VirginMedia vs BSkyB – Branson gets down and dirty with Murdoch
Posted by: Marketing Guy Date posted: March 5th, 2007 Published in: Marketing, Rants n DramaDrama in the UK cable market this week that has seen Richard Branson’s newly acquired VirginMedia (formerly NTL:Telewest)Â losing Rupert Murdoch’s BSkyB channels on their service.
The basic lowdown – the contract for Sky One, Sky News and Sky Travel ran out on March 1st so all 3.3 million VirginMedia cable customers lost these channels. Both companies were unable to come to an agreement for an extended contract with VirginMedia claiming that BSkyB were wanting to charge double for the channels and BSkyB claiming that VirginMedia kept rejecting all their proposals. Fun fun fun! 
Personally (as a VirginMedia customer) I was pretty annoyed at the lost of Sky One – Simpsons, Lost, Battlestar Gallactica, 24 – all exclusives to Sky One in the UK, but VirginMedia did quickly replace the channel (check out the tone of some of the pages!) offering a freebie channel where you could pick from a selection of programs for free (The Office specials, Spooks, Nip Tuck, etc) – while they won’t replace my 24 addiction, the loss isn’t going to switch me to a BSkyB provider.
In the UK we saw a major cable battle back in the 90′s with Sky and BSB going head to head for market share, eventually resulting in a merger, creating Murdoch’s BSkyB that we know today. Are we going to see another battle for the UK cable market over the next year or two?
Perhaps not on the scale that both companies might expect.
While back in the 90′s, cable channels really did have a monopoly on TV programs which people were staunchly loyal to, now in good old 2007 a large percentage of people that these programs target have access to broadband and the skills, knowledge and complete lack of care for copyright laws to be able to simply download their favourite episodes – in fact most people I know would rather do that.
I can understand why BSkyB would make life difficult for VirginMedia – Telewest had a wide coverage cable coverage in the UK prior to the NTL deal and now with Virign taking over the group and adding a huge network of brick and mortar retail outlets, mobile phone services and a multitude of other businesses, Branson finds himself positioned pretty well to move his business into the future.Â
While in our industry we watch the development of search engines and online media platforms, I think it is about time we considered checking out the real world and how businesses are adapting themselves for these new emerging markets. Consider Virgin’s portfolio:
- Decent share of the home cable market – TV, broadband, telephone.
- Decent share of the mobile phone service market
- Huge range of travel services
- Music festivals, music label
- Finance – loans, credit cards, insurance, etc
- Books, drinks, games, jewellery
- Health clubs, health care
Now how much consumer data can you derive from all that? Lots! I’ve always admired Richard Branson – he’s an innovative and highly talented businessman and Virgin’s somewhat scathing attacks on BSkyB are an excellent example of his resolution to move his business forward.
I wouldn’t be surprised to see Virgin move to become a much more forceful player in the online advertising media industry in the next few years – they have the resources to give Google, Yahoo and MSN a run for their money by more fully integration online advertising spend with offline media platforms.
Definitely one to watch! Some more info here.
MG
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Comments
I’m interested in seeing how Branson’s space tourism interests materialize. That’s just the type of kooky billionaire idea that tickles my fancy. Maybe they’ll sell ad space on the inflight movie screens. Though, when you’re touring space I think ad space would be better placed around the windows.
Hah yes – space marketing – “screwing up an entirely new environment!”
I can just see companies renting ad space on their satelites or NASA running regular “billboard launch” trips!
i was with sky for over 10 years, when i asked for any special offer they said “new costumers only”. they have been saying this for the last 5 years. Any thing went wrong you had to pay for someone to come out or pay to replace the item, it was only when you told them that you wanted to cancel your sky would they do it for free.
With sky i was paying £44 with sky plus which cost me at the time £199 + extra £10 if you didn’t have the full tv package,
I had sky multi view in another room which was an other £10, then if i wanted HD another £299 for the box + an extra £10 a month total of £64 just for the TV with my internet on top £29.99 with AOL then BT phone another £75 a month total of £169 per month for the three. with Virgin media i get the lot for an amazing £85 (TV / INTERNET 10mb / PHONE free anytime to any 01 or 02 numbers saving me a total £84 a month and with Virgin TV on demand and V+(sky plus) plus HD all included at no extra cost. so it looks like sky got a fight on the hands i know at least 10 friends who have gone to Virgin media
Yes, I have to agree Virginmedia has certainly got the edge. I am so opposed to Murdoch anyway that I could not bring myself to have Sky installed, and I am pleased with what Virginmedia has to offer – just had it all installed, Broadband, TV, phone, and am very pleased.
i don’t agree virgin media is hopeless,service is horrible
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i think virginmedia are a lot dearer than sky i pay nearly 100pounds per month and thats without movie channels eventualy i will go over to sky you know where you are with them
Might want to check your package then – it shouldn’t be that much. I’m only £45 for broadband, a few channels (no movies, but got Setanta) and phone. It does cost more if you have a large broadband speed though.
when i started out with vigin it was supposed to be £30 a month ive never seen one and ive been with them almost a year my last bill was £120 my broadband is 4mb
That’s pretty strange. How does the bill break down? I’m rarely more than £55 after adding a couple of Filmflex movies to the bill. I don’t really use my phone though so there are no call charges added to that. My BB is 4mb too.
There’s something wrong if you are paying £100 and it isn’t additional call charges or pay per view – you should check with their support – the few times I’ve needed to speak to them they’ve been pretty good about sorting things out.