Well, looks like the gloves are off between Murdock's Sky empire and the new Virgin Media brand. In summary, negotiations between Virgin and Sky have broken down because, according to Virgin, Sky are demanding double the fee for their basic channels (Sky One, Two, etc).
Branson has, apparently, written to customers saying he thinks Sky are doing it to force consumers onto the satelite platform, and Virgin are more than ready to play hard ball with the dominate player. Rumours have it that Sky will pull their basic channels from Virgin Media next month.
Personally methinks Sky need to be careful about coming across as the bully in the fight. I'm a Sky customer, but like most of us (I'm sure), don't think Sky One is really much to write home about. They've got only two big shows - Lost & 24 - and everything else (and all their other basic channels) are just repeats and cheap imports. Not much of a bargaining chip.
Flip over to Virgin Media, and they have LivingTV, Bravo, Trouble, FTN and 50% (with the BBC) of the huge UKTV network. If they wanted to retaliate, and pull those from the satelite platform (but obviously leaving them on digital terresteral, which interestingly now has a larger share than Sky anyway), and I think satelite customers may be looking at a very "light" selection of basic channels.
Virgin says if Sky does pull their channels, they'll make up the difference to its customers. Possibly that means cheaper TV, or more services in the basic package.
Now I'm a Sky customer, but if this goes ahead, I'd be tempted to phone Sky and tell them were to shove it. I don't think they've playing with much of an edge over Free-To-Air channels these days, and Virgin Media's offerings are looking more and more tempting. If only they gave Flying Club Miles!
Pete
Branson has, apparently, written to customers saying he thinks Sky are doing it to force consumers onto the satelite platform, and Virgin are more than ready to play hard ball with the dominate player. Rumours have it that Sky will pull their basic channels from Virgin Media next month.
Personally methinks Sky need to be careful about coming across as the bully in the fight. I'm a Sky customer, but like most of us (I'm sure), don't think Sky One is really much to write home about. They've got only two big shows - Lost & 24 - and everything else (and all their other basic channels) are just repeats and cheap imports. Not much of a bargaining chip.
Flip over to Virgin Media, and they have LivingTV, Bravo, Trouble, FTN and 50% (with the BBC) of the huge UKTV network. If they wanted to retaliate, and pull those from the satelite platform (but obviously leaving them on digital terresteral, which interestingly now has a larger share than Sky anyway), and I think satelite customers may be looking at a very "light" selection of basic channels.
Virgin says if Sky does pull their channels, they'll make up the difference to its customers. Possibly that means cheaper TV, or more services in the basic package.
Now I'm a Sky customer, but if this goes ahead, I'd be tempted to phone Sky and tell them were to shove it. I don't think they've playing with much of an edge over Free-To-Air channels these days, and Virgin Media's offerings are looking more and more tempting. If only they gave Flying Club Miles!
Pete
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