From the mind of Jamie Huskisson: From a freelance UK PHP developer, to managing director, to lead developer

Twelve brilliant days of Virgin Media

Posted on February 20th, 2007 in

I have to say - I love Virgin. They are right up there with Apple and the BBC in my books. Though saying that - the BBC are getting more and more biased towards Microsoft lately and generally stupid with their articles. For example: the full page of Vista news, articles saying Apple is plagued with security bugs (referencing the month of apple bugs) and even running a piece on illegal torrent downloading in the UK saying that users are probably not aware of ways to watch online (referencing to US-only locked down services such as ABC Online)…

Anyhow, twelve days ago NTL:Telewest rebranded as Virgin Media and in those twelve days a lot has happened:

  • The immediate availabilty of their new V+ box, which betters Sky’s current Sky+ digital box in several ways (including the ability to record two shows, and then watch a third at the same time)
  • Uma Thurman everywhere (Hello?)
  • Virgin on Demand content deal with Disney
  • Virgin on Demand content deal with Buena Vista
  • Virgin on Demand content deal with HBO
  • Launched a VIP pack which, for many people is giving them more for less.
  • Changes to a lot of the billing structure with phone bills and television packages - in most cases for the best (including a Sky Sports pack which undercuts Sky)
  • Launched of Virgin Central, a television channel specifically for telelvision on demand (all of which is free, so far)
  • Announced investment of £5 million on customer services (something NTL cut down to a bare minimum…)
  • They have Sky so shook up over a renewal of their deal for certain channels including sky one - they are actually launching ads telling Virgin customers to ring up their customer service rep to help them persuade Virgin to renew
  • Advertising absolutely everywhere, even reportedly in non-cable areas where they can’t even get Virgin Media
  • They’ve started sending out text messages to let customers know when technicians are due out at their houses and when they are coming. A nice additional touch.

Do I need more of a reason to love Virgin? I have to say, it’s the complete opposite of my feelings for NTL, but now Virgin are at the helms.. it’s clearly a different company.

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