phones.

The Virgin Mobile deal followed NTL’s $6bn (€4.6b) purchase of Telewest in March.

Virgin Media will go head to head with BSkyB, which only launched its broadband, television and telephone package last month, called See, Speak, Surf.

BSkyB scuppered NTL’s hopes of a £5bn (€7.6bn) takeover of commercial broadcaster ITV last November when it bought a 17.9% stake in ITV – a move which infuriated Richard, NTL’s largest shareholder, and is currently being investigated by Ofcom and the Office of Fair Trading.