Virgin Media Loses 70,300 Subscribers In Q2

Virgin Media lost 70,300 subscribers across its four cable and mobile services in the three months to the end of June.

The cable operator added 2,200 new cable TV subscribers during the quarter, saying that the removal of Sky’s basic channels in March resulted in it losing 40,000 customers across its range of services (see Virgin Media And Sky: The Story So Far).

Net broadband additions were 48,500, down from 87,900 in the first three months of 2007, whilst Virgin Mobile customer numbers rose in the second quarter by 53,000 to 299,000.

The company reported a pre-tax profit of £315.3 million, whilst operating income was £3 million, compared with an operating loss of £15.3 million in the first quarter.

The company reported a net loss of £119 million, which was a slight gain over the £120.3 million loss of the previous quarter.

“The new partnership with Setanta, the planned launch of sports and entertainment channels and our growing VOD platform makes us the superior pay TV offering in the country. Along with our enhanced broadband portal, we have significantly improved our content offering; while improved product bundling and further merger benefits mean the cash outlook for the rest of the year and beyond remains strong.”

Virgin Media put itself up for sale in July, although yesterday it announced that it has delayed the sale of the company to give buyers time to make proposals “in a more stable debt market”.

Yesterday, Virgin Media TV announced that it is launching a +1 service for its free-to-view entertainment channel Ftn this month, with Ftn to rebrand as Virgin 1 in the Autumn (see Virgin To Launch +1 Channel For Ftn).

Virgin Media: www.virginmedia.com