"We think there's a real gap in the online sports market," said Jason Boswell, acting head for commercial development at Virginmedia.com. "There's an opportunity for us to fill the void and actually engage with people who go to watch football."
Virgin Media recently negotiated broadband-only rights to screen live Premiership matches for up to a week after play and hopes to build a web community around this partnership.
"We want to use the broadband rights to our advantage. Unlike TV rights to sports coverage, we're not limited with it and we don't have to tow a particular line. We will encourage UGC and football discussion around the screening of the matches.
"And we are actively seeking to include other sports that we feel don't get a good enough service. Motorsports is another area we are looking at."
Chris Bunyan, director of portal management at Virginmedia.com said he was hoping to leverage partnerships with V Festival and Big Brother this year.
"We going to co-create content with Big Brother for the Virgin Media portal and gain exclusive access to this year's housemates."
Bunyan added that the 'Road to V' campaign - which is seeking new band talent with the aim of showcasing the group at this year's V Festival - has already had 2000 entries. “It's important to merge together user input and portal content to create the best experience."
The recently revamped VirginMedia.com site is a combination of the five websites that existed before Virgin's takeover of NTL and Blue. It now among top 15 websites in the UK.
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