Virgin Media UK Store to close as purchases get shifted to Rakuten TV
Customers of broadband, phone and TV provider Virgin Media (O2) have recently been informed that the Virgin Media Store, which sold various digital movies and TV box sets to UK consumers, is set to close. But in order for customers to keep their purchases, they’ll need to transfer them to the Rakuten TV service instead.
The closure, which is due to occur on 1st November 2026, obviously means users will no longer be able to purchase movies or TV box sets through Virgin’s Store. The Rakuten TV app is instead going to take over from this and customers with existing purchases will need to sign-in to Virgin’s store and then select “Transfer to Rakuten TV” to begin the migration (assuming you’ve setup a Rakuten TV account first).
“Rakuten TV is the new home for the movies and TV box sets you’ve bought from us, and also offers the latest movies to buy, thousands of movies and TV box sets to watch for free, and free Live TV channels. Rakuten TV gives you even more to watch on your Virgin TV 360 box, V6 box or Stream box – from new releases to ad-supported films,” said Virgin Media (credits to Jonathan for the news tip).
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The provider hasn’t said why they’re closing the store, although it’s fair to say that there are plenty of similar platforms available online and it may be that it simply wasn’t attracting enough interest.
Mark is a professional technology writer, IT consultant and computer engineer from Dorset (England), he also founded ISPreview in 1999 and enjoys analysing the latest telecoms and broadband developments. Find me on X (Twitter), Mastodon, Facebook, BlueSky, Threads.net and Linkedin.
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The cost cutting begins.
6 weeks notice. Gee, thanks.
Selling the email service to a 3rd party and shutting off the ability to buy content via their boxes and apparently selling that to a 3rd party. Hmmm.
I am guessing this is all part of their cost-cutting measures but does anyone else get the feeling there is more to come?
BTW, I think Virginmedia selling off all of their content production all those years ago was the dumbest move ever. Content has actual ongoing value that can generate revenue. Look at all the streaming bundles available today.
I got a year’s free subscription to Rakuten. Its UI was so awful we hardly ever used it