26 January 2007
Virgin Media, the telecommunications provider formed from the remains of ntl telewest and Virgin Mobile, has begun a rollout of its new service ahead next month's re-launch.
Like rival companies BT and Sky, Virgin Media will offer a converged broadband, TV, landline and mobile phone service to its customers, but rather than being aggressively persuaded to take on all four mediums, subscribers will be able to mix and match which options they want in each of the four areas.
Around 34,000 consumers have already begun to experience the digital TV package with its TVDrive boxes in Coventry, Ashford and Basildon, though reactions to the new service have been mixed, as reported on digitalspy.co.uk.
Difficulties with the new electronic programme guide settings have been reported and customers have been left frustrated as call-centre staff appeared unable to help.
The company said that customer care staff wouldn't necessarily know about the rollout yet as it is a 'small scale launch' and were only briefed recently, but that they would be brought up to speed as soon as possible.
Ernie Cormier, Chief Commercial Officer of ntl telewest, said: "The new Virgin TV guide has been developed with input from customers and this small-scale launch is the first stage of a wider rollout that will take place following the arrival of the new company.
"Customer care staff have recently been briefed about the changes and if a customer suspects they have a fault with the software, or their TV service, they should contact us in the normal way."
The news arrives in the same week that Virgin Media's Head of Internal Communications, James Weekley, admitted in public that it was going to be a challenge to turn around the cable company which has a history of "crap service" and ''very tired people" and has been stuck in "synergy hell", according to the Telegraph.