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Burch creates vacuum at Virgin Media

Posted in Media, Branwell Johnson, Latest reporters' blogs August 21st, 2007 by Branwell Johnson

The first senior casualty of Virgin Media’s war with Sky is CEO Stephen Burch. His departure is painted as for family and personal reasons but with the company’s results only two weeks ago painting a grim picture and a downgrading in stock rating one could be forgiven for assuming the two are linked.

Burch has been through a bruising time since the launch of Virgin Media in February. He was largely out of the limelight when overseeing the ntl and Telewest merger but the high profile of the Virgin brand and the vicious battle fought via marketing and through the courts with Sky forced him into the spotlight. If Burch has taken the fall for the stumbling progress so far it’s a shame as he is a seasoned operator in the cable industry and was president of Comcast’s Atlantic division.

His departure creates a big headache for Virgin Media. Looking at how difficult it was for ITV to recruit a managing director and its ongoing search for a commercial director, one can only scratch one’s head at who might pick up the Virgin Media baton. Charles Allen has settled into radio at Global Radio and Stephen Carter, former COO at ntl and the first Ofcom chief executive, recently joined PR firm Brunswick

It’s not an enviable position right now with unclear signals about whether the company is up for sale and who might buy it. Then there’s the results that have to be explained/justified to shareholders. There is an argument that the company needs a higher profile CEO but does anyone want to risk their reputation right now?

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