Sir Richard is thought to be keen on a sale of Virgin Media

While 40,000 TV users left Virgin in the April-June period after Sky withheld a number of channels, Virgin's net TV viewer figure rose 2,500.

Sky pulled channels such as Sky One from Virgin in March as a result of a row over how much Virgin should pay.

Virgin said the 40,000 figure was much less than analysts' expectations.

Some commentators had predicted that Virgin could lose as many as 100,000 customers during the second quarter because of the dispute with Sky.

Broadband rise

Virgin added that it gained an extra 51,000 broadband customers during the second quarter, bringing the total to 3.5 million.

The firm's mobile phone contract customers rose by 53,000 to 299,000.

However, it lost 50,000 fixed line telephone customers.

Virgin's revenues for the April-June quarter rose 13% to �995m from �884.3m a year earlier. Its net loss for the period narrowed by 39% to �119m from �196m a year ago.

On Tuesday, Virgin Media said it would give potential bidders more time to make an offer for the firm.

Key shareholder Sir Richard Branson is reported to be keen on a sale.