Virgin Media Inc. (VMED), the U.K. cable-TV provider being bought by Liberty Global Inc. (LBTYA), plans to make Web services such as Netflix a more integral part of its offering rather than fighting them, its chief executive officer said. <\/p>\n
Our approach is to get every content asset you possibly can on the platform, CEO Neil Berkett said yesterday in an interview at the Cable Congress in London. <\/p>\n
Liberty Global, the cable giant controlled by billionaire John Malone, is buying Virgin Media for $16 billion to expand in Europes biggest pay-TV market. Berkett is overseeing the merger while competing against larger rival British Sky Broadcasting Group Plc (BSY) as well as streaming services offered by Netflix Inc. (NFLX) and Amazon.coms Lovefilm. <\/p>\n
Cable operators have an advantage as their relationship with content providers is highly complementary, he said. Still, streaming services have the potential to dilute offerings by the cable companies that dont work with them, he said. <\/p>\n
Weve got a far greater chance as an industry by embracing over-the-top services, Berkett said. Its unlikely that youll see a U-turn and digression in terms of our strategy under Liberty Global. <\/p>\n
Liberty Global CEO Mike Fries said yesterday at the conference that he expected Virgin Media to continue to use the TiVo Inc. (TIVO) set-top box in the coming years, though was unsure what would happen beyond that. Liberty Global has been introducing the competing Horizon box in Europe, starting in the Netherlands. <\/p>\n
TiVo CEO Tom Rogers said in an interview today his company has a long time on the contract with Virgin Media. <\/p>\n
Its really expensive to make a technology change of the sort we represent once its weaved into the heart of the software, he said at the Cable Congress today. We will continue to work with Virgin and look forward to working with Liberty Global. <\/p>\n
About 1.3 million Virgin Media customers currently have the TiVo box, Berkett said yesterday, and the company is continuing to offer it. <\/p>\n
TiVo is also in talks with a number of operators in Europe about adding its set-top box and software, Rogers said. There is room to grow with about 400 million subscribers in regions including western Europe and the U.S. that will decide whether to take on advanced TV services in future, he added. <\/p>\n
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Virgin Media to Embrace Online Rivals After Takeover by Liberty<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Virgin Media Inc. (VMED), the U.K Continue reading