We recently signed up to Virgin Media and checking our latest bill discovered that we were charged the princely sum of £6.49 for purchasing a film that we didn’t recall watching. £6.49! For Kung Fu Panda 2 (3D version). It’s only £5.99 to buy on DVD – we don’t even have a 3D telly!

Anyway, it seems our two-year old son had navigated to the On Demand menu and chose this film – obviously without appreciating that it would cost £6.49 – and then turned it off after ten minutes.

What surprsied me though when double checking our settings on the Virgin Media box was that by default, PG and U-rated On Demand content can be purchased without needing to enter a PIN code.

So in essence Virgin Media acknowledge that – by default – children should be protected from watching rated (ergo inappropriate) content but that – by default – they should not be protected from purchasing age-suitable content without the consent of an adult (who knows the PIN code for the set-top box).

So, if you are a Virgin Media customer (with children) please update your settings so that all On Demand content requires a PIN to purchase.

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