Standard&Poor's Ratings Services views U.K. cable operator Virgin Media Inc.'s business risk profile as "satisfactory" and its financial risk profile as "significant." The rating on Virgin Media Inc. (VMI) is constrained by our view of the U.K.'s highly competitive landscape and VMI's partial network coverage, which weighs on VMI's prospects for revenue growth. The rating also reflects VMI's aggressive, though gradually declining, debt leverage and the group's reliance on a competitor for some key TV content. However, the rating benefits from VMI's well-established business position as the second-largest pay-TV operator in the U.K. and a leading provider of bundled services (TV, broadband Internet, fixed-line telephony, and mobile telephony). The group's cable network passes through approximately one-half of all
