Exclusive: Virgin Media has begun to distribute its premium channels from Mediacenter Betzdorf in Luxembourg.
The UK cablenet has established a new subsidiary, Virgin Media Entertainment, registered as Future Entertainment SARL and based close to the headquarters of SES at Château de Betzdorf.
The new arrangement sees over 40 channels including Sky Sports, Sky Movies, Setanta Sports, ARY Digital, B4U Movies, Disney Cinemagic and TV5 directly fed through to Virgin’s UK headends via fibre. Previously Virgin has taken the signals straight from satellite.
A spokesman for Virgin Media explained to Broadband TV News that the new arrangement would improve the picture quality for its premium subscribers, though he declined to comment on whether the benefits might be extended to the HD channels scheduled to launch on the network before the end of the year.
For Virgin customers the move means an administrative change to their terms and conditions to include the Luxembourg-based company that will act as the supplier for premium services.
