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+--- Thread: Virgin Media & O2 Merger/Joint Venture Provisionally Approved (/showthread.php?tid=186)
Virgin Media & O2 Merger/Joint Venture Provisionally Approved - London Lite - 14-04-2021
I'd like to think O2 will be the brand that survives the merger as Liberty Global currently have to pay a licensing fee to Virgin for the use of the brand for their cable and mobile businesses.
Using the Virgin brand also comes with restrictions with how the branding is used. It was an issue for one of the former owners of Virgin Radio who weren't allowed to release compilation albums using the Virgin logo, although they could put "VIRGIN RADIO" on the front cover with a star on the front.
Virgin Media & O2 Merger/Joint Venture Provisionally Approved - Mute - 15-04-2021
It's possible that both brands will continue to exist alongside each other after the merger. There are other countries where Liberty Global, who own Virgin Media, have merged their cable TV business with a mobile phone company and not combined the brands, so both continue to exist after the merger, they are just operated by the new joint venture company.
Just because the companies are merging doesn't mean that any of the branding currently in use has to change.
Virgin Media & O2 Merger/Joint Venture Provisionally Approved - channelbox - 15-04-2021
I know that in the Netherlands, similar to the upcoming O2/Virgin merger, Liberty Global's Ziggo (pay TV) also manages a JV with Vodafone.
Virgin Media & O2 Merger/Joint Venture Provisionally Approved - i.h - 15-04-2021
AllWillBeWell post_id=6668 time=1618428286 user_id=773 Wrote:I always found it ironic that O2 network used to be BT Cellnet, yet BT did not buy it back and went for EE instead!
Would not be surprised if Sky and some other combination appeared and merged. Vodaphone and Three are looking a bit thin!
London Lite post_id=6608 time=1618414407 user_id=953 Wrote:Not much if anything will change for Virgin Mobile customers who are being migrated from EE to Vodafone as part of a MVNO contract signed with Voda before the merger was announced.
I'd imagine next time the contract is up (five years) Virgin Mobile will move over to O2? O2 the brand is sure to survive. BT seems to be slowly taking over the EE brand but extremely slowly despite saying both brands would survive.
In reality BT probably made the better decision, EE's network was (and is) well ahead
BT has said repeatedly that EE/BT/Plusnet will continue to exist as they target different parts of the market. You can see this where EE has all the mobile bells and whistles (5G, eSIMs, Apple visual voicemail) whereas BT Mobile only partially does 5G and Plusnet does even less. In a similar vein, you see this with O2 and Giffgaff, Vodafone and Voxi, 3 and Smarty
Similarly, on home broadband, BT has all the bells and whistles (TV, complete wifi, 4G backup service) and EE doesn't have all of them
I guess we'll see what V-O2 decides to do. It does seem sensible to abandon the VM branding if they already own a well known brand outright - at least, it doesn't make sense to change the name of the mobile side (probably more well known than Virgin Mobile was)
In terms of MVNOs, I think Sky will be one to watch - whenever their deal with O2 is up, will they continue to buy services from their most direct competitor?
Virgin Media & O2 Merger/Joint Venture Provisionally Approved - AlfieMulcahy - 15-04-2021
i.h post_id=6745 time=1618474174 user_id=1247 Wrote:AllWillBeWell post_id=6668 time=1618428286 user_id=773 Wrote:I always found it ironic that O2 network used to be BT Cellnet, yet BT did not buy it back and went for EE instead!
Would not be surprised if Sky and some other combination appeared and merged. Vodaphone and Three are looking a bit thin!
London Lite post_id=6608 time=1618414407 user_id=953 Wrote:Not much if anything will change for Virgin Mobile customers who are being migrated from EE to Vodafone as part of a MVNO contract signed with Voda before the merger was announced.
I'd imagine next time the contract is up (five years) Virgin Mobile will move over to O2? O2 the brand is sure to survive. BT seems to be slowly taking over the EE brand but extremely slowly despite saying both brands would survive.
In reality BT probably made the better decision, EE's network was (and is) well ahead
BT has said repeatedly that EE/BT/Plusnet will continue to exist as they target different parts of the market. You can see this where EE has all the mobile bells and whistles (5G, eSIMs, Apple visual voicemail) whereas BT Mobile only partially does 5G and Plusnet does even less. In a similar vein, you see this with O2 and Giffgaff, Vodafone and Voxi, 3 and Smarty
Similarly, on home broadband, BT has all the bells and whistles (TV, complete wifi, 4G backup service) and EE doesn't have all of them
I guess we'll see what V-O2 decides to do. It does seem sensible to abandon the VM branding if they already own a well known brand outright - at least, it doesn't make sense to change the name of the mobile side (probably more well known than Virgin Mobile was)
In terms of MVNOs, I think Sky will be one to watch - whenever their deal with O2 is up, will they continue to buy services from their most direct competitor?
I think BT would be much better off discontinuing EE Home Broadband and BT Mobile.
EE can then be the brand solely for mobile and BT can be focussed purely on home services
They've already begun interegrating them by adding a BT broadband/help section to every EE shop and by marketing their new hub as having a '4G based backup service from EE'
Virgin Media & O2 Merger/Joint Venture Provisionally Approved - channelbox - 15-04-2021
Interestingly, O2 actually operate a TV service in Germany. In addition to it's own live TV service, which it operates in co-operation with waipu.tv, It also offers Sky Ticket, the german answer to NOW, and Netflix.
Virgin Media & O2 Merger/Joint Venture Provisionally Approved - Richard - 15-04-2021
bilky asko post_id=6649 time=1618424427 user_id=973 Wrote:If only O2 and Three had merged to become Ozone.
I see what you did there.
Virgin Media & O2 Merger/Joint Venture Provisionally Approved - Richard - 15-04-2021
AllWillBeWell post_id=6668 time=1618428286 user_id=773 Wrote:I always found it ironic that O2 network used to be BT Cellnet, yet BT did not buy it back and went for EE instead!
I think what happened is that they were interested in buying O2 back and then EE’s owners said “what about us?” and they decided EE was a better deal.
EE’s Kevin Bacon ads are quite good, although I really liked those Orange Film ones they used to show in cinemas.
Virgin Media & O2 Merger/Joint Venture Provisionally Approved - AllWillBeWell - 15-04-2021
Richard post_id=6898 time=1618508202 user_id=838 Wrote:AllWillBeWell post_id=6668 time=1618428286 user_id=773 Wrote:I always found it ironic that O2 network used to be BT Cellnet, yet BT did not buy it back and went for EE instead!
I think what happened is that they were interested in buying O2 back and then EE’s owners said “what about us?” and they decided EE was a better deal.
EE’s Kevin Bacon ads are quite good, although I really liked those Orange Film ones they used to show in cinemas.
I do miss "The future's bright, the future's orange"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bRiuMzMjU9M
Their launch advert seems very relevant today!
Virgin Media & O2 Merger/Joint Venture Provisionally Approved - channelbox - 15-04-2021
I agree that the Orange brand was excellent. It looked very simple, yet at the same time managed to be very classy. The light weights of Helvetica suited the company really well. I also seem to remember something they did with 4Music when the channel was in it's infancy.
Same for T-Mobile, every time I see magenta, I always think of the company. The 5-note jingle was nice too.
EE is good to in terms of branding, the bluey-green & yellow are very appealing together, and most of my friends now know Kevin Bacon as “the EE man”.
I'm glad that Orange & T-Mobile are still going strong around the world. Wasn't there originally plans for the three to co-exist?
Virgin Media & O2 Merger/Joint Venture Provisionally Approved - MrBiggieSMLZ - 15-04-2021
I’m just curious regarding what branding this Virgin/02 gonna go for. What I don’t see, personally, is the combined company retaining both their seperate brands.
Granada Sky Broadcasting - VMPhil - 15-04-2021
I had a terrible experience with Virgin Mobile a few months back with fraud. After several attempts to just get my package back to what it had been before, I gave up and switched network. Thankfully, that process is incredibly easy now that you can text-to-switch.
Granada Sky Broadcasting - James2001 - 15-04-2021
I find Virgin are fine if you don't have to deal with their call centres, but if you do, then god help you. I remember the amount of fuss it was to tell them our router had broken and we needed a replacement, they just read through scripts telling us to do this, press this button, change this setting on the computer etc. it took forever to finally get them to send us a replacement router, I think we actually had to argue and get put through to one of the few people they have in the UK before that happened. At least he understood straight away what we were asking and what was wrong, unlike the person in the overseas call centre.
Virgin Media & O2 Merger/Joint Venture Provisionally Approved - BBC TV Centre - 18-04-2021
channelbox post_id=6913 time=1618512576 user_id=1290 Wrote:I agree that the Orange brand was excellent. It looked very simple, yet at the same time managed to be very classy. The light weights of Helvetica suited the company really well. I also seem to remember something they did with 4Music when the channel was in it's infancy.There were and EE as a 4G brand but this was eventually ditched for just EE.
Same for T-Mobile, every time I see magenta, I always think of the company. The 5-note jingle was nice too.
EE is good to in terms of branding, the bluey-green & yellow are very appealing together, and most of my friends now know Kevin Bacon as “the EE man”.
I'm glad that Orange & T-Mobile are still going strong around the world. Wasn't there originally plans for the three to co-exist?
Agreed with Orange and T-Mobile, very strong brands, but the one of the reasons why they wanted shot of them was probably down to the licensing costs that BT had to pay to use them. I always remembered Orange Wednesdays and the pre-roll advertising in the cinema.
I think EE is somewhat boring and pretty much stands for in my view, exceedingly expensive, with them being the first (if I recall) to go for the RPI increase and the rest following.
Rinse and repeat for the now CPI+X% mechanic, good for the shareholders, not so good for the subscribers.
Virgin Media & O2 Merger/Joint Venture Provisionally Approved - Markymark - 18-04-2021
i.h post_id=6745 time=1618474174 user_id=1247 Wrote:)
In terms of MVNOs, I think Sky will be one to watch - whenever their deal with O2 is up, will they continue to buy services from their most direct competitor?
My wife moved from Three to Sky Mobile last year. The only problem is 4G coverage is noticeably worse in the places we visit, than Three was (though we only discovered that this week conducting some day trips because of the lockdown easing!)
I migrated from Vodafone to EE 8 years ago, I'm in no rush to move, though I did ring them a few weeks ago saying I was thinking of leaving, as a method to obtain a better deal, and all they offered me was a smaller data allowance for slightly more cost per month! Technically I find their coverage and reliability rock solid.