The two companies failed to agree terms on pricing, but Virgin said yesterday it expected the impact of the row to be contained within the second quarter. It has sought to bolster its own content offering, including through a partnership with sports broadcaster Setanta. Virgin’s customer base stood at 4.7 million at the end of June 30, down 70,300 on the previous quarter and causing consumer revenues to fall to £619.3m from £637.3m reported for the first quarter. The company said it remained the UK’s largest residential broadband supplier, with 3.5 million subscribers. BT has around 3.8 million broadband customers, but an estimated 700,000 of those are from the business sector. Virgin boosted its number of television customers on a net basis by 2,200 in the quarter, although this was down from the 36,100 increase seen in the previous quarter. Growth was affected by the loss of the Sky basic channels, with most of this change occurring in April. Fixed-line telephone subscriber losses in the quarter were 56,900, an improvement on the 63,400 reverse seen in the first quarter. Virgin said it had changed the way it markets and sells its telephone packages, in an effort to reverse the recent poor performance of the operation. The group also reported that the penetration of its “triple-play service”, taking in cable television, broadband and fixed-line telephony, now stood at 45.2% of customers, up from 37.1% a year ago. The number of Virgin Mobile contract customers increased by 53,000 to 299,000, helped by the division’s ability to cross-sell to Virgin Media cable customers. Overall, the group posted operating profits of £3m, against operating losses of £15.3m a year ago. Virgin Media chief executive Steve Burch said: “The second quarter results show encouraging broadband and mobile contract growth, a resilient performance by our TV business and signs that our fixed line telephony business is starting to react to renewed management focus.” On Wednesday Virgin Media said it had given potential bidders more time to put together their takeover plans after receiving “strong” interest in a possible deal for the firm. The cable company extended the process so the parties can complete their proposals in a more stable debt market environment. A month ago Virgin said it had received a takeover offer for the business, a £5.5bn move thought to have come from private equity firm Carlyle. Virgin has considered the proposal as part of a review of its strategic alternatives, including the possible sale of the company. | 
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