LONDON,
UNITED KINGDOM - (Marketwire - Nov. 1, 2010) - Virgin
Games, the leading online gaming company, has
launched its first ever television advertising campaign
for its casino site, Virgin
Casino. The advert aims to cement Virgin Casino's
position as the home of online slots by promoting
the wide range of games that the company now offers,
and the fact that it launches at least one new game
every week.
The
20 second advert, which is part of a £500,000
campaign, uses a space theme to introduce viewers
to the world of Virgin Casino and features well known
online game titles such as Cleopatra, Da Vinci Diamonds
and Monopoly Multiplier. It was produced by ABF Pictures
with MGOMD acting as media planners and buyers.
Oliver
Wilson, Casino Acquisition Manager, commented: "We
had such a fantastic response from our first Virgin
Bingo ad launched last year that we decided that this
was the right way to go for Virgin Casino. Bingo received
a 100 per cent increase in player registrations on
the back of the first adverts aired late last year
and this evidence suggests it makes absolute sense
for TV to play a significant part in the marketing
mix for the casino product.
"TV
advertising is a new strategy for Virgin Casino and
we believe a natural fit. Consumers like the familiarity
and security of knowing they are playing with a trusted
and reputable company. Being part of the Virgin brand
helps this, while TV raises awareness of the casino
product and the range of slot games we offer."
The
advert premieres on 1st November and will run for
two weeks. It is a test campaign covering two UK regions
that will test Direct Response TV prior to a national
heavyweight rollout in the future. The two week campaign
will run mainly on ITV and Channel 4.
The
TV advertising will be supported by a range of direct
response activity including PPC and Display Media.
Affiliate marketing will also play a significant role
in the campaign and will run through Virgin Games'
in-house affiliate system.
Launched
in 2004, Virgin Games is one of the UK's leading online
gaming sites. To visit Virgin Games go to www.virgingames.com.
Notes
to editors:
About
Virgin Games:
Virgin Games (www.virgingames.com)
launched in June 2004 and has quickly established
itself as one of the leading gaming websites in the
UK. Virgin Games comprises three distinct offerings:
Virgin Casino, offers content from a range of games
suppliers including WagerWorks, Microgaming, Cryptologic,
Freemantle and Ash Gaming, bringing consumers classic
casino games like Blackjack and Roulette, as well
as great feature slots like Monopoly, Rubik's, X-Factor
and the highly popular MegaJackpots progressive games.
Virgin Poker, part of the Boss Media network, offers
a huge array of games and content for beginners through
to experienced pros as well as the most generous
loyalty scheme in the industry.
Virgin Bingo, part of the Virtue Fusion network, offers
cash prizes worth thousands of pounds in the progressive
jackpots, as well as Virgin prize bingo and a range
of unique Virgin Games bingo games.
Wondering
who we are? Well, we're the first people in the
UK to offer you TV, Broadband, Phone and Mobile
- all from one place.
The
future is bursting with fresh entertainment and
communication possibilities. That's why we're
here - to bring all the excitement to you and
make your digital place the brilliant place it
should be.
Suddenly,
everything's coming together, and we’re
the first people to provide you with a unique
combination of:
*
TV that puts you in control
* Superfast and reliable broadband
* Phone packages that fit around you
* Mobile service that gives you just what you
want
Whatever
you choose with Virgin Media, we're aiming to
make the whole experience as effortless as the
award-winning service our Virgin Mobile customers
have enjoyed for years.
Virgin
Media Plc is the new name for NTL's operations
(including Telewest) from 14 February 2007.
The
present company was formed by the merger of the
operations of NTL, Telewest, Virgin.net and Virgin
Mobile.
Virgin
Media will be the UK's largest broadband internet
company, second largest fixed-line telephone company
(after BT) and the fifth largest mobile phone
group. It will be the second largest pay TV provider
after BSkyB, and the third largest digital TV
provider after BSkyB and Freeview.
Uma
Thurman will be the face of Virgin Media at launch.
Corporate
The ultimate holding company of Virgin Media Plc
is likely to be Virgin Media, Inc. This is because,
as of December 2006, NTL is listed on the NASDAQ
Global Market in the USA.
Sir
Richard Branson's Virgin Entertainment Investment
Holdings Limited own 34,260,959 NTL common stock
as of December 2006.
Virgin brand
Virgin Media have entered into a 30-year licensing
agreement with Sir Richard Branson's Virgin Enterprises
Limited, to licence out all the relevant Virgin
sub-brands for a term of 30 years, with a ten
year opt- out clause
Deal
with Virgin Megastores
Virgin Media will use its content and service
partner Virgin Mobile will rebrand its existing
operations to Virgin Media and provide "High
Street" sales centres for providing cable
equipment and "in person" sales. Virgin
Media will have no new dedicated shops, but the
existing Virgin Mobile only stores will rebrand
to provide cable services and support[citation
needed.
This
will give Virgin Media a huge boost as they could
then sell equipment for "self installtion"
directly from the High Street reducing the need
for "manned installations".
Structure
The company will be split into six major divisions
Virgin Television
Virgin Television is the digital cable TV service
from Virgin Media. It has 3.3m subscribers as
of December 2006. It is the UK's largest provider
of on-demand content with over 3 million VOD customers
and the second biggest pay-TV digital TV service
behind Sky TV (with near 8m subscribers). However,
Virgin Television is the number one provider of
pay-TV in its addressable areas (Roughly 50% of
UK households - some 12 million homes).
Virgin Telephone
This is the landline telephone service from Virgin
Media. Formerly branded as NTL Telewest, it is
the number two service behind the former UK state
monopoly, BT Group.
Virgin Broadband
The broadband division combines NTL's cable broadband
operations
Virgin.net
Virgin
Mobile
Main article: Virgin Mobile
Virgin Media (formerly NTL Inc.) owns Virgin Mobile
Holdings (UK) plc, the leading virtual mobile
network operator with over 4.5m subscribers.
Flextech
Television
Flextech
The content subsidiary of Virgin Media. Flextech
owns a number of wholly-owned channels (including
Bravo and LIVINGtv). Additionally, Flextech has
a 50% share in UKTV (with BBC
Worldwide), and owns Sit-Up Ltd, who operate the
Screenshop, bid tv, price-drop tv and speed auction
tv. Initially, Flextech Television Limited and
all its channels will retain their existing branding.
References
The Independent (22 January 2007). Thurman to
front £20m Virgin Media campaign. The Independent.
Yahoo Finance (31 January 2007). VIRGIN ENTERTAINMENT
INVESTMENT HOLDINGS LTD: Declared Holdings. Yahoo
Finance. Digital Spy (4 April 2006). NTL confirms
£1bn Virgin Mobile takeover. Digital Spy.
December 06 Virgin Media Presentation. (Credit:
Wikipedia).
-New
channel offers a fresh approach to sports news
broadcasting-
LONDON,
November 29th, 2007: Setanta Sports News, the
new 24-hour rolling sports news channel, launches
today and marked the occasion with a sporting
bash at Urban Golf in Soho, attended by sporting
greats such as golfing legend, Darren Clarke,
WBO Champion Enzo Maccarinelli and Setanta Sports
pundits Tim Sherwood and Les Ferdinand.
Setanta
Sports News offers free-to-air sports news broadcasting
for millions of homes across the UK with a straightforward
and fresh approach to delivering the latest breaking
sports news and exciting new programming to sports
fans. Highlights include a weekly chat show with
Kelly Dalglish, a live phone in show with footballing
legend Steve Claridge, and ‘The Goal Rush’,
which will be the only programme on a free-to-air
sports news channel to show all the goals from
the Barclays Premier League and Clydesdale Bank
Premier League.
Bright
new personalities who want to stamp their mark
on sports broadcasting will give the channel a
young and vibrant on-air feel. Ex-Real Madrid
TV presenter, Ashley House, former BBC Sport reporter,
Roann Ghosh and ex-Commonwealth Games athlete,
Lisa Knights, are just a few of the presenters
confirmed to front up the channel. The on-air
team will also be focused on generating debate
and engaging with sports fans across the nation,
including the channels latest ‘fan-correspondents’
who will represent their teams and sports across
the UK.
Leonard
Ryan, joint Chief Executive, Setanta Sports, said:
“Setanta Sports News was created to offer
a straightforward and fresh way of delivering
sports news and quality content to fans across
the UK. I am delighted that Setanta has taken
this major step forward and created this cutting
edge sports news service that can be enjoyed in
millions of homes across the UK.”
Malcolm
Wall, CEO of Content, Virgin Media, said: “Setanta
Sports News will offer a real choice for sports
fans, by providing the very best in breaking sports
news and commentary. At Virgin Media, we always
look to offer consumers the very best in entertainment
and this channel is another way of doing just
that.”
Setanta
Sports News will be available free-to-air on the
Virgin Media platform, and also on satellite,
and it will cover, in detail, all relevant sports
stories from the UK and abroad, regardless of
whether the event is broadcast on a Setanta channel.
Simon
Green, Setanta Sports News, said: “Everyone
at Setanta is very excited that Setanta Sports
News launching today. When we set out to create
this channel we placed the fans at the heart of
our programming, which is something that will
really come across on screen.”
Setanta
Sports News is jointly owned by Setanta Sports
and Virgin Media, and produced by ITN. Its EPG
number on Virgin Media is 518. The satellite EPG
number is 435.
-ends-
For further information - please contact:
Richard Tompkins or Sally Payne at Braben on 020
7566 2990 or email richardt@braben.co.uk or sally@braben.co.uk
Verity Jukes at Virgin Media on 0207 909 2120
or email Verity.Jukes@virginmedia.co.uk
Editor
information:
Setanta
Sports
Setanta
Sports is a leading international pay-TV sports
broadcaster operating nine channels in the UK,
Ireland, North America and Australia. Founded
in 1992, its premium sports content is available
to more than 50 million digital homes worldwide.
Setanta operates more sports channels than any
other broadcaster in the UK and Ireland and has
recently started broadcasting the Barclays Premier
League in the UK for the first time.
Virgin Media
Virgin
Media is an innovative and pioneering UK entertainment
and communications business. For the first time
consumers can get everything they need from one
company - the UK's only quad play of TV, broadband,
phone and mobile plus the most advanced TV on
demand service available, the UK’s first
high definition TV service and V+, our high specification
personal video recorder. We're the UK’s
most popular residential broadband provider, the
largest virtual mobile network operator and the
second largest provider of pay TV and home phone.
Virgin
Media owns two content businesses - Virgin Media
Television (VMTV) and sit-up. VMTV owns seven
entertainment channels - Virgin 1, Living, Living
2, Bravo, Bravo 2, Challenge, Trouble - and is
a 50% partner in UKTV, which consists of ten channels
including UKTV Gold and UKTV History. sit-up runs
retail TV channels bid tv, price-drop tv and speed
auctiontv.
Virgin
Media is the largest Virgin company in the world
and has almost 10 million customers. To find out
more, visit www.virginmedia.com/presscentre
Press
Release
29th
Feb 2008
Samuel L Jackson to front Virgin Media’s
new TV ads
Hollywood's Mr Cool stars in TV revolution ads
Samuel
L Jackson has been confirmed as the new face of
Virgin Media's latest TV advertising campaign.
Jackson, Hollywood's award-winning actor and international
icon, is to star in the new TV adverts to promote
the company's market leading TV service.
The
suite of 30 and 40 second ads will go on air in
April and were filmed recently in the United States
on the set of Jackson's latest movie. Jackson
follows in the successful footsteps of Uma Thurman,
who helped to launch Virgin Media in February
2007.
The
new ads will show Virgin Media leading the TV
revolution and will bring to life the company's
Video on Demand content and how it puts people
in control of their TV viewing –watching
what they want, when they want. They will also
highlight Catch-Up-TV, a Virgin Media service
which allows customers to watch TV programmes
they may have missed from the last seven days.
Virgin Media's On Demand service currently has
over 4,300 hours of TV programming, including
500 movies, 1,000 music videos and award winning
series such as The Sopranos, CSI and The West
Wing.
The
new campaign reflects Virgin Media's focus on
placing its market leading Video on Demand and
broadband service at the heart of its consumer
offer.
James
Kydd, Virgin Media's managing director of brand
and marketing said: “We are extremely excited
about working with Samuel for our new ad campaign,
as he has such massive appeal with young and old
alike. He is the epitome of cool and is an unmistakeably
powerful narrator who never fails to grab the
attention of the viewer. We couldn't think of
anyone better to talk about the best TV service
in the UK.”
The
campaign has been created by Rapier and will be
shot by well-known Swedish director Jonas Akerlund.
The ads are part of a multi-million pound media
campaign for Virgin Media, including print and
online.
Notes
to editors
Virgin
Media is an innovative and pioneering UK entertainment
and communications business. For the first time
consumers can get everything they need from one
company - the UK's only quad play of TV, broadband,
phone and mobile plus the most advanced TV on
demand service available, the UK's first high
definition TV service and V+, our high specification
personal video recorder. We're the UK's largest
residential broadband provider, the largest virtual
mobile network operator and the second largest
provider of pay TV and home phone.
Virgin Media owns two content businesses - Virgin
Media Television (VMTV) and sit-up. VMTV owns
seven entertainment channels – Virgin1,
Living, Living 2, Bravo, Bravo 2, Challenge, and
Trouble - and is a 50% partner in UKTV which consists
of nine channels including Dave, UKTV Gold and
UKTV History. sit-up runs retail TV channels bid
tv, price-drop tv and speed auctiontv.
Virgin Media is the largest Virgin company in
the world and has almost 10 million customers.
To find out more visit www.virginmedia.com/presscentre.
First
time BBC iPlayer is available on a TV platform
- 30th April 2008
Virgin
Media (NASDAQ: VMED) today announced a partnership
with the BBC to launch BBC iPlayer onto its platform,
making its 3.5 million TV customers the first
in the UK to get the popular service via a TV
platform. Viewers using BBC iPlayer on Virgin
Media will be able to watch full screen pictures
at full quality on their television set without
the need for downloading.
As
of today, Virgin Media customers will be able
to catch up on their favourite BBC programmes
by pressing the red button on any BBC channel.
Access to BBC iPlayer through Virgin Media's EPG
(Electronic Programme Guide) menu is due this
summer.
BBC
iPlayer allows viewers to catch-up on over 350
hours of TV programmes from the past seven days,
at no extra cost. This includes shows such as
Eastenders, Doctor Who, Gavin and Stacey, Top
Gear, The Apprentice as well as documentaries
such as Louis Theroux.
Malcolm
Wall, CEO of Content at Virgin Media, said: "We're
delighted to be the first TV platform in the UK
to offer our customers BBC iPlayer as part of
our on-demand service. The enormous success of
iPlayer online has demonstrated the desire TV
viewers have for viewing quality programmes at
a time that suits them, and now it's available
from the comfort of the living room. Virgin Media
is proud to be working with the BBC to continue
to lead this revolution in TV viewing."
Ashley
Highfield, BBC Director of Future Media and Technology
said: "We have always envisaged BBC iPlayer
on a TV platform and in the living room and are
delighted that by working with Virgin Media, this
ambition has today been realised. This partnership
takes us a step closer to transforming the way
our audiences watch TV. It also further underlines
our commitment to making BBC iPlayer a multiplatform
offering that appeals to a wide range of audiences."
Virgin
Media has pioneered on-demand television in the
UK with almost half (47 per cent) of its 3.5 million
TV customers regularly using this service. The
number of views per customer has grown in the
last year from 10 to 23 times per month and in
the last three months of 2007, there were 99 million
views alone.
To
find out more about Virgin Media's products and
services visit www.virginmedia.com
or call 0800 052 2525.
Notes
to editors
1.
BBC iPlayer on Virgin Media
The
number of hours of available programming on Virgin
Media will increase as the iPlayer service grows.
Further enhancements such as the integration of
the highly successful BBC Radio Player are planned
to be added in due course.
2.
BBC iPlayer Online
BBC
iPlayer online continues to show significant growth
with the total number of requests for downloads
or streams of BBC programmes in the first three
months of the year reaching 42 million. The average
number of weekly users of BBC iPlayer reached
1.1 million in March, up from January's average
of 75,000.
3.
About Virgin Media
Virgin Media is an innovative and pioneering UK
entertainment and communications business. For
the first time consumers can get everything they
need from one company - the UK's only quad play
of TV, broadband, phone and mobile plus the most
advanced TV on demand service available, the UK's
first high definition TV service and V+, our high
specification personal video recorder. We're the
UK's largest residential broadband provider, the
largest virtual mobile network operator and the
second largest provider of pay TV and home phone.
Virgin Media owns two content businesses - Virgin
Media Television (VMTV) and sit-up. VMTV owns
seven entertainment channels – Virgin1,
Living, Living 2, Bravo, Bravo 2, Challenge, and
Trouble - and is a 50% partner in UKTV which consists
of nine channels including Dave, UKTV Gold and
UKTV History. sit-up runs retail TV channels bid
tv, price-drop tv and speed auctiontv.
Virgin Media is the largest Virgin company in
the world and has almost 10 million customers.
To find out more visit www.virginmedia.com/presscentre.
4.
About BBC
The
BBC exists to enrich people's lives with great
programmes and services that inform, educate and
entertain. It provides a wide range of distinctive
programmes and services for everyone, free of
commercial interests and political bias. They
include television, radio, national, local, children's,
educational, language and other services for key
interest groups. The BBC is financed by a TV licence
paid by households. It does not have to serve
the interests of advertisers, or produce a return
for shareholders.