Virgin Media sales house considers merger - Rumour

IDS, the Virgin Media-owned sales division, may consider a merger with rivals Five and Viacom Brand Solutions (VBS), reports Brand Republic.

Five and VBS are reportedly keen to establish a new joint sales venture with IDS by 2010 to rival Sky's sales team. The offer comes after Sky sales division Sky Media unsuccessfully pushed for a merger with IDS during recent distribution negotiations, says an unnamed source.

Last week, Virgin Media and Sky ended an 18-month fight over carriage fees for distributing each other's channels to their respective subscribers. In March, BSkyB pulled its channels, including Sky1, from Virgin, in a dispute regarding carriage fees. Virgin then sued BSkyB, claiming the company was guilty of predatory pricing and charging ?onerous? rates. However, Malcolm Wall, chief exec of content at Virgin Media, denies that any discussions of an IDS merger have taken place with Sky, Five or VBS.

"IDS is selling aggressively in the market for 2009 and after that there are no plans to change things," he says. "We are focusing on taking our businesses forward."

Earlier this month, Virgin announced plans to lay off 15% of its 14,600 employees following a disappointing earnings report. The company said its Q3 net loss grew to GBP120.8m (USD192m), from GBP61m a year earlier. Virgin is also deferring repayments on its GBP4.3bn (USD7.7bn) debt until 2012 in order to refinance its loans.