Virgin Media Hones in on Sky Sports Vulnerability
Virgin Media will be attacking what it calls BSkyB's "soft underbelly", the amount the satellite rival charges for its sports and films.
Virgin Media Chairman, Jim Mooney, told the Guardian Thursday that Sky overcharges customers right now for sports and movies.
"They continually raise their prices. We think that's a weakness we can exploit. Within that space we are going to exploit that weakness where Sky has over 5 million customers right now.
|
| Click on top left logo. US readers prohibited |
"Sky forces customers to take packages above and beyond what they want to take in terms of content and price. The content is good but when you force customers to take all of that stuff you are leaving yourself exposed. What they [customers] really want is to take more on an à la carte basis.
"With our quadplay we can package what customers want, any content they want at very compelling values."
He said the cost of sports channels left "a soft underbelly we can exploit". "We will not take months to roll this out - we'll be out very soon with our proposals," he added.
The Virgin Media service will feature the following:
Quad-play services - billed as the 'one-stop solution' for consumers' entertainment and communications needs.
Virgin Central - will be launching on 20th February (cable channel 119). Customers can choose from a selection of episodes from various hit US and UK shows. They're calling it a hybrid service. There won't be scheduled start times, and different content will be uploaded on a regular basis.
Coverage - Virgin Media have announced plans to extend its reach nationally by rolling services out to non-cable areas this year, and thus reaching over 97% of UK households.
In-Store Promotions - It'll also be running promotions in over 100 of the UK's major shopping centres, and apparently a deal is imminent to sell its services in hundreds of high street retail outlets throughout Britain.
And then there is the customer service we've grown to expect from the Virgin brand, which includes Virgin Poker and its $200 signup bonus that is fast becoming a mainstay on the Gambling911.com website (US customers prohibited at this time)
----Randall Buckingham, Gambling911.com
Originally published February 10, 2007 8:28 am ET
