Virgin Media Loss Widens

LONDON, May 9: Virgin Media lost some 46,900 subscribers in the first quarter, and posted a slightly wider net loss of £120.3 million, versus last year’s £119.9 million.

The subscriber losses were attributed to the weak performance of the company’s fixed-line telephony business. The company expects further losses in the second quarter, following its protracted dispute with BSkyB over carriage of the basic Sky channels, including Sky One. The quarter, however, did see the company add 36,100 net TV customers. "TV additions may not be as strong as they were in the first quarter and in fact, could be negative," Virgin Media chief executive Steve Burch is quoted as saying about the second quarter. Landline customers fell 63,400, but broadband customers were up by 87,900.

Total revenues fell 5 percent from £1.08 billion to £1.02 billion, with cable revenue down to £800.3 million from £813.2 million. Mobile revenues were also down, from £151.7 million to £141 million, and content revenues dropped from £116.7 million to £80.6 million.