Virgin Media CEO Steps Down

Virgin Media’s CEO, Steve Burch, is to leave the company with immediate effect, citing family and personal reasons.

Burch, who joined the company in January 2006, will return to the US having stepped down from the Virgin Media board.

It is understood that Neil Berkett, chief operating officer, will take over from Burch until a full-time replacement is found.

Jim Mooney, chairman of Virgin Media, said: “On behalf of Virgin Media’s board of directors, I thank [Steve] for his contribution to our development and wish him every success for the future.”

Burch is credited with orchestrating the integration of NTL and Telewest and the company’s subsequent relaunch under the Virgin Media brand (see Virgin Media Launches Today), but has also overseen a turbulent period for the business, including the loss of 70,300 customers in Q2 2007 (see Virgin Media Loses 70,300 Subscribers In Q2).

The loss of subscribers has been put down to the dispute between BSkyB and Virgin Media, which resulted in Sky withdrawing its core channels, including Sky One, from Virgin’s basic subscription package (see Virgin Media And Sky: The Story So Far).

Virgin has taken the dispute to the High Court, accusing Sky of abusing its dominance in the market. The court case will get under way in mid-2008.

Virgin Media recently put itself up for sale for £11 billion after receiving an approach from private equity group Carlyle at the beginning of July. It then extended the deadline for receiving formal takeover proposals, saying it is delaying the sale of the company to give buyers time to make proposals “in a more stable debt market” (see Media In The City: Virgin Media Extends Bid Deadline).

Virgin Media: www.virginmedia.com