Virgin Media puts Dave and Gold on the block
BBC in the frame for UKTV
Isn't it funny how core businesses stop being core when you are making a loss?
This is the case for Virgin Media, the cable TV operator, which is loaded down with almost £6bn in debt. Now it wants to sell off its half share in 10 digital TV channels, including Dave and Gold, and aims to raise at least £350m from the disposal, the Sunday Times reports.
The channels are part of UKTV, which is jointly owned by the BBC.
With the sale of UKTV, Virgin Media will become a pure play telecoms company, straddling cable TV and landlines, broadband and mobile.
The BBC is said to have first refusal over the purchase and could certainly afford to buy out Virgin Media. But politically this may be a poor move, at a time, when the Corporation is under fire from all sides for profligacy.
The Sunday Times also names Channel 4 and BSkyB as potential buyers.
Virgin and Sky have fought long and hard over access fees for channels on each other's platforms. They kissed and made up in June, when Virgin sold some TV channels to BSkyB for £160m and waived so called carriage fees for running Sky programmes.
COMMENTS
But..
But.. I don't believe the problem is that Virgin owns (or owned) its own TV channels. Sky does that too, and it seems to be a reasonable thing for a broadcaster to own at least some of the content that they broadcast.
I think the problem itself lies in ownership of the transmission system - the actual underground cables, roadside boxes and backend switching. Virgin needs to divest itself of the actual physical network either to a spun-off company (National Transcommunications Ltd?) or sell it to an infrastructure company (National Grid, Arqiva, Hutchison Whampoa sping to mind) who actually specialise in this kind of thing. Sky don't bother owning the transmission system (they just rent capacity).. neither should Virgin.
Every month?
More like every week!
I sent them (using Special Delivery) a letter stating that due to the bulk of their (unsolicited) correspondance, I would with immediate effect be charging for archival and storage costs:
25GBP per item, per calendar month or part thereof. Strictly 30 days nett, with 2% penalty per day overdue.
Guess what? Nothing since :o)
what planet are you on?
wtf!? are you taking the piss? are we both talking about the same beardie and virgin? you know, the one that had a chain of record shops that went bust, virgin trains ('natch), getting his collar felt by the taxman for dodging vat, starting mike oldfield's career, virgin weddings, sinking powerboats, balloons that couldn't stay up in the air, virgin cola, crap airlines and {drum roll} virgin fucking media: "we're so shit at everything we make bt and talk talk look good". there's not much scope for polishing that long line of turds.
Always?
"That has always been telecommunications"
Always is a bit much. They've only been in the cable comms came for a very few years.
When it comes down to it they made the same mistakes everybody from the big banks down did in the boom years. They stuck their fingers in any pie that took their fancy and then when the boom was over they found they were overextended.
If, instead of shouting about fast broadband in a small area of the country, they concentrated on rolling out their "core business" to the rest of us then in a few years time that core business would be a shoo in. Right now their potential market is limitted.
RE: Money Saving Tip
I *am* a Virgin Media customer and they still send me spam mail. Only about 1/2 the amount I get from Sky though! As for BT and TalkTalk - I'm going to get a sign put on my door asking the postman to route all the junk I get from them directly to a recycling plant! I get about a three trees worth each year from Sky, BT and TalkTalk. You think they would have realised by now that I'm not going to switch!
