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Virgin Media

Virgin Media was formed as a result of the merger between Virgin Mobile and NTL:Telewest in 2006. The service was launch on 8th February 2007, referred to as ‘V Day' by Virgin. It offered the UK's first ‘Quadplay' service, combining television (including video on demand), broadband and mobile phone and fixed line services. Although Virgin implemented a major advertising campaign, it has had a rough few months with many problems, including a failed bid for ITV, removal of Sky channels from its platform and the subsequent loss of a significant number of customers. In addition, it now faces tough competition from other companies launching their own freeview services. Despite these difficulties, it has emerged as a leader in Broadband services, having been voted ‘best consumer ISP' and is currently the UK's second largest pay TV service.

Q1
Virgin media was set up as an alternative to what it perceived as monopolistic domination by Sky over entertainment media in the UK. It sought to differentiate itself from existing competitors by offering the first ‘quadplay' package available. As well as bringing together entertainment and communication, Virgin media aimed to "shake up multichannel and free-to-air TV" as well as liberate viewers from a "linear schedule". This is through its Virgin on Demand service, which allows customers to choose what they wish to watch from a large variety from Virgin's media library.
All these offers, range extensively beyond individual services offered by other companies. The four services are combined into various packages which are customised to serve and match each customer's individual needs; hence prices also differ depending on what each package offers. Using this model has resulted in economies of scope: the more services included in the package, the cheaper the unit costs. By switching from single-service contracts to combined packages, customers will no longer have to handle different contracts, which is much more convenient....