Virgin to give football fans live game feeds over broadband

Football fans will soon be able to stream live football matches to their PC through Virgin’ Media's website.

The deal is due to begin in August after the company announced that it has bought the premiership rights to all matches. Some clips will be free but pricing for games has yet to be announced.

Other services that the revamped website will offer include the opportunity to download songs free of charge and watch other sports such as motorsport and snooker.

There will also be the opportunity for customers to watch live feeds of Big Brother when it is aired later on in the year.

The site now also lets people upload video content and has linked up with online photo developer, Photobox so Virgin customers can upload pictures to the site to get them developed and delivered.

Photobox is offering Virgin customers 30 free prints on sign up to be taken within 30 days. Delivery costs depend on weight and size but prices start at £1.50 for 1g standard postage.

The revamp of the company's website is part of a strategy to broaden its customer base. The company is also extending its 'free' TV offer to customers in areas which are not connected to its cable service.

The set-top box offers access to 40 free-to-air TV channels and 25 digital radio stations as well as an eight-day, Virgin branded, on-screen TV guide, plus access to interactive content.

It will be free to any Virgin Media non-cable customer taking the up to 8Mbits/sec broadband and Talk Anytime service which costs £19.99 a month. For non-cable customers taking a broadband service on it’s own, a one-off charge of £40 will apply.

This seems somewhat expensive considering Freeview boxes can be bought for around £20 but to be fair, the set top box is unobtrusive; roughly the size of a video tape it is equipped with 'remote eye' technology, so it can be hidden from view.

Virgin broadband prices begin at £18.00 per month for 2Mbits/sec, £25 per month for up to 4Mbits/sec and up to £35.00 per month for up to 10Mbits/sec.