LONDON, February 8 /PRNewswire/ --
- Turn on, Tune in and Branch Out
Virgin Media (NASDAQ: VMED) is making 20 February a red-letter day for TVfans, with the launch of Virgin Central, a revolutionary new kind oftelevision channel.
Virgin Central will herald a new way to watch telly, combining thesimplicity of a traditional channel with the choice and control of nextgeneration TV-on-demand technology.
The channel will be free and host a showcase of blockbuster entertainmentaround the clock, selected from the best of the company's TV-on-demandservice. By pressing one button and using a simple on-screen guide, viewerswill have instant access to different episodes of the show they select. Theycan then stop, rewind and pause - just like using a DVD player.
Major series expected on the service over the coming months include TheOC, Nip/Tuck, West Wing, Little Britain; Grey's Anatomy, Alias, CriminalMinds, CSI: Crime Scene Investigation and CSI: Miami.
Content will be updated regularly and, unlike a traditional TV channel,there will be no waiting for scheduled start times. The hybrid service marksa step change in the development of TV-on-demand, making access to a libraryof additional viewing more exciting and intuitive than ever before.
Steve Burch, president and CEO of Virgin Media, said: "Virgin Centralwill offer a feast of hit shows in one place and is set to become thedestination of choice for TV lovers. By combining brilliant content with theunrivalled versatility of our technology, we have created something that noother company provides. Virgin Central will make TV-on-demand the simple,compelling service it should be."
The new channel will complement Virgin Media's existing library ofTV-on-demand entertainment, which includes over 500 movies, highlights fromthe previous week's primetime schedule, classic series and music videos.Together with a wide choice of broadcast channels, a sophisticated personalvideo recorder and high definition capability, TV-on-demand places VirginMedia's customers at the forefront of the digital revolution.
Further major content additions are expected throughout the year,strengthening the Virgin Central line-up and adding even more choice toEurope's biggest on-demand library.
To find out more about Virgin Media services, consumers can visitwww.virginmedia.com or call 0845 454 1111.
Notes to editors
Virgin Media is an innovative and pioneering UK entertainment andcommunications business. For the first time consumers can get everything theyneed from one company - the UK's only quad play of TV, broadband, phone andmobile plus the most advanced TV on demand service available, the UK's firsthigh definition TV service and V+, our high specification personal videorecorder. We are the UK's most popular broadband provider, the largest virtualmobile network operator and the second largest provider of pay TV and homephone.
Virgin Media owns two content businesses - Virgin Media Television (VMTV)and sit-up. VMTV owns seven entertainment channels - Living, Living 2, Bravo,Bravo 2, Challenge, Trouble and Ftn - and is a 50% partner in UKTV whichconsists of ten channels including UKTV Gold and UKTV History. sit-up runsretail TV channels bid tv, price-drop tv and speed auctiontv.
ntl: Telewest Business also operates under the Virgin Media umbrella andprovides voice, data and internet solutions to leading businesses, publicsector organisations and service providers in the UK.
Virgin Media is the largest Virgin company in the world and has almost 10million customers (5m cable, 4.5m Virgin Mobile, 250,000 virgin.net). To findout more visit www.virginmedia.com/presscentre
Media contacts Charlotte Speedy, Henry's House Tel: +44-207-291-3034 Charlotte@henryshouse.com M Communications Tel: +44-207-153-1515 / +44-207-153-1530
Virgin Media
Media contacts; Charlotte Speedy, Henry's House, Tel: +44-207-291-3034, Charlotte@henryshouse.com; M Communications, Tel: +44 -207-153-1515 / +44-207-153-1530
