Liberty Global extends Netflix deal

Stranger Things

Liberty Global has renewed and extended its distribution partnership with Netflix.

The parties have announced a multi-year deal that will see over 11 million customers have access to the Netflix service.

Liberty Global’s Virgin Media was the first TV operator in Europe to launch Netflix within its platform, with the company now noting that half of its V6 video subscribers regularly use the service.

Now in 2020, Netflix is available on the Horizon platform in most of the markets in which Liberty Global operates. The operator said that this deal will see Liberty Global “continue to enhance functionality and overall integration of Netflix within its offering, beginning again with its UK operation.”

Enrique Rodriguez, CTO of Liberty Global said: “We are excited to extend our partnership with Netflix and continue to provide the best of all worlds in content on a single, intuitive platform. Our customers are savvy.

“And with one voice control command, they can continue to directly access the programming they want on networks that deliver reliable, uninterrupted viewing. Netflix is a global leader in streaming content, and that’s precisely a partner we want for our customers.”

As with most operators, the addition of access to third-party services helps to make the overall package more compelling and lead to a reduction in churn, though Virgin Media is less concerned by its losses – 50,000 TV customers.

Speaking during its Q3 earnings call in November, Virgin Media CEO Lutz Shüler said that “we know these TV customers are the low-end customers.”

This is the latest move involving Virgin Media since Severina Pascu, the former CEO of UPC Switzerland, was moved to the role of deputy CEO and CFO of Virgin Media.