Virgin Media 2007 Annual Report Download - page 17

expand the distribution network by opening further retail stores over the next few years. The
concessions and retail outlets act as both a sales and service channel and provide Virgin Mobile with
direct access to its customers. Prepaid airtime is sold in all of these channels in addition to others.
Virgin Mobile aims to provide superior customer service and has won the Best Customer Service
Award from Mobile Choice magazine for the past seven years running, as well as many other industry
customer service awards. Virgin Mobile’s three existing customer call centers are located in Trowbridge
(in-house) and Middlesbrough (outsourced) in England, and in Johannesburg, South Africa
(outsourced). Customers can contact the call centers 24 hours per day, 7 days per week.
Content Segment
Through our wholly-owned subsidiaries, Virgin Media Television Limited, or Virgin Media TV, and
sit-up Limited, or sit-up, we provide basic (i.e., non-premium) television channels and related services
to the U.K. multi-channel broadcasting market (including to our Cable Segment) and a wide variety of
consumer products by means of sit-up’s auction-based shopping channels.
Virgin Media TV has seven genre-based entertainment channels, including Virgin 1, Living, Bravo,
Trouble and Challenge, and five additional ‘‘multiplexed’’ channels which have identical content to
another channel but broadcast one hour later. Virgin Media TV also owns a 50% interest in the
companies that comprise the UKTV Group, a series of joint ventures with BBC Worldwide. Together,
Virgin Media TV and the UKTV Group are the largest supplier of basic channels to the U.K. pay
television market. UKTV currently has nine pay channels, including UKTV Gold and Dave, and eight
associated multiplexed channels.
Depending upon the distribution agreement with the platform operator and the package chosen by
the customer, our wholly-owned and UKTV channels are available on our own analog and digital
platforms and the satellite digital platform. These channels generate revenue by the sale of airtime and
sponsorship to advertisers and advertising agencies by Virgin Media TV’s advertising sales department,
IDS (Interactive Digital Sales Limited). Most channels also generate distribution revenue based on
either the number of customers subscribing to programming packages carried by the relevant platform
operators or a fixed monthly fee. Virgin Media TV and UKTV are also represented on Freeview, a
U.K. free-to-air digital television service, with UKTV History, Dave and Virgin 1 available to Freeview
viewers as well as subscribers to all multi-channel platforms. UKTV History, Dave and Virgin 1 are
separate channels with distinct offerings that operate within one of the general entertainment slots
available on Freeview.
sit-up provides a wide variety of consumer products through three interactive auction-based
television channels: price-drop tv, bid tv and speed auction tv. These channels are available on our own
digital platforms, satellite, and also on the internet. Price-drop tv and bid tv are also available on
Freeview.
In November 2007, with our joint venture partner Setanta Sports Holdings Limited, we launched
Setanta Sports News, a sports news channel available to all of our DTV customers at no additional
cost. Setanta Sports News is also available on satellite and the internet.
Our Network
Our deep fiber access network has enabled us to take a leading position in the roll-out of next
generation broadband access technologies in the U.K. During 2008 and 2009, we plan to deploy the
next generation of wideband cable broadband technology enabling ultra-fast broadband services of
50Mb and higher. Our investment in the next generation broadband access technologies is the latest in
a series of significant infrastructure investments to ensure that we remain at the forefront of
communication and entertainment services in the U.K.
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