Virgin Media Extend to 7000 Sunderland Premises and Upgrade TV App

The city of Sunderland in Tyne and Wear is the next to benefit from Virgin Media’s rollout of their cable ultrafast broadband and TV network, which currently covers half of the city and will now be extended to a further 7,000 premises. Separately VM has also updated their Virgin TV Go app with a download feature.

As usual the local roll-out will form part of the operator’s wider £3bn Project Lightning network expansion, which aims to reach around 3-4 million additional UK premises by the end of 2019 or 2020 using a mix of FTTP and Hybrid Fibre Coax technology (the original aspiration for 4 million premises passed is currently looking a bit shaky – here).

The expansion in Sunderland will focus on the areas of Shiney Row, Penshaw and Silksworth. At present it’s anticipated that the local civil engineering work, which is already underway, should complete by the end of 2019.

As usual the operator will harness narrow trenching techniques and aim to post information leaflets to premises which might be affected “at least a week before work starts on their street“. A number of local information sharing events have also been setup, with the first due to take place on Monday 20th August 6-8pm at Penshaw Community Centre (DH4 7PD).

Graeme Miller, Sunderland City Council Leader, said:

“We’re delighted that Virgin Media is continuing to invest in the city. This is fantastic news for Sunderland and will provide a major boost to residents and businesses. This investment fits perfectly with our ambitions to establish the city as a digital pioneer and we are working closely with Virgin Media, who are a major employer in the region, to ensure disruption to residents is kept to a minimum and the process is as smooth as possible.”

Separately the cable provider has today also announced an update of the Virgin TV Go app (available for iOS and Android), which adds a new download feature. As a result Virgin’s Full House and VIP customers can now download their favourite programmes to compatible phones and tablets. Customers can download shows over WiFi, 4G or 3G in the UK or countries in the EU (any programme downloaded prior to leaving the UK or EU can be watched anywhere else in the world offline).