01 Mar 2007

Thank God, for Richard Branson. Not only because Virgin Media has finally put one name, one brand and one friendly face to the UK cable industry; and not even because cable is now in a position to challenge BSkyB. No, it's because Branson is pure theatre when it comes to launching the latest news about anything. For too long, cable press conferences have been about as thrilling as a day at the dentist. A man who got away with dressing in a wedding frock to kick off Virgin Brides and prancing around in a near-naked state for Virgin Mobile is heaven sent for the much-pilloried cable business.

Last month, Branson, along with two cable execs in suits, perched on stools at the Royal Opera House answering questions before burlesque beauty Dita von Teese, clad in a black, off-the-shoulder evening gown. Von Teese called to him from across the vast open atrium: "Richard! It's time for your elevenses. Come on!" And off they went by short carriage ride to a giant Perspex box in Covent Garden for seven hours of interviews, live chat, play-acting and general buffoonery, much of it aired on two Virgin cable channels.

Only Branson could turn a stodgy press conference into a multi-platform funfest. During the initial on-stage presentation, Branson grimaced when one of the suits used the words "off-net strategy" to describe Virgin Media's plan to offer people in non-cabled areas access to its products. Ouch! What's a Virgin product if it doesn't drip with sex and/or fun? Yes, the network is important. As suit number one (Stephen Burch, Virgin Media CEO) said: "Honouring the Virgin values would be lot harder if we didn't have the right technology and the right platform in place already." But Branson knows the platform should be in the background, humming along efficiently. Customers want a cool brand, a good selection of content, a good price and someone who answers the phone if they have a question.

Amidst all the frolicking, Branson is as serious about succeeding in the cable industry as he was with all the other Virgin products. He duelled with British Airways and survived, so why would he run scared from Rupert Murdoch and BSkyB? "Sky is as dominant as BA was when we started Virgin Atlantic 21 years ago," said Branson. The implication is: "bring 'em on!" It will be a tough and bloody fight and cable should be overjoyed to have Branson in its corner. Round one saw cable's failure to win any of the Premiership football rights in last year's auction. Round two was when Virgin Media's ambitions to buy the UK's largest commercial broadcaster ITV were unexpectedly thwarted by Sky's purchase of an 18% stake. That's under review by competition officials.

Round three kicked off with Virgin Media unveiling its new bright red logo and a TV ad campaign featuring Uma Thurman. Not to be outdone, Sky announced it was going to launch a new, four-channel pay-TV bundle on the UK digital-terrestrial platform. The kicker? The new Sky pay service will even include some live Premiership football games. In the same week, Sky took its commercial talks with Virgin Media over the money it receives for channels like Sky One,direct to Virgin Media customers - running on-air messages threatening to remove these channels from the cable network if Virgin Media didn't pay enough. Virgin Media reacted, describing Sky's tactics as "bully-boy" but that didn't change that fact that some 1,000 complained to the new Virgin Media call centres. Sky may a good puncher, but Virgin and Branson show early signs of being up to a fight. Some tag lines from Virgin Media's new £100m (€148m) ad campaign are: "You can't see that on Sky" and "The cheapest way to get Sky Sports isn't Sky." The latter may be referred to the advertising authorities by Sky, of course.

At the Virgin Media launch, executive suit number two, Virgin Media chairman Jim Mooney, said that the company will be offering innovative and better-priced packages for its customers, focusing on its ability to offer a quadruple-play of TV, phone line, broadband and mobile phone service. The way the pay satellite company packages its products, says Mooney, is "the soft underbelly of Sky."

Rupert Murdoch may not be all that impressed with things like the nice new Virgin Media red logo and Branson's penchant for theatre - described by Murdoch as "jumping out of cakes" - but it is welcome and overdue. The fight between Virgin Media and Sky will be complicated by the entry of IPTV services and TV content on the web. Sky already has a download-to-PC service, Sky Anytime, that will start pushing a selection of content to the hard drives of newer Sky TV set-top boxes this month.

Virgin Media must not only live up to its own customer service promise, but it will need the chutzpah, the determination and the stamina to stand up and compete with Sky. Branson's certainly got the credentials. I look forward to the contest both as a journalist and a consumer. Let the games begin.