NEWS FROM VIRGIN MEDIA

Terrier-vision!

Virgin Media investigates the ‘wag’ factor for new ‘Doggy on Demand’ service

Virgin Media has today announced it is investigating a new phenomenon: dogs who are dotty about telly. The entertainment company is conducting research into shows that appeal to the whole family, including our beloved pet dogs, after discovering a unique breed of TV fans who are literally ‘barking about the box’. Striving to meet the demands of every viewer in the house, Virgin Media is even considering plans to introduce a bespoke TV on demand section containing shows that appeal to dogs as well as their owners.

Having carried out a nation-wide search to find the nation’s biggest canine TV fans, Virgin Media selected three top TV dogs from across the country to help assess whether they know their Rover’s Return from Bone-jacker. Whilst most dogs are content chasing a stick or munching on a bone, these potty pooches go ‘ga-ga’ for the gogglebox. Virgin Media’s research shows a diverse range of programmes appeal to these crazy canines, from Bark Rise to Candleford to Canine-99 Lifesavers.

Helping the entertainment company’s research, Virgin Media’s TV Terriers include:

· Football mad Miki, a German Shepherd aged one from Kent, who loves anything noisy or action-packed including sport, The Bill and EastEnders.

· Chihuaua Oliver, aged nine from Stoke-on-Trent, who goes crazy for Corrie and barks for Shih Tzu Buster on the Paul O’Grady Show. Oliver also enjoys singing along with TV theme tunes.

· English Bulldog Cookie, aged one from London, particularly likes football and has been known to chase a ball around the room whilst watching a match.

Mavis Williams, Oliver’s owner, said: “Oliver has enjoyed watching telly since he was a puppy, and his whole mood can change if one of his favourite shows is on. We were delighted to get involved with Virgin Media’s ‘Doggy on Demand’ project and discover what other programmes dogs across the country enjoy watching.”

Ashley Stockwell, managing director of brand and marketing at Virgin Media added;

“There are already over 4,600 hours of top TV at Virgin Media customers’ fingertips through our TV on demand service, so every barking mad telly fan can watch what they want, whenever they want. We’ve had a fascinating insight into what gets our panel of TV Terriers’ tails wagging, and are looking closely at these results to ensure our TV on demand service continues to be the ‘dog’s’.”

For more information on Virgin Media’s TV on demand service, log onto www.virginmedia.com.





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Notes to editors
About Virgin Media

With almost 10 million customers, Virgin Media is the UK's first quad-play provider of TV, broadband, phone and mobile.

Virgin Media is the largest residential broadband provider in the country, delivering next-generation internet access with ultrafast speeds of up to 50Mb using its unique fibre-optic cable network.

Virgin Media has the UK’s most advanced TV on demand service and is the only TV platform to carry BBC iPlayer. Virgin Media was the first to launch a high definition TV service and offers a high-specification, HD-ready V+ personal video recorder.

Virgin Media is the second-largest provider of pay TV and home phone in the UK and the largest virtual mobile network operator.



Virgin Media also owns two content businesses – Virgin Media Television (VMTV) and sit-up. VMTV owns eight entertainment channels, including Virgin1, Living, Bravo, Challenge and Trouble – and is a 50 per cent joint partner with the BBC in UKTV which consists of ten channels including Dave, G.O.L.D., Watch and Alibi. sit-up runs retail TV channels bid tv, price-drop tv and speed auction tv.



For more information, go to www.virginmedia.com.