Brilliantly brought together TV

From the very early days of the VCR, kids have ruled the remote control. Whether it was setting the video for the latest episode of Brookside in the 1980s or navigating the plethora of on-demand shows today on Netflix, adults have held a begrudging respect for kids’ knack of setting the TV.

At Virgin Media, we believe that it doesn't have to be like this.

With more ways to watch TV and with an extraordinary range of high quality programmes, our job is to make it simple for our customers to navigate and watch the shows they love.

This is at the heart of our Virgin TV strategy – and it is brought to life in our new advertising campaign ‘Masters of Entertainment’.

To launch on 10 September during X-Factor, the ad presents a world where children are in control of TV technology, to the bewilderment of the adults. The message is simple: It’s time to simplify TV with Virgin Media.

We’ve given viewers brilliant exclusive shows like Ash vs Evil Dead, Kingdom and Magic City. We’re acquiring and commissioning new and exciting programmes from some of the world’s best production companies. We’re the only TV platform to offer all the live Premier League football action from BT Sport and Sky Sports in one package.

We also know that people want to pick the programmes they want to watch, when they want, whether it is on a channel, part of our catalogue of exclusive programmes or from online providers like Netflix.

Our competitors want to hem viewers into a so-called ‘walled gardens’ where they are told which programmes they can and can’t access. We want to let our customers decide what they watch. To help them navigate we are harnessing the power of our technology.

We’ve just rolled out a new on-screen TV menu that makes it simple for viewers to access programmes. This brings together all forms of TV – linear, on demand, catch up, online – in a simple search function.

Later this year we’ll launch our new Virgin TV box, the V6. Smarter, faster and smaller, the 4K-ready box will be packed with new features to make TV viewing even better.

And watch this space for further TV news. We don’t want to spoil the surprise right now but we have lots more coming that’ll ensure that everyone in the house – not just the kids – is able to get the very best from all we have to offer at Virgin TV.

David Bouchier is Virgin Media’s Chief Entertainment Officer.