Virgin Media Vs Sky: it’s the content stupid!
As the war between Virgin Media and Sky continues to rage, Virgin appears to be placing its faith in superior technology; replacing Sky One with an on-demand video channel.
There’s no doubt that Virgin Central, offering shows like Spooks, Little Britain and the Office on demand, is a more technically advanced offer than Sky One’s broadcasting just the one programme at a time. But the difference is that Sky One is offering original programming with a following and most people can time shift the shows they like; be that with Sky+, another PVR or an old fashioned VHS recorder. So video on demand isn’t so impressive. And cable customers were going to get it anyway.
While customers might fear that Murdoch owns too much of their media, Richard Branson isn’t everyone’s idea of an underdog and they’re more likely to complain about a favourite TV drama coming off air without warning.
Comments (7 comments)
Totally shoddy behaviour all round. Ofcom should be reeling in both parties and fining them millions to make them remember their customer service obligations.
I blame Virgin Media for not seeing this potential chess move coming a mile off. As a long time Telewest customer, the bottom line is that Virgin Media now want me to pay the same monthly fee for what I regard as a greatly reduced service. I’ve lost about Ten of my favourite programmes, some of them like 24 and Lost are among the nations most popular television ever made.
Mr Bransons response is to shrug and say “Oh, never mind, here’s some old Series 1 re-runs from Alias and Spooks- watch that instead.
He’s quoted as saying “I don’t think we’ll lose very many” (Customers) Well Mr B, I’ve monitored your ‘New Service’ with its claim to be a television ‘revolution’ and the fact is its the same old stuff but without the cool Sky 1 content. My bill is now paid until May, in the meantime I’m gearing up for the move to SKY. Good luck with your latest ‘Virgin World’ venture
Rod Stein
Edinburgh
Rod Stein / April 3rd, 2007, 9:16 am / #
The ntl basic service had been improving in the run-up to the takeover, with rewindable pay movies for 24 hours and re-watchable tv from the previous week/series free too, both of which were big improvements on the old offering. We would have stuck with virgin mediocre if onl on the grounds of being anti-murdoch but when the content plummeted we cut our losses and opted for freeview, which I would say has more (current) content than virgin base package at the moment.
Uea boy / April 18th, 2007, 3:02 pm / #
As a long time sky customer i have full faith that sky will continue to deliver good television and a variety of chanels. but however i am very disapointed that because i got sky plus at an early stage my box doesnt recieve the new anytime on demand service. And when i contacted sky on this I was offered a new sky plus box for 99£ when new sky customers get it for free. So much for rewarding your existing customers sky but i took the choice to purchase ky hd instead so i am quie satisfyed for now.
Ben / August 14th, 2007, 1:44 pm / #
Why not have both i have got the basic sky package and the free tv from virgin.
Oliver / February 8th, 2008, 6:43 am / #
Virgin is completely superior to sky, it not only has fibre optics cables, but also has up to 80 hours recording space, sky only has 40 hrs. Virgin TV on demand is very sucessful, even if we forget to record a program, it’s always on tv on demand, when our box broke, we got it replaced for free with a brand new one within 2 days!
D / June 27th, 2008, 10:12 am / #
Cable is better than sky and we should not give in to their bully tactics I have had cable for 15 years from General cable west london franchise, telewest communicaions, ntl telewest and now virgin media.
1. Sky family pack no setanta with virgin you save £10 Setanta is included.
2. Sky multi room £10 with Virgin it is £5.00
3. With Virgin you get asian premium channels at a more discounted price because you deal directly with Virgin.
4. Faults are free on virgin as compared to sky.
gaurav / July 7th, 2008, 6:33 pm / #
Virgin has a better package deals but their customer services are terrible. They ignore complaints refuse to admit that their service is poor and their set top boxes are low grade materials and therefore low quality.
I was with sky for 6 years and I had not one fault.
Within 6 months of being with Virgin Media I was tearing my hair out!
Virgin would be far superior to Sky if only they cared about their customers!
P / August 7th, 2008, 7:16 pm / #
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