Television
February 20, 2007
Top Warner Bros. Shows To Join Virgin TV Library
Virgin Media and Warner Bros. have today announced a major new content agreement for hundreds of episodes of hit US drama and comedy series.
The deal will make over 500 episodes per year of top-rating US shows like "Nip/Tuck," "Friends," "The OC," "West Wing" and "ER" available to over three million cable customers, through Virgin Media’s huge TV-on-demand (TVoD) library.
The agreement sees Virgin Media strengthen its service even further, following recent content deals with Channel 4, Buena Vista and Alliance Atlantis. Initially, episodes from some the top Warner Bros. series will be made available on Virgin Central, Virgin Media’s new TVoD-enabled channel that
launches on 20 February. The agreement also includes the provision of high definition versions of the programmes in the future.
Steve Burch, president and CEO of Virgin Media, said: “This is a huge deal and our customers have a feast of entertainment to look forward to. Warner Bros. has many of the best US shows available and this is our biggest content investment.”
“The agreement will add hundreds of hours of must-see shows to our on demand library, which customers can easily access and control at any time of day or night.”
Further content additions are expected throughout the year, strengthening the line-up and adding even more choice to one of Europe’s biggest on-demand library.
This deal was negotiated on behalf of Warner Bros., by Christopher Law, who serves as Senior VP and Managing Director, U.K., Warner Bros. International Television and Digital Distribution.
Said Law: “This is an example of the coordinated efforts of our company in bringing Warner Bros. programming to new distribution platforms while making access to these shows easier for consumers in a manner that complements and respects the broadcasters that have partnered with us to make these shows successful in the U.K.”
Josh Berger, president and MD of Warner Bros. Entertainment UK added: “We’re pleased to be partners with Virgin in this great new service. Virgin Media provides another platform that allows customers to conveniently view our TV shows whenever they want and however they want, and we are looking forward to working with Virgin as their service evolves further.”
To find out more about Virgin Media services, consumers can visit www.virginmedia.com or call 0845 454 1111.
Notes to editors
Virgin Media is an innovative and pioneering UK entertainment and communications business. For the first time consumers can get everything they need from one company - the UK's only quad play of TV, broadband, phone and mobile plus the most advanced TV on demand service available, the UK’s first high definition TV service and V+, our high specification personal video recorder. We're the UK’s most popular broadband provider, the largest virtual mobile network operator and the second largest provider of pay TV and home phone.
Virgin Media owns two content businesses - Virgin Media Television (VMTV) and sit-up. VMTV owns seven entertainment channels - LIVINGtv, LIVINGtv 2, Bravo, Bravo 2, Challenge, Trouble and Ftn - and is a 50% partner in UKTV which consists of ten channels including UKTV Gold and UKTV History. sit-up runs retail TV channels bid tv, price-drop tv and speed auctiontv.
Virgin Media is the largest Virgin company in the world and has almost 10 million customers. To find out more visit www.virginmedia.com/presscentre
About Warner Bros.
Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc., is one of the world's largest producer of film and television entertainment. It is currently a subsidiary of the Time Warner conglomerate, with headquarters in Burbank, California, USA.Warner Bros. includes several subsidiary companies, among them Warner Bros. Studios, Warner Bros. Pictures, Warner Bros. Television, Warner Bros. Animation, Warner Home Video, DC Comics and The CW Television Network.
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