Virgin Media


Virgin Media

Virgin Games official website VirginCasino.com website

Virgin Casino

 

Press Release

Virgin Games Launches TV Advertising Campaign

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.

 

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Virgin Media for the UK

Profile

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).

Website

Virgin Media

News

Press Release

30th November 2007

Setanta Sports News launches today

-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.

Media contacts

Verity Jukes
Virgin Media
0207 909 2120 / 07730 897927
Verity.jukes@virginmedia.co.uk

 

Press Release

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.

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