LIVING Ramps Up Online Presence

LONDON, February 27: Virgin
Media Television-owned entertainment channel LIVING is set to launch on
virginmedia.com, marking a reinvention and renewal of the network’s online
offerings.

Due to launch this May,
the revamped livingtv.co.uk will benefit from virginmedia.com’s 6 million
monthly users. The new site will offer a mix of female-skewing content,
including glossy and exclusive TV news, celebrity interviews and lifestyle
strands. The revamped site will support LIVING’s TV franchises such as Grey’s
Anatomy, America’s Next Top Model, Moonlight and Most Haunted, and
offer a virtual backstage pass to shows such as Britain’s Next Top Model, with behind-the-scenes gossip, elimination
interviews, photos and video footage.

LIVING is a key focus for
virginmedia.com for 2008, supported by heavy cross promotion from the homepage,
from the portal’s global navigation and from other content areas of
virginmedia.com. The relaunch will allow ids, the advertising sales house for
Virgin Media Television and virginmedia.com, to offer modified, cross-platform,
commercial opportunities that fully integrate the brands.

Claudia Rosencrantz, the
director of television for Virgin Media Television, said: “The sparkling
new-look LIVING website will expose the brand to millions of new web users,
giving viewers an exclusive 3-D cross-platform experience with LIVING’s ‘access
all areas’ attitude. It will be even more of a must-visit, content-rich
destination in its own right.”

“This is not just another
channel support site,” said Alex Green, the managing director of the portal for
Virgin Media. “It is set to become a unique female destination providing its
audience with everything they want in an online offering. We are investing in
made-for-web video content and expert editorial suppliers; we are building on
our large active community and sourcing big competitions all designed to make
us stand out from the crowd.”

—By Kristin
Brzoznowski