RICHARD BRANSON - BRANSON SEEKS TO DOMINATE TV IN U.K.

British entertainment and airline mogul Richard Branson today (Thursday) launched Virgin Media, offering an array of TV, communications, and broadband services in a single package to customers in the U.K. In a statement, Branson described the new company as representing "a milestone in the history of the media industry and cable [TV] in particular." The company, which combines Virgin Mobile with recently acquired NTL Cable and Telewest, announced plans to launch an on-demand TV service called Virgin Central on February 20. It said that subscribers will be able to choose from a selection of episodes from such shows as Grey's Anatomy, Alias, Criminal Minds, CSI (seasons 1-4), CSI: Miami (seasons 1 and 2), Nip/Tuck, Night Stalker and others. On its website, Daily Variety referred to the Virgin announcement as Branson's declaration of war against Rupert Murdoch, whose BSkyB controls the U.K.'s pay-TV market.

08/02/2007