BUSINESS BRIEFING / MUSIC

Virgin Media, the cable TV operator owned by entrepreneur Richard Branson, launched a new kind of music download subscription service with Universal Music Group, the largest music company.

The service, described by the companies as a world first, will enable Virgin Media’s broadband customers in Britain to stream and download as many songs and albums as they like from Universal’s catalog for a fee.

But entertainment lawyers said the service was unlikely to solve the global music industry’s problem of billions of dollars lost to music piracy, and would need to offer content from big-name entertainers to be attractive to consumers.