The Liberty Global subsidiary Virgin Media and Turner, one of the world’s leading entertainment brands, have agreed its latest long term programming deal in the UK and Ireland.
The long-term programming agreement ensures Virgin customers will retain access to channels including Cartoon Network, Boomerang, Cartoonito, TCM and CNN International.
For Irish Virgin Media customers this means that they will be able to benefit from a significant increase in on-demand shows. The expanded contract unlocks a wealth of Turner catch-up TV for Virgin Media customers. They will have access to hours’ worth of programming with a 30 day catch up window.
As part of the new deal, Cartoon Network in HD will be available for the first time to customers in Ireland. Irish Virgin Media customers will also have access to hundreds of hours of boxsets for kids featuring programmes such as ‘Regular Show’,’ Ben 10’, ‘The Powerpuff Girls’, ‘Scooby Doo’, ‘Mr Bean’, ‘The Tom and Jerry Show’ and’ Fireman Sam’. This will further boost Virgin Media’s existing selection of kids’ programmes.
David Bouchier, Chief Digital Entertainment Officer at Virgin Media said: “Our new deal with Turner means our customers will be able to access a wealth of on-demand programs, as well as continuing to enjoy some of the very best TV from channels as diverse as Cartoon Network, TCM and CNN International. We are committed to giving our customers the very best TV to watch, when and how they want, and it’s fantastic to work with partners who think in the same way.”
The deal also strengthens the partnership over the long term, with Turner guaranteeing new rights to support Virgin Media’s future product launches, which includes launching catch-up TV and box sets to Virgin Media’s TV platform.
Ian McDonough, Senior Vice President and Managing Director, Turner, Northern Europe commented: “We’re very excited about strengthening our much valued partnership with Virgin Media, built around our premium kids and entertainment brands. At Turner we are committed to delivering the best curated branded experiences to our audiences, wherever they are. We look forward to working closely with Virgin Media to deliver entertaining channels and on-demand content that captures the growing appetite of our audiences for many years to come.”
Virgin has been expanding its offering recently, signing a multi-year programming deal with Viacom in the UK and Ireland in October and striking an agreement for Sony kids’ channel Pop in August.