Virgin hit by loss of Sky channels
Virgin Media managed to add just 2,200 net new cable television customers in the three months to the end of June, and has admitted that the removal of Sky's basic channels in March had resulted in the loss of 40,000 customers across its services.
The cable TV, broadband, landline and mobile phone operator described the performance of its TV arm as "resilient" and ahead of original City analysts' forecasts of the negative impact on subscriber numbers from the loss of Sky's channels.
Investment bank UBS had predicted Virgin could lose as many as 400,000 customers because of its distribution fees dispute with BSkyB, which led to Sky One, Sky News and Sky Sports News being pulled from the cable operator's TV service at the end of February.
Overall, Virgin Media lost 70,300 subscribers across its four cable and mobile services in the second quarter.
Net broadband additions for the quarter were 48,500, down from 87,900 in the first three months of 2007.
Virgin Mobile customer numbers rose in the second quarter by 53,000 to 299,000.
Fixed-line phone subscriber losses in the quarter were 56,900 net, an improvement compared with 63,400 net fall in the first quarter.
"The second quarter results show encouraging broadband and mobile contract growth, a resilient performance by our TV business and signs that our fixed-line telephony business is starting to react to renewed management focus," said the Virgin Media chief executive officer, Steve Burch.
Operating income for the three months to the end of June was £3m, compared with an operating loss of £15.3m in the first quarter.
Total revenue for the second quarter was £995m, down from £1.2bn in the first quarter this year.
The company posted a net loss of £119m - a slight gain over the £120.3m loss of the previous quarter - and a marked improvement over the £195.8m loss in the same period last year.
Regards Satdude. :thum:
Virgin Media managed to add just 2,200 net new cable television customers in the three months to the end of June, and has admitted that the removal of Sky's basic channels in March had resulted in the loss of 40,000 customers across its services.
The cable TV, broadband, landline and mobile phone operator described the performance of its TV arm as "resilient" and ahead of original City analysts' forecasts of the negative impact on subscriber numbers from the loss of Sky's channels.
Investment bank UBS had predicted Virgin could lose as many as 400,000 customers because of its distribution fees dispute with BSkyB, which led to Sky One, Sky News and Sky Sports News being pulled from the cable operator's TV service at the end of February.
Overall, Virgin Media lost 70,300 subscribers across its four cable and mobile services in the second quarter.
Net broadband additions for the quarter were 48,500, down from 87,900 in the first three months of 2007.
Virgin Mobile customer numbers rose in the second quarter by 53,000 to 299,000.
Fixed-line phone subscriber losses in the quarter were 56,900 net, an improvement compared with 63,400 net fall in the first quarter.
"The second quarter results show encouraging broadband and mobile contract growth, a resilient performance by our TV business and signs that our fixed-line telephony business is starting to react to renewed management focus," said the Virgin Media chief executive officer, Steve Burch.
Operating income for the three months to the end of June was £3m, compared with an operating loss of £15.3m in the first quarter.
Total revenue for the second quarter was £995m, down from £1.2bn in the first quarter this year.
The company posted a net loss of £119m - a slight gain over the £120.3m loss of the previous quarter - and a marked improvement over the £195.8m loss in the same period last year.
Regards Satdude. :thum: