Virgin Media sold for £15 billion

[pctech]

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2013/02/06/virgin_media_to_be_acquired_by_liberty_global/

[Simon]

Could be unsettling for VM customers. 

[Gary]

Could be unsettling for VM customers. 

I think the branding stays the same from what I remember reading. Since Virgin Media had huge debts maybe it will be for the good.

[pctech]

Yes I read that too.

I think Branson makes a fair bit from the brand licence and a minority stake so I doubt he'd want to give that up.

[Niall]

They are so fooked

They will rapidly become another AOL, or if they're incredibly lucky, and extremely good ISP. I doubt it though as I have never seen a company with a large user base sell up and become anything other than awful.

[pctech]

My ADSL was first activated with them (or Virgin Net as then was)

The service was absolutely dire, often with DNS failures.

I left after 6 months as it was luckily a one month contract.

[ST Driver]

Up to now never had a problem with virginmedia which is more than can be said for ADSL and its variants

Steve

[pctech]

I should point out that was 2005.

I think its when VM staff are involved that the wheels start to come off.

I'd agree though ST, the technology itself is sound.

[nowster]

The Virgin name was licensed for 30 years. Beardy had a 3% stake in the company from when he brought Virgin Mobile into the mix that also comprised NTL and Telewest. Both the cablecos had massive debts, as does Virgin Media at the moment. However, it is turning a profit.

[pctech]

From what I've read from various sources, John Malone aka The Cable Cowboy and Darth Vader who owns Liberty Global has been interested in Virgin and before that Telewest for some time.