Virgin Media 2012 Annual Report Download - page 9

8
OUR CONSUMER SEGMENT
Products and Services
Cable Products and Services
We offer our customers a choice of several packages and tariffs within each of our cable product categories. Our
bundled packaging and pricing are designed to encourage our customers to purchase multiple services across our
product portfolio by offering incentives to customers who subscribe to two or more of our products. The types and
number of services that each customer uses, and the prices we charge for these services, drive our revenue. For
example, broadband internet is more profitable than our television services and, on average our “triple-play” customers
are more profitable than “double-play” or “single-play” customers. As of December 31, 2012, 85% of our cable customers
received multiple services from us and 65% were “triple-play” customers, receiving broadband internet, television and
fixed line telephone services from us.
Our cable broadband internet, television and fixed line telephone services are distributed via our wholly owned, local
access cable network which covers parts of many major metropolitan areas in England, Wales, Scotland and Northern
Ireland.
Broadband Internet
We deliver high-speed broadband internet services to customers on our cable network. As of December 31, 2012,
we provided cable broadband services to over 4.3 million subscribers. We are one of the leading providers of high-
speed broadband in the UK, having introduced both 50 Mbit/s and DOCSIS 3.0 rollouts in 2009 and launched 100
Mbit/s in December 2010 and completed its rollout across the network by end of March 2012. In December 2012, the
average speed received by customers on all tiers was above 90% of the advertised, or headline, speed, and we are
continuing the upgrade program to increase upload speeds to a minimum of 10% of download speeds.
In January 2012, we announced a program to double the speed of our broadband, involving a significant investment
in network capacity and in the rollout of DOCSIS 3.0 wireless gateways. All our customers who were on 10 Mbit/s,
20 Mbit/s, 30 Mbit/s and 50 Mbit/s have seen, or will see, their headline speeds at least doubled under this program.
In January 2012, we also commenced a marketing campaign starring Usain Bolt to communicate this news to our
customers.
We currently have three tiers of high-speed cable broadband services available to new subscribers. We offer download
speeds of 100 Mbit/s to more than 1 million homes, and more broadly offer download speeds of up to 30 Mbit/s and
up to 60 Mbit/s. Our customers also benefit from unlimited downloads (subject to our fair usage and traffic management
policies), advanced security software, including anti-virus and anti-spyware protection, and online data backup for no
additional charge.
Television
We offer a wide range of television services to customers on our cable network. As of December 31, 2012, we provided
cable television services to approximately 3.8 million residential subscribers.
Our digital television, or DTV, service includes access to over 185 linear television channels, advanced interactive
features, and a range of premium subscription-based and pay-per-view services.
We offer a free-to-view digital television service, or Free TV, to certain customers on our cable platform. Our Free TV
service provides access to approximately over 55 linear TV channels such as Dave, E4, Yesterday, and Five USA as
well as radio services.
Our cable network enables us to deliver a broad range of digital interactive services, including games, news,
entertainment and information services, from an on-screen menu. In addition to our linear television services, which
allow our customers to view television programming at a scheduled time, our DTV and Free TV customers also have
access to certain of these digital interactive services, including one of the most comprehensive video on-demand, or
VOD, services in the U.K. See “Virgin TV On Demand,” below.
We also offer interactive “red button” applications from the British Broadcasting Corporation, or BBC, and other
commercial broadcasters. “Red button” functionality in the U.K. permits television viewers to press a red button on
their remote control handset to receive additional interactive services, including multiple broadcasts. For example, in
an Olympics broadcast, a customer can press the red button and choose which sport they wish to watch. The BBC
reinvented their "red button" service in December 2012; "Connected Red Button" was first launched in 1.2 million TiVo
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