Virgin Media reports 169,000 increase in cable service subscription in Q2 as it joins Liberty Global
Virgin Media, now part of cable company Liberty Global plc, has unveiled its operational results for Q2 of 2013, revealing that customer churn improved year-on-year for seventh successive quarter.
Virgin Media reported that total subscriptions for cable services were up 169,000 to 12.2 million year-on-year; while Ti-Vo subscriptions were up 155,000.
Tom Mockridge, Virgin Media’s chief executive officer, said: “Nearly one and a half million more homes are now getting superfast broadband of 30Mb plus from us than twelve months ago. And there’s demand for even faster speeds with over 40 per cent of our new subscribers choosing 60Mb or higher in the last quarter. By doubling more than four million customers’ speeds since early last year we’ve also helped the UK shoot 14 places up the global rankings, overtaking the US, France and Germany.
“In this past year we’ve also added TiVo subscribers at an average of almost 14,000 each week and already 44 per cent of all our TV customers are paying extra for what we believe is the best way to watch television. Taking that experience onto other devices and out of the home, Virgin TV Anywhere now offers more channels to watch online than any other UK pay-TV company. Together these services are transforming how people expect to be entertained.
“The second quarter is always impacted by seasonal upturns in the housing market and the end of the academic year but this was the seventh successive quarter we’ve seen a year-on-year fall in the number of subscribers leaving. We know the addition of a mobile service meaningfully improves churn and so far around 16 per cent of our customers now take a quad-play package. The improvements we’re making to customer service are also becoming apparent as we topped the most recent Ofcom satisfaction study. This combination of extra customers and an increase in the average they’re spending with us over the year continues to drive our revenue and performance.
“In what is a competitive market, there’s clearly emerging recognition of the benefits of faster broadband and advanced television. As part of the world’s largest international cable company, we are well positioned to take advantage of these opportunities and meet the growing demand for digital.”
Due to the company joining Liberty Global, Virgin Media has said that it will not have comparable financial metrics until Q3 2014 when it will once again be able to compare like-with-like.