Virgin Media 2009 Annual Report Download - page 26

Corporate Responsibility
We are committed to demonstrating corporate responsibility, or CR, across all of our business
activities. We have implemented a CR governance structure to deliver more effective scrutiny and
management of the issues most likely to impact our reputation as a responsible business. Our CR
Committee, chaired by our chief executive officer and comprised of members of our senior
management, convenes quarterly and advises on the most effective means of managing the CR risk and
opportunity that emerge from this process.
During the course of 2009, we focused on identifying those issues that have the most impact on
our ability to demonstrate CR. Our key priority is to ensure that our customers can safely and
confidently enjoy the benefits of our digital product which we refer to as the provision of ‘‘digital
confidence.’’ Other priorities include managing our environmental impact, particularly our carbon
emissions; ensuring that we deal with suppliers that share our commitment to sustainability; and
developing the quality of our workplace through focusing on issues such as diversity and wellness.
Seasonality
Some revenue streams are subject to seasonal factors. For example, fixed line telephone usage
revenue by customers and businesses tends to be slightly lower during summer holiday months, mobile
customer acquisition and retention costs generally increase in the fourth quarter of each year due to
the important Christmas period and mobile average revenue per unit, or ARPU, generally decreases in
the first quarter of each year due to the fewer number of days in February and lower usage after the
Christmas period. Our consumer cable churn rates include persons who disconnect their service
because of moves, resulting in a seasonal increase in our churn rates during the summer months when
higher levels of U.K. house moves have traditionally occurred and students leave their accommodation
between school years. In addition, our Content segment has a seasonally higher programming spend in
the fourth quarter.
Research and Development
Our research and development activities involve the analysis of technological developments
affecting our cable television, telephone and telecommunications business, the evaluation of existing
services and sales and marketing techniques and the development of new services and techniques.
Patents, Trademarks, Copyrights and Licenses
We do not have any material patents or copyrights nor do we believe that patents play a material
role in our business. We own or have the right to use registered trademarks, which in some cases are,
and in others may be, of material importance to our business, including the exclusive right to use the
‘‘Virgin’’ name and logo under licenses from Virgin Enterprises Limited in connection with our
corporate activities, the activities of our consumer and business operations, and a large part of our
content operations. These licenses, which expire in April 2036, are exclusive to us within the U.K. and
Ireland, and are subject to renewal on terms to be agreed. They entitle us to use the ‘‘Virgin’’ name for
the television, broadband internet, fixed line telephone and mobile phone services we provide to our
consumer and business customers, and in connection with the acquisition and branding of sports,
movies and other premium television content and the sale of certain communications equipment, such
as set top boxes and cable modems. For our content operations, we are entitled to use the ‘‘Virgin
Media Television’’ name for the creation, distribution and management of our wholly owned television
channels, and to use the ‘‘Virgin’’ name for our television channel, Virgin1. For our business division,
we are licensed to use the name ‘‘Virgin Media Business’’ for the provision of business communications
services.
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