Virgin Media focuses on customer retention

Cable operator Virgin Media says it has added 8,300 customers in the third quarter and is showing “resilience” during the economic slowdown. The group, which this week settled its 20-month channel dispute with rival BSkyB, says its focus is on cutting churn.

Although the company’s revenue of £991m was down on the £1006m it recorded in 2007 in results announced today (November 6), it did add 37,800 new subscriptions to its television service and 68,700 new subscriptions to its broadband offering.

Virgin Media chief executive Neil Berkett says: “These third quarter results represent another solid operational and financial performance as we continue to execute against our strategy. In the face of economic slowdown in the general economy, our business has shown good resilience.

“We are focused on keeping churn low, improving our operational execution and driving unnecessary costs and inefficiencies out of the business.”

Berkett says the brand will “continue to exploit” its “competitive advantages in leading next generation broadband in the UK”. He adds: “Our fourth quarter will be a major milestone as we launch our unrivalled 50Mb broadband service.”