Virgin media jobs in balance

Oct 14 2008 by Sam Wood, The Journal

HUNDREDS of jobs in the North East could be on the line after Virgin Media admitted it was reviewing its services in the run-up to Christmas.

A spokesman for the company said it was too early to say how the changes would affect specific locations, but more details would be released in the next month.

Virgin Media, which provides television and broadband internet cable services, has a large office in the Team Valley, Gateshead, and a smaller one in Newcastle, together employing more than 500 people.

Reports in the national media have suggested that as many as 1,000 jobs could be under threat as the company feels the pinch. An insider who works in a management role at the Virgin Media’s office in the Team Valley Trading Estate, Gateshead, but did not want to be named, said: “There have been rumours spreading round the office for the past few months about job cuts. Everyone has been really worried about their jobs, morale is at rock bottom.

“We haven’t been told anything yet by management, no one really knows what is happening but personally I feel I will be lucky to have a job here by Christmas.”

Jobs at the firm’s other centres in Manchester, Liverpool, and Nottingham could also be lost in the shake-up, which it is thought will happen before Christmas.

A spokesman for Virgin Media said: “We’ve made no secret of the fact that we’re looking at our operations to see how we might further improve our customers’ experience and continue to grow our business. We were reviewing our services even before the credit crunch started.

“We’ll be talking about this in more detail over the next month or so but it’s far too early to say how this process could affect specific departments or locations. We’ll obviously be talking to our staff about any changes as early and as openly as we can.”

Grace Mitchell, Virgin Media representative at the Communication Workers Union (CWU), said: “We have contacted Virgin Media and we are seeking more details and assurances over jobs.”

In 2006, Virgin Media bought the NTL Telewest cable company. Virgin, at that time still trading as NTL-Telewest, made a cash and shares offer for ITV in November of the same year, valuing the company at £4.7bn. The bid was rejected days after Virgin’s satellite rival, BSkyB, spent £940m buying a 17.9% stake in ITV.

In March last year, the company was involved in a row with BSkyB which hit the number of its subscribers.

The group estimated that 40,000 customers were lost because of Sky’s removal of its basic channels from the Virgin Media television platform.

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