For Broadcast March 05, 2008

The latest results from the UK's only cable TV operator showed a welcome drop in the number of subscribers who have turned off the service (disconnection or churn fell to 1.4%, down from 1.7% in the previous quarter) but the company reported higher losses overall and lower average revenue per unit or ARPU than a year ago.

Virgin Media's acting chief exec Neil Berkett is still acting after seven months in the job and the VM share price, which ticked up 1.68% in the past week, is still down 35% in the past six months, trading at around $15.

Given the situation, I think change could be nigh come the annual general meeting in May. The obvious vehicle would be the two director seats that are up for re-election.

The VM board is a strange animal and is dominated by non UK-based directors. With the resignation of David Elstein in February, there is only one UK-based director left: Virgin Group's George McCallum.

The board is run by a part-time executive chairman, Jim Mooney. US-based Mooney has held the job since March 2003 and was appointed by Bill Huff, the US hedge fund manager who was instrumental in bringing NTL and Telewest into one company.

Being a Nasdaq-listed firm has made having such a US-heavy board and chairman-from-afar tolerable, but given that there have been three chief execs (okay two chief execs and one acting chief exec) on Mooney's watch and yet another change in strategy with the latest one, it raises the question of whether it is time for a re-evaluation of the most senior leadership.

Before the credit crunch took hold there was private equity interest in VM at levels in excess of $30 a share, so the large institutional shareholders have got to be unhappy with the shares sitting at half that price today. And the two board seats up for re-election? Huff and Mooney. Could a May revolution be brewing at Virgin Media?