CABLE CONGRESS 2008 – MADRID. Virgin Media CEO Neil Berkett has outlined the growth prospects for the cablenet’s on demand proposition. He said that six months ago he was laughed at for saying VOD would be larger than Five within the Virgin customer base. Having achieved that goal he was now confident that the combined service would pass the viewership of Channel 4 in the next 12 months.
“We’re significantly improving our proposition in terms of HD and expanding our library, but we still have a long way to go before we hit the consumer mainstream that we aspire to. We need to educate consumers and drive experimentation.”
Berkett returned to familiar ground during his Wednesday evening keynote, putting his case for “economic access” to [Sky’s] pay-TV content and setting out the advantages of cable broadband over DSL to a willing audience.
A key talking point has been the speeds available to cable broadband customers and what should or should not be allowed to pass over the network. Berkett said he regretted remarks he had made in the British press over the protection of children on the internet. Having received a heavy postbag on the topic he accepted there were mainstream concerns.
