Virgin Media Television (VMTV) will launch a “new and improved” app called Virgin Media Play in September as it bids to further reposition itself for the age of streaming.
Users of the existing Virgin Media Player will be asked to update their apps on September 2nd, when VMTV will also refresh its on-screen branding and unveil a new four-part drama, Dead & Buried, one of the key shows from its upcoming season of programmes.
Virgin’s existing player – which attracted 48 million streams in 2023 and has racked up 39 million streams in 2024 to date – was “built in a different age”, said Anthony Nilan, VMTV’s director of programming.
“It was catch-up first, streaming service second, while Virgin Media Play is a streaming service first, then catch-up. We need to make it as easy as possible for people to access our content, as otherwise people will go elsewhere.”
The new app means viewers won’t have to wait for live shows such as Virgin’s ITV reality imports Love Island and Big Brother to become available to watch.
The Ballymount, Dublin-based broadcaster – owned by telecoms group Virgin Media, part of cable giant Liberty Global – was “still seeing growth on linear [television]”, Mr Nilan said, despite the industry shift to streaming.
Its autumn line-up includes the return of old favourites and some new shows, led by Dead & Buried, a revenge thriller with “lighter moments” from writer Colin Bateman. A co-commission with BBC Northern Ireland in association with All3Media International, it stars Annabel Scholey as a woman who accidentally bumps shopping trolleys with the man (Colin Morgan) who killed her brother.
Elsewhere, Lucy Kennedy returns with new series, Real Life with Lucy, which takes an “unfiltered” look at issues affecting young people, while Life Actually – made by Gogglebox Ireland producers Kite Entertainment – will follow eight couples over a full year as they navigate the reality of babies, mortgages and marriages.
Gogglebox itself is back for a tenth season, while the second run of dating series Grá ar an Trá will see a new batch of single people checking into the “Love Teach” (Love House) to find a love for the Irish language and each other.
Mr Nilan said breakfast show Ireland AM, which will celebrate its 25th birthday, was “going from strength to strength”. Gogglebox’s “wonderful representation of Irish life” made it “an important show” for the broadcaster and Dead & Buried was “a very Virgin drama”, he added.
A second series of Baz Ashmawy’s comedy drama Faithless is yet to be confirmed but “more than likely” to happen and is an example of the kind of programme Virgin wants to make. “We need to have things that have a distinctive voice,” he said.
Upcoming documentaries, meanwhile, include Borders & Lies, which explores the role of social media in inciting hate, a Virgin Media News in-depth look at University Hospital Limerick in Ireland’s Most Dangerous Hospital and a special on the housing crisis, Generation Rent.
