Virgin Media, the cable group that this month was forced to abandon its sale, today said that Steve Burch, its chief executive, is stepping down with immediate effect.

Mr Burch, who joined Virgin Media in January last year, will also step down from the TV and telecoms company's board. The group said his departure was prompted by family and personal reasons.

Virgin Media will begin searching for his replacement shortly, the company added in a statement.

Following the former NTL/Telewest's tie-up with Virgin's no-frills mobile business last year the combined group had hoped to become a formidable force in the UK home communications market, in part by becoming the first single provider of fixed-line telephone, mobile, broadband and pay-television services.

However, Virgin Media has so far struggled to fulfil its potential. Its second-quarter results showed that it had lost more than 70,000 customers. Only 125,000 have signed up to take all four services.

After the Virgin deal, Sir Richard Branson became the enlarged group's biggest shareholder with a 10.5 per cent stake.

Virgin Media announced earlier this month that its auction - triggered by an approach, in June, from Carlyle, the US buyout group - had been delayed indefinitely because of the turmoil in the credit markets.

Some investors are now fearful that a deal will not happen at all and are questioning whether the cable group should have held more detailed talks with Carlyle about its $33-a-share offer, earlier.

Carlyle had sought a period of exclusivity but Virgin instead opted to seek to drum up further interest via an auction.

Mr Burch led Virgin Media through the merger and subsequent integration of ntl and Telewest, the acquisition of Virgin Mobile and the re-branding of the company under the Virgin brand.

Chief operating officer Neil Berkett will assume the role of acting chief executive.

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