Summer Glau

Virgin Media has secured the rights to the Terminator movie-inspired US drama The Sarah Connor Chronicles to beef up the programme offering for its new Virgin 1 channel. The new general entertainment channel, which aims to take on BSkyB’s Sky One service, will launch with the 13-part series, which stars British actress Lena Headey, in the autumn.

Virgin Media has struck the exclusive UK TV deal for The Sarah Connor Chronicles with US studio Warner Bros.

The show will be made available across various digital media, with catch up and preview clips available via Virgin Media’s on-demand services.

Virgin Media has also struck a deal, with CBS Paramount, to air several of the Star Trek series, totalling 624 hours of programming that it aims to build a "cult community" around on the Virgin1.co.uk website.

The cable company has also commissioned the Leo Houlding Project, a series which features the eponymous British climber giving an adrenaline rush to "people in serious need of excitement".

Another Virgin 1 acquisition is the US show The Real Exorcist, which features Reverend Bob Larson.

Celia Taylor, the director of programming for Virgin 1, said that on top of securing major TV shows the channel is about "liberating our viewers with a compelling on-demand offer and exciting user-generated content and broadband strategies".