Virgin Media's anti-piracy plan draws cheers in UK

By Andre Paine

LONDON (Billboard) - The British recording industry is hailing Virgin Media's plans to embrace anti-piracy measures in conjunction with its launch of an unlimited music download subscription service.

Universal Music Group, home to U.K. hitmakers like Duffy and James Morrison, is the first major label to sign up for the service, which would provide users with MP3 downloads free of digital rights management (DRM) restrictions, as well as streaming music.

As part of its fourth-quarter launch of the music service, Virgin Media has agreed to crack down on illegal peer-to-peer file sharing across its entire network. Steps would include the temporary suspension of Internet access if a customer fails to heed warning letters.

Virgin Media, which also provides telephone and cable TV services, has 4 million broadband subscribers in the United Kingdom and says its fibre optic service is accessible to 51 percent of U.K. households.

The recording industry is embracing the company's planned music subscription service with more enthusiasm than the U.K. government's recent "Digital Britain" report, which put the onus on educational warning letters and new services to deter piracy rather than on graduated response programs.

Geoff Taylor, chief executive of trade organisation the BPI, dismissed the government's proposals as "digital dithering" but applauds the Virgin deal as proof "that graduated response is a workable way forward."

Universal Music Group International senior VP of digital Rob Wells describes the deal as a strategic move with the only Internet service provider (ISP) that offers 50 MB-per-second download speeds.

"Virgin has the only fibre optic cable network in the U.K.," Wells says. "They are a haven for some large abusers of intellectual property."