Virgin viewers on brink of losing Sky
Cable customers are set to lose hit shows such as Lost, 24 and the Simpsons from midnight tonight.
Sky and Virgin Media have been locked in a war of words today as the deadline approaches to agree a deal.
The rival companies are ostensibly arguing over the price that Virgin Media pays to Sky for the right to carry its basic channels such as Sky One, Sky News and Sky Sports News.
But behind this argument lies Virgin Media’s newfound strength in its battle with its satellite rival following last year’s merger of cable giants NTL and Telewest, the acquisition of Virgin Mobile and the company’s rebranding as Virgin Media earlier this month.
Virgin was also angered when Sky bought a 17.9% stake in ITV, blocking a potential takeover and the creation of a media giant to take on Sky.
Sky said today it wanted to sell its channels directly to Virgin customers if it could not agree a deal through the cable network.
“We believe absolutely in the quality of our channels and their strong appeal to customers, but we’ve offered a simple alternative if Virgin really doesn’t think they’re worth 3p per customer per day,” said a Sky spokesman.
“At no cost or risk to Virgin, we’ll retail our basic channels directly to cable customers on the Virgin Media network to ensure that no one misses out on the TV they enjoy.”
But Virgin boss Steve Burch has rebuffed this suggestion, arguing that because it controls access to its cable network Sky will have to deal with them.
“It’s a bold-faced attempt to take our network from us. It’s a ludicrous proposal and they know it’s ludicrous. We are not going to let them steal our network, they’re far more dominant than they should be. It’s a ridiculous request.
“It’s classic Sky to hijack our network, to continue to have not only their dominance on their network but to take our network as well. It’s very misleading, an attempt to distract and confuse people.”
He called on Sky to do a deal today or to enter into arbitration, during which Virgin would keep Sky’s channels on air, but Sky has rejected this proposal.
“Trying to involve a third party and unpick the agreement for Virgin’s channels on the Sky platform would be an unnecessary delay and distraction,” said Sky in a statement. “Our debate with Virgin comes down to how strongly you believe in the value of Sky’s basic channels.”
As part of the arbitration offer, Virgin had wanted to renegotiate the unfavourable deal it previously made with Sky over the carriage of channels such as Living TV, Bravo and Trouble.
The row does not affect any of Sky’s premium sport and movie channels.
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