Virgin Media adds 8,300 new subscribers in Q3
Virgin Media added a net 8,300 new subscribers in the third quarter, according to a trading statement released today.
Total net TV customer additions were 37,800 in Q3, up from 24,800 in the second quarter and 20,400 in Q3 2007.
Broadband users reached 68,700, down from 115,800 in 2007, although Virgin said that 78% of them were on its highest speed packages. Virgin Media now has 3.88 million broadband users.
The company’s VoD service had a record 45 million average monthly views in Q3, up from 23 million in Q3 2007.
Revenues totalled £991 million, down from £1 billion a year earlier, while average monthly churn, or the number of customers dropping the service, was 1.5% compared to 1.7% a year earlier.
Neil Berkett, chief executive officer of Virgin Media, said: “These third quarter results represent another solid operational and financial performance as we continue to execute against our strategy. In particular, we have grown ARPU, churn remains lower than a year ago and our customers are buying more products from us than ever before.
“In the face of a slowdown in the general economy, our business has shown good resilience and we are focused on keeping churn low, improving our operational execution and driving unnecessary costs and inefficiencies out of the business.
“We continue to exploit our competitive advantages in leading next generation broadband in the UK and redefining the on-demand TV experience. Our fourth quarter will mark a major milestone as we launch our unrivaled 50Mb broadband service.”
Earlier this week Virgin and BSkyB resolved a dispute which had seen the satellite broadcaster’s basic channels removed from the cable platform.
Two new deals – lasting until 2011 – were agreed, which will see the basic channels, including Sky1, Sky News and Sky Sports News, return to Virgin Media on November 13 (see Sky channels will return to Virgin).
Virgin said today that it would pay Sky a license fee of £30m a year for the channels, plus a capped performance-based adjustment.
The adjustment allows for maximum additional payments of £6 million and £8 million in years one and two respectively and £7.9 million in the final seven months of the term.
Virgin Media: www.virginmedia.com