With Sky Atlantic arriving on Virgin Media TV this week, HBO Max barely every week outdated, and Virgin’s TV service altering sooner than it has in years, we sat down with the individual chargeable for all of it.
David Bouchier is Chief TV and Entertainment Officer at Virgin Media O2 – which is a company approach of claiming he’s the individual chargeable for what lands in your Virgin TV field, what it will definitely prices, and what the entire thing appears to be like like going ahead.
Sky Atlantic goes stay this week on Channel 111 for eligible Virgin TV prospects – and that was simply the start line.
The dialog coated lots of floor – from the long-awaited Sky Atlantic launch, to the place HBO Max leaves Virgin prospects, as to whether recording is absolutely useless, to what Virgin Media really thinks it’s as a TV firm.
Why Sky Atlantic, Why Now
A fast little bit of context first, for anybody coming to Virgin Media’s TV service recent: Virgin Media is primarily a broadband supplier – and its TV service is constructed round that.
The TV containers – presently the TV 360, a conventional cable-connected field with recording capabilities, and the newer Stream box, which delivers every little thing over broadband – are solely accessible to Virgin Media broadband prospects.
TV bundles sit on high of the broadband subscription and embody a mixture of Sky channels, sports activities channels, Freeview channels, and entry to streaming apps like Netflix and Disney+.
It’s a broad providing – simply not one with something really unique to Virgin itself.
Until not too long ago, one notable hole in that lineup was Sky Atlantic – the house of status HBO dramas and high-profile Sky originals. Virgin prospects who wished it needed to pay individually for a NOW subscription, or go with out. That adjustments this week.
So why now? Virgin Media prospects have been asking for Sky Atlantic for years, and Bouchier’s reply is actually that the market modified sufficient to make it worthwhile for either side.
“Sky had a view of how Sky Atlantic sat in their portfolio in terms of driving an exclusive message for them,” he stated, “whereas now they see the value of bringing in a million viewers on day one who will be able to enjoy the programming.”
In different phrases, exclusivity was value extra to Sky when the TV panorama was easier. Now, with streaming companies multiplying and viewers having extra decisions than ever, getting Sky Atlantic in entrance of extra eyeballs makes extra sense than retaining it behind a wall.
It’s an inexpensive clarification – and it additionally helps that the channel Virgin prospects are lastly getting isn’t fairly the Sky Atlantic of outdated.
As we’ve written before, the golden period of Sky Atlantic – when it was the unique UK dwelling of The Sopranos, The Wire, Game of Thrones, and Succession – is essentially behind us.
The full again catalogues of these exhibits now stay on HBO Max, not on the channel. Sky Atlantic as we speak is a window for choose new episodes, not a complete dwelling for HBO content material.
That’s to not say it isn’t nonetheless value having – Under Salt Marsh, Amadeus, new seasons of The Last of Us and The White Lotus – there’s loads on it. But it’s value entering into with sensible expectations.
The HBO Max Question
Which brings us to the extra difficult subject of HBO Max itself – which launched in the UK on March 26, simply days earlier than Sky Atlantic arrives on Virgin.
Sky prospects get HBO Max Basic with Ads bundled into their Sky Ultimate TV subscription at no additional value. EE TV prospects get it by way of NOW as a part of their Entertainment bundle.
Virgin Media prospects get… nothing bundled. The Stream and TV 360 containers do help the HBO Max app, however prospects have to pay the usual value for HBO Max, identical to anybody else, ranging from £4.99 a month, and the service doesn’t even qualify for Virgin’s 10% Flex credit score low cost.
I put this to Bouchier straight, noting that prospects had been already asking why they weren’t getting an analogous deal.
His response was to attract a distinction between “hard bundling” and “soft bundling” – Virgin’s method, he stated, is to make HBO Max accessible to subscribe to by way of your Virgin field, quite than wrapping it into the package deal value.
He additionally pushed again on the concept Virgin prospects are lacking out on a lot.
His argument runs roughly like this: the massive returning HBO exhibits – The White Lotus, The Last of Us, House of the Dragon – will proceed to air on Sky Atlantic. New Warner Bros. movies will proceed to land on Sky Cinema. And even deep library titles like Friends air on Comedy Central.
So the really unique HBO Max content material, he recommended, is a narrower slice than individuals would possibly assume.
It’s a good level – up to a degree. But it sidesteps one thing essential: new HBO originals that haven’t beforehand aired on Sky gained’t robotically come to Sky Atlantic.
The Pitt – the Emmy-winning medical drama starring Noah Wyle, and arguably HBO Max’s greatest UK launch title – is an ideal instance.
It’s not on Sky Atlantic. It’s not on Sky Cinema. It’s on HBO Max, and HBO Max solely. And for Virgin prospects, meaning paying individually.
There’s additionally a longer-term query that Bouchier’s reply didn’t absolutely deal with. Right now, established HBO franchises proceed on Sky Atlantic due to present long-term offers between Sky and Warner Bros. Discovery.
But as these offers ultimately run their course, there’s no assure that new HBO exhibits – exhibits that don’t but exist – will land on Sky Atlantic in any respect.
In two or three years, Sky Atlantic’s HBO slate might look significantly thinner. It’s a query for Sky as a lot as Virgin – but it surely’s value retaining in thoughts when assessing the long-term worth of what Virgin prospects are getting.
Bouchier’s broader argument is that Virgin intentionally avoids the “all-you-can-eat” method.
“We don’t hear from our customers that they’re clamouring for more,” he stated, pointing to the price of residing pressures that make massive bundled packages a tougher promote. “And I know from my own experience that there really is a lot of programming out there.
“You’re not short of things to find – if anything, you’re struggling to realise which service you subscribe to and what you’re viewing on which service.”
It’s a coherent place – but it surely does depart Virgin prospects in a noticeably totally different place to Sky subscribers on the subject of HBO content material.
Virgin As Curator – Not Creator
One of the extra attention-grabbing threads within the dialog was Bouchier’s articulation of what Virgin Media really is as a TV firm – as a result of the sincere reply is that it isn’t fairly a TV firm within the conventional sense.
Virgin doesn’t fee exhibits. It doesn’t purchase Premier League rights. It doesn’t have something that’s really unique to its platform.
What it has is Sky and different premium channels, Freeview channels, Netflix, and a rising record of streaming apps and FAST channels, all introduced collectively in a single place.
I requested him straight whether or not Virgin even considers itself to be within the TV enterprise, or whether or not TV is extra of a bonus on high of broadband. His reply was unambiguous: “I’m very much in the TV business.”
But his definition of that’s value unpacking. “Being a curator, we have a rule that we want to be able to say to people that A to Z, 90% of what they really want to watch will be on our service,” he stated.
The mannequin isn’t to spend 4 to 6 million {dollars} an episode on authentic programming – it’s to verify the perfect of what others produce is offered, well-organised, and straightforward to seek out.
He framed this in distinction to what he referred to as “aggregated services that just want volume” – platforms that bulk up their content material providing with out a lot thought for what prospects really need.
Virgin’s method to FAST channels is an effective instance of this in follow. Rather than loading up the EPG with tons of of channels, they’ve curated a choice of more than 40 channels, centered on genres – thriller, crime, historical past – that their prospects really watch.
He famous that on another platforms, the FAST channels that break by way of are usually single-IP channels constructed round a well-known present – Baywatch, Escape to the Country – as a result of that’s what catches the attention. Virgin’s curated method, he argues, goes deeper than that.
It’s a coherent philosophy – and one which places Virgin in a unique lane to Sky, which does fee, does purchase sports activities rights, and has now taken the step of hard-bundling HBO Max (and Disney+, and hayu, and Netflix…)
The implicit argument from Virgin is: Sky does all of it, and prices accordingly. We choose the perfect of what’s on the market, maintain it manageable, and move the saving on.
Whether that’s a principled place or a sensible one – or each – in all probability relies on how you are feeling about your Virgin Media invoice.
Bouchier additionally made an attention-grabbing remark about how prospects discuss TV.
“What is a TV business?” he stated. “We like to make use of the phrase ‘entertainment business’ – as a result of in case you do some buyer analysis and so they say ‘I don’t watch TV anymore’ – and also you say ‘but do you watch Netflix?’ – ‘oh, yeah, of course I watch Netflix.’”
The word “TV”, he suggested, has become almost too narrow – and Virgin would rather be seen as your entertainment destination than get hung up on the label.
The Recording Debate
For some Virgin customers, the most contentious change of the past year has had nothing to do with streaming services.
It’s the truth that the Stream field – which may’t straight file something – is now the default {hardware} for all new TV prospects, with the TV 360 pushed to a “by request only” option that will additionally include an set up charge.
I pressed Bouchier on this, significantly on condition that some readers really feel strongly about recording. His response concerned a statistic that’s value sitting with: in line with Virgin’s personal knowledge, 80% of recordings are set and by no means really watched.
It’s a placing declare – and it does counsel that for a lot of prospects, recording capabilities extra as a security web than a real viewing behavior.
He additionally pointed to Virgin’s catch-up characteristic, which successfully turns the EPG right into a backwards-scrolling information, letting you catch programmes that aired previously without having to have recorded them upfront (much like what’s available on Freely and Sky Stream).
That stated, the broader context is value retaining in thoughts. Ofcom’s Media Nations 2025 report discovered that, for the primary time, UK viewers now spend extra time watching broadcaster on-demand companies than watching recorded playback – 25 minutes per day versus 23 minutes.
The course of journey is evident, and streaming is the long run whether or not we prefer it or not.
But “the direction of travel” is chilly consolation in case you’re a shift employee who depends on recording of channels that don’t have an on-demand service, or somebody who particularly needs to skip adverts.
Bouchier acknowledged this: “Yes, there will always be people who want to record, and yes, we keep making that available.”
The TV 360 isn’t going away – there are nonetheless 1.5 million of them deployed throughout the community, he confirmed – it’s simply now not what you get robotically whenever you enroll.
And Virgin Media’s Stream does permit some cloud-recording, but it surely’s restricted to a choice of channels (once more, much like Sky’s Stream field.)
But one counterargument is that the EE TV Box Pro manages to supply each streaming and recording in a single machine. So it’s not as if the 2 are mutually unique.
The Bigger Picture
Virgin Media’s Stream field already delivers Freeview channels over broadband – which is actually what Freely does too, simply by way of a unique platform.
Freely is the brand new IP-based successor to Freeview, now accessible by itself standalone containers, and the plain query is whether or not Virgin has ever thought-about combining the 2 – a Stream field that’s additionally Freely-enabled, bringing collectively Virgin’s TV service and the general public service broadcaster providing in a single place.
Bouchier’s reply was a well mannered however agency no. His view is that Freely exists to unravel an issue that Virgin prospects merely don’t have.
The platform was designed to provide public service broadcasters higher visibility on linked TVs that aren’t linked to an aerial – however Virgin containers are linked to Virgin’s personal community, in order that drawback doesn’t apply. “I can see no value in adding that Freely capability,” he stated.
Similarly easy was his reply on whether or not the Stream field might ever be made accessible to non-Virgin broadband prospects – the way in which Sky Stream is offered to anybody, no matter who their broadband supplier is.
It gained’t be, not less than not by design. The Stream field is constructed round Virgin’s community and is a part of the broadband proposition, and Bouchier sees that as a characteristic quite than a limitation.
Perhaps essentially the most attention-grabbing closing thought was his reply to what Virgin TV doesn’t get sufficient credit score for.
Rather than reaching for a headline characteristic, he pointed to one thing extra refined – the way in which the platform bridges linear and on-demand viewing with out forcing prospects to decide on between the 2.
“We are equally committed to both,” he stated. The numbers again that up: 40% of Virgin TV prospects interact primarily with on-demand, whereas 60% lean in direction of linear.
That’s a extra even break up than you would possibly anticipate from an organization that’s been loudly pushing streaming for the previous few years – and it says one thing a few platform that also has two devoted distant buttons to take you straight again to stay TV, even because it provides FAST channels and streaming apps at a gradual tempo.
Whether you agree with the alternatives Virgin has revamped the previous 12 months or not, the course is fairly clear: streaming-first, curation over creation, and content material outlined by vary quite than exclusivity.
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