Samuel L Jackson to promote cable iPlayer

Virgin Media will launch a marketing campaign starring Samuel L Jackson for its television on demand service after the BBC's iPlayer service launches on the platform.

Acting chief executive Neil Berkett has revealed that the BBC would be promoting Virgin as the only way to get the iPlayer on television when it launches on the service next month.

He said the advantages of its cable network had become stronger as video on demand on the internet and television became more popular, and that this would continue.

"That's when our superior network really starts to shine," he said in a conference call to investors.

"It will not be long before 8Mbps per second won't be enough to provide a middle England home with the bandwidth they need."

Berkett said the launch of the iPlayer at Christmas demonstrated Virgin's network was better equipped: "...we could see the usage of it across our network, but for the DSL providers, boy did they know about it."

Virgin chairman Jim Mooney also yesterday hinted Berkett would soon be appointed permanent chief executive more than six months after he replaced Steve Burch.

Today the company announced a new television advertising campaign, focusing on video on demand, fronted by Jackson.

A set of adverts will air in April which is after the iPlayer is expected to have been added.

Virgin said the campaign would "bring to life the company's video on demand content" and reflects "video on demand and broadband service (being) at the heart of its consumer offer".

James Kydd, managing director of brand and marketing, said: "We are extremely excited about working with Samuel for our new ad campaign, as he has such massive appeal with young and old alike."