The prosperity of the general entertainment free-to-air channel, which is due to launch in the autumn, will be vital to the TV platform, whose stand-off with Sky over carriage fees has resulted in its loss of flagship entertainment channel Sky One.
Educated in the rarefied environment of Hereford Cathedral School, followed by a place at Durham University, on paper Webb cuts an unlikely figure among TV's trendy elite. But with his shaved dome, fashionable glasses, linen suit and home in Brighton, the 39-year-old father of two is the epitome of the modern television executive. Entertaining company, he wears his undoubted intelligence lightly, famously dressing up as David Bowie for an unconvincing turn at last year's Edinburgh TV Festival.
It was while at Durham, where he studied politics and sociology, that he was attracted to marketing. After taking control of the University Wine Society in what he describes, with typical flamboyance, as 'a coup d'etat', Webb claims to have turned the society into the UK's biggest student organisation by the use of what he describes as a 'direct marketing' campaign and alliances with the local off-licence.
After graduating, he joined Unilever, where he worked on Jif and Persil, before landing a job at a TV company - albeit the minnow-sized Family Channel - as head of marketing. 'I had a calling for entertainment. I wanted to work in a creative environment,' he says.
When the channel was bought by Flextech, the content arm of Telewest, Webb elbowed his way into a programming role, first as director of programme strategy, where he focused on bringing a sense of brand to the channels, and then as programme director in charge of what was by then the former Family Channel, having rebranded as Challenge.
When he took over Bravo, he identified a niche in the market and, in a bold move, positioned it as a channel for men, who he thought were not served well by any other channel. 'My frustration is that I've been proud of the content, but a lot of it has gone unremarked as we haven't spent much on marketing,' he says. Webb subsequently rose to the top of the programming greasy pole eight months ago, following the departure of Lisa Opie to Five as managing director of content.
Webb says Virgin Mobile's merger with NTL:Telewest has transformed the broadcaster and is keen to point out that Virgin chairman Sir Richard Branson has been a great supporter of what he is trying to achieve. 'The brand gives us permission to be funny, quirky and irreverent,' he claims. It also gives him access to 4m mobile customers, whom he hopes will sample Virgin 1's offerings.
There is certainly more goodwill toward the Virgin Media platform than there ever was for its unlamented predecessors. However, the loss of Sky One has clearly damaged it, and the success of Virgin 1, which Webb enthuses about convincingly, is a vital part of the drive to get consumers to upgrade to the cable platform, which Virgin Media will use to cross-promote its other services. Webb denies that the launch is a knee-jerk reaction to the spat with Sky, insisting it had been in the planning since last year.
The schedule is ambitious compared with the little-watched Ftn it replaces, complementing Virgin Media's women-oriented Living channel with an exclusive deal to air the Terminator-inspired US drama The Sarah Connor Chronicles as well as 624 hours of Star Trek.
Despite the tendency of TV types to dismiss those who enter the industry from elsewhere, only fools would dismiss the threat posed by this graduate of the detergent school.
CAREER HISTORY
1990-1994: Graduate trainee rising to head of marketing, consumer products, Unilever
1994-1997: Head of marketing, Family Channel
1997-2001: Director of marketing and brand development, Flextech Telewest
2001-2005: Director of interactive programming and controller of Challenge, Flextech Telewest
2005-2006: Director of programming, Bravo, Challenge and Trouble, Flextech Telewest
2006-present: Managing director, Virgin Media Television.