TROUBLED Hampshire cable giant Virgin Media could be in for a rough ride from activist investors in the wake of miserable results.

The firm's second biggest investor has demanded talks over its "strategic direction, corporate governance and management".

It's another blow for the major Hampshire employer, which has suffered a series of setbacks since re-branding from NTL last year. Only last week bosses reported losing more than 46,000 customers in the first three months of the year following its spat with BSkyB.

That announcement has prompted Franklin Mutual, which has built up a 9.4 per cent holding, second only to Sir Richard Branson's 11 per cent, to step in.

The exodus of subscribers took the shine off a £25m promotional campaign designed to banish the poor reputation for customer service synonymous with NTL.

Chief executive Steve Burch had pledged to beef up its customer service so that it is the number one in the sector. However, the acrimonious withdrawal of BSkyB's basic channels at the end of February, which left thousands of Hampshire viewers without channels including Sky One and Sky Sports News and without hit shows such as The Simpsons and Lost, saw telephone lines overwhelmed.

An analysis of customer numbers showed Virgin Media had been recording net customer losses since the second quarter of last year, with experts predicting that the figures will probably get worse still as customers have to give 30 days' notice before switching providers.