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Virgin Media third-quarter results released: focus is on 50Mb broadband

Broadband proves to be the winner for Virgin Media, bringing in more new subscribers than TV and telephony packages.

The cable operator posted on-net broadband net additions of 68,700.  The number of customers taking a top-tier broadband package was up 78% year-on-year.  Revenue was £991m, down on the same period last year (£1,006m).  In total the company had on-net customer net additions of 8,300.

TV subscriber net additions were 37,800.  The company said it hopes to improve the mid-market TV experience through video on demand services.

Virgin Media also recently struck a new carriage agreement with Sky that will see the return of channels such as Sky One, Two and Three returning to Virgin Media, following the withdrawal of these channels earlier this year.

“The return of the Sky channels to the Virgin platform will give a strong boost to Virgin’s TV subscriber base in the first and second quarters of 2009,” said Guy Bisson, senior analyst at Screen Digest.  “We expect that this decline will halt this quarter but do not predict a strong increase in unique homes until the Sky-channel subscriber bounce that should take effect around the middle of next year.”

Virgin Media is currently in the process of rolling out a 50 Mbps broadband service to cable areas in the UK.

“We continue to exploit our competitive advantages in leading next generation broadband in the UK and redefining the on-demand TV experience. Our fourth quarter will mark a major milestone as we launch our unrivalled 50Mb broadband service,” said Neil Berkett, Chief Executive Officer of Virgin Media.