PictureBox Rolls Out on Virgin Media

LONDON: Universal Pictures’ movies on demand subscription service, PictureBox, will launch on Virgin Media’s cable-TV platform this July, delivering hundreds of films for £5 per month.

Virgin Media’s 3.6 million TV subscribers will be granted access, for a monthly fee, to a broad selection of recent and library feature films. There will be a selection of 28 films at any given time, with seven new titles being added to the lineup each Friday.  Most of titles will be available in HD and many will not yet have been seen on free-to-air television in the U.K. Highlights include Hot Fuzz, The Bourne Ultimatum, Children of Men and The Holiday, as well as classic blockbusters such as Scarface, Total Recall and E.T.—The Extra Terrestrial.  

Katharine Burns, the executive director of content acquisition at Virgin Media, noted: “Our customers love movies on demand and they’re watching millions of films every year. The addition of PictureBox means Virgin Media is the perfect choice for film fans, with a fantastic HD lineup and even more films to choose from, all at great value for money.”

 The PictureBox service is already available in the U.K., as well as in Poland and Singapore. “This agreement is a significant step in the growth of the PictureBox brand, which will now be available to Virgin Media’s 3.6 million TV customers in the U.K.,” added Belinda Menendez, the president of NBC Universal International TV Distribution. “Our reach in the U.K. has now increased more than fivefold and the service has expanded internationally since initial launch less than three years ago.”