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Shipoftheline
05-02-2007, 02:01 PM
Lovers of the hit shows 24 and Lost who rely upon cable TV risk being cut off mid-season as the deal to supply Sky One to NTL runs out at the end of this month.
BSkyB and NTL, which will relaunch as Virgin Media on Thursday, are in talks to renew the deal but relations between the two are at a low ebb.

A spokesman for Sky stressed that negotiations are at a very early stage and "Sky has always sought wide distribution for its basic channels and we aim to achieve a positive outcome to these discussions".

But marketing insiders fear that Sky could use the leverage of Sky One, which has many of the most viewed programmes available on NTL, to scupper any revival in the cable industry.

In fact, there is no obligation on Sky to make its basic channels - including Sky One - available to rivals. Tiscali, for instance, is relaunching the Homechoice service next month as Tiscali TV without the channel. In 2002 the Office of Fair Trading found that Sky was dominant in the supply of premium channels - such as its Sky Sports channels - so these have to be made available to rivals. But there is no similar ruling on its basic channels.

NTL is spending ?20m on its rebranding as Virgin Media with a campaign that kicked off at the weekend. Sky, however, has already been buying up a lot of advertising space for its "See, Speak, Surf" combined TV, broadband and home phone service.

Battle lines between the two companies were drawn up when NTL approached ITV about a merger. While the two sides argued over the rationale in any deal, BSkyB snapped up a 17.9% stake in ITV


http://media.guardian.co.uk/broadcast/story/0,,2006080,00.html

DanMB
06-02-2007, 12:22 PM
It says NTL but does that also include Telewest?

Shipoftheline
06-02-2007, 12:27 PM
It says NTL but does that also include Telewest?


Yep its the one company now so the negotiations will be for Virgin Media. Apparently this is why Sky are now playing hard ball with them

hogansghost
06-02-2007, 03:58 PM
Yep its the one company now so the negotiations will be for Virgin Media. Apparently this is why Sky are now playing hard ball with them

On one hand, you've got to admire sky. Sell content to rival distributors at a profit. But just when that competition get their house in order and begin to pose a real threat, they use this to great effect.

That's not to say that Virgin couldn't create a "Virgin 1" channel, but surely it would take a long time to get content and advertising to rival 24, Simpsons etc...

DanMB
06-02-2007, 03:58 PM
Never mind theres always plenty of places to download them from.

ticticboom
06-02-2007, 04:02 PM
dam it i grew up watchin sky one was ma fave channel , virgin should cough up lol

lucky1
06-02-2007, 04:11 PM
i agree sky one was one of the only channels i watched .

Shipoftheline
06-02-2007, 04:34 PM
That's not to say that Virgin couldn't create a "Virgin 1" channel, but surely it would take a long time to get content and advertising to rival 24, Simpsons etc...

Yep so Sky could be shooting themselves in the foot. Virgin Media could setup a rivel channel now and it wouldn't take too long because they already own Flextech Television (http://www.flextech.co.uk)

kryten77
06-02-2007, 10:20 PM
Was talking to Telepest "Customer Care" tonight and asked about this. After the guy picked himself off the floor, he informed me the sticky point is that NTHelL/Telepest want SKY3 (is there a SKY3) in the deal but SKY want that all to themselves. They are concerned that the new "Virgin Media" group seem to be getting their act together and could impinge on their market share

Shipoftheline
06-02-2007, 10:29 PM
Was talking to Telepest "Customer Care" tonight and asked about this. After the guy picked himself off the floor, he informed me the sticky point is that NTHelL/Telepest want SKY3 (is there a SKY3) in the deal but SKY want that all to themselves. They are concerned that the new "Virgin Media" group seem to be getting their act together and could impinge on their market share


Sky Three is FTA on Freeview and shows the older shuff thats already been on Skyone/two (12 months & more older)

kryten77
07-02-2007, 04:27 AM
I dunno mate dont use freeview. Only passing on what the **** on the customer care line at Telepest said tonight. Was looking for their free wireless router but the offer ended on Monday night at 8pm so no dice. Decided to have a right go at him only for him to upgrade my TV package lol, my phone package and my Internet connection so its not all bad. He then went into the marketing spiel about the Sky 1 Issue.

Rusty P
12-02-2007, 08:18 PM
They(sky) run an ad after the Arse v Wigan game sayin "Virgin media are curently underestermating the value of sky one, sky news & sky travel" It then when on to show a list of all the programs you will miss. They even gave out Virging customer service number at the end asking cable punters to phone and make there views known. Very cheakey, higly amusing aswell as being great marketing stunt.

Think we may see more of these mind game now, as it's basicly murdoch Vs Branson & theres no love lost there.

If virgin were to lose sky one etc, could Virgin not not just remove all the channels they own from sky i.e bravo, trouble, Living etc?? I guess they must have some type of contract with sky and i know for a fact the misses would be none to happy if she couldn't watch most haunted lol.

Shipoftheline
13-02-2007, 11:52 AM
Sky turns up heat on Virgin

BSkyB has raised the stakes in its battle with Virgin Media by taking out ads asking cable customers to take on their suppliers.
Sky launched the adverts on channels such as Sky One last night telling customers of Virgin Media - renamed from NTL last week - that Sky's basic channels could be withdrawn from the cable system if Virgin Media did not pay a "fair price for them".

Customers were told to call Virgin Media's customer service line to lobby against any withdrawal.

The move "completely shocked" Virgin Media, which had no idea the adverts were being planned. One Virgin Media insider described the move as "bizarre".

Sky and Virgin Media are locked in negotiations over the cost of carrying each other's channels. These tense talks come on top of Virgin's complaints to regulators after Sky effectively blocked the cable company's takeover bid for ITV.

Sky was able to air the adverts without Virgin Media's permission as it inserted them into the feed it gives to the cable firm.

A Sky spokesman defended the move, saying the company wanted to give Virgin Media customers the chance to lobby against any withdrawal of its basic channels, which as well as Sky One include Sky Two and Three, Sky News, Sky Sports News, Artsworld and Sky Travel.

"It is a call to action on behalf of Virgin Media customers," the spokesman said. "We need to build up some support. We feel these channels are valuable to Virgin Media customers and we have invested a lot of money in them. We need to instal in viewers the danger of them potentially being pulled.

"We feel an obligation to let cable customers know there is a very real danger these channels could be pulled."

The spokesman added there was no fixed timescale for how long the adverts would run.

Negotiations on the new carriage deal are expected to be completed within the new few weeks.

Sky said it was requesting a "fair price" from Virgin Media which "reflects the proposed new terms and considerable value of its basic channels".

A Virgin Media spokeswoman said the company did not comment on negotiations as they were confidential.

But she added: "We are negotiating in good faith to ensure these channels are available to Virgin Media customers. We have no idea why Sky are saying we are doubting the value of these channels.

"Negotiations for the channels are still going so we don't know why they're saying this. Unless, of course, their aim is to scare our customers into taking their service. "We find Sky's sudden concern for consumers odd, particularly given their plans to unilaterally withdraw this very same content from Freeview users. "Sky are saying we doubt the value of their channels. This isn't true. We're working hard to make sure they remain available to our customers."


http://media.guardian.co.uk/broadcast/story/0,,2011464,00.html

petee
13-02-2007, 12:40 PM
To be honest if cable lose these channels theres not a lot left on thire service

diversionsc
13-02-2007, 03:42 PM
I'll have to agree with you there, sky really do have alot of control over there service, what with sky movies as well on top of that, sky sportsand sky box office events.

I don't want to lose sky one!

Shipoftheline
23-02-2007, 08:48 AM
Well it's going,


Virgin-Sky talks break down

Sky has told Virgin Media that it will pull its major channels from the network at the end of this month after talks broke down last night.
The two companies could not agree on a rate that Virgin Media would pay for the satellite broadcaster's basic channels, such as Sky One and Sky Sports.

The Virgin Media chief executive, Steve Birch, told BBC Radio 4's Today programme this morning that he'd never heard of a broadcaster threatening to pull its channels, and said that even though Virgin is a rival of Sky it is also a customer.

He said that although he hoped the problem could be resolved, Sky had told them that it would not re-enter negotiations.

The dispute follows intense competition between the newly rebranded Virgin Media and Sky. In November, Rupert Murdoch's broadcaster bought a 17.9% stake in ITV at a time when Virgin Media - then NTL - was looking to bid for or merge with the commercial network.

Shipoftheline
27-02-2007, 04:32 PM
Battle lines: Murdoch v Branson

BSkyB and Virgin Media's PR war cranked up another notch today as the two sides traded blows about the value of the carriage fees Sky is demanding for its basic channels such as Sky One.
Sky says it is asking for 90p per month per subscriber. Based on Virgin having 3.3 million subscribers, that equates to ?35.6m a year.

Part of this 90p figure - 16.2p, worth ?6.4m a year - is earmarked for Sky Three, Sky News and Sky Sports News, the three channels that Sky intends to take off Freeview later this year.

Because these three channels will go behind the "pay wall" when they come off Freeview and will no longer be available free anywhere, Sky believes their value is enhanced to cable customers.

The rest of the charges relate to the other channels in the Sky basic package: Sky One, Sky Two, Sky Travel and Sky Arts.

Sky says it will not seek the extra 16.2p per month per subscriber until the three channels come off Freeview, which will not happen until the summer at least and is in any case dependent on approval from Ofcom.

The company's finance director, Jeremy Darroch, told the Daily Telegraph that the resulting 73.8p fee represented a 20% rise in the cost of Sky's package.

This implies that the current cost is around 61.5p - worth ?24.4m a year, which is in line with analysts' assessment of the channels' cost to Virgin.

However, Virgin says that Sky's costings are misleading because the deal currently proposed is subject to a minimum guaranteed payment.

This minimum deal is twice the current annual payment, Virgin says.

If that is the case and the 61.5p figure is correct, Virgin would end up paying something like ?1.23 per month per subscriber, more than one-third higher than the 90p cost Sky outlined.

"Sky is blatantly misrepresenting their offer, which specifically provides for a minimum guaranteed annual payment that is twice the current annual payment," Virgin said in a statement.

"Under Sky's proposals, there are no circumstances under which Virgin Media would pay anything less than this doubled amount. The pence per subscriber figure they quote is simply not applicable because of the minimum guarantee." Virgin also said Sky has demanded that it remove the Sky basic channels from its "entry level" TV package, which is available for free with any other Virgin Media product.

"This means that, even were terms agreed, Virgin Media would be forced to deprive a significant proportion of their subscribers of Sky's basic channels," Virgin said.

"This is nothing short of an attempt to stop Virgin Media giving consumers a better deal so that Sky can maintain their monopolistic position in the market." Virgin said it had offered Sky a "generous increase on the existing fee arrangement" and in return expected "only to receive the same product that Sky makes available to its own customers".


Media registration promo | Media | MediaGuardian.co.uk (http://media.guardian.co.uk/broadcast/comment/0,,2022629,00.html)

Holy $??T 90p customer when Virgin Media let them have the flextec channels for 10p per customer. Sky are also suggesting they have already been given permission to put Pay TV on FREEview which I don't think is the case

plavix
27-02-2007, 05:39 PM
<quote>
Dear customer,
Let?s face it. Things would be pretty boring if choice didn?t exist. There?d be just one kind of airline to fly with. One type of car to drive. And if Sky had their way, there?d only be one place to get TV.
We thought we?d let you in on a few tricks they?ve been trying to get their way.
While we?ve continued to make Virgin Media channels like Living, Bravo and Challenge available to all Sky customers, Sky may withdraw their non-premium channels from Virgin Media?s service ? in order to force you into switching service.
Virgin Media were willing to pay an increase in costs in order to get the complete range of Sky content and channels.
However, Sky have consistently demanded an increase that bears no relation to the channels? market value.
We have refused to accept this increase, since it would mean absorbing significant costs ourselves, and passing the kind of price increase on to our customers that is simply unfair. We are not prepared to rip off our customers.
So Sky have picked up their ball and gone home.
As a Virgin company, we?re well used to the attempts of large corporations trying to manipulate markets, stifle competition and rip off consumers.
Luckily, we don?t think Sky?s the limit.
We think the future?s full of fresh entertainment and communication possibilities. And we?re looking forward to bringing them to you. With all the freedom and choice you deserve.
We?ve launched Virgin Central, a revolutionary type of TV channel, where programmes start and stop when you say so. This is only available on Virgin Media, since Sky don?t have the technology to be able to transmit it. What?s more, it?s available to every single one of our digital TV customers.
And there?s our unique on demand library. A giant collection of over 500 films, 1000 music videos, 100s of TV shows ? all at your beck and call. You can access them at any time.
We?re not scared of competition, we welcome it.
To find out more, visit virginmedia.com/fairplay.
Yours,
Sir Richard Branson
</quote>

Looks like it really is going.

thelostone
28-02-2007, 12:44 AM
Never mind theres always plenty of places to download them from.
People keep saying that! any chance telling us were from? i am geting Withdrawal symptoms already.No simpsons,no sg1,no bg i rearly should get out more

kryten77
28-02-2007, 01:27 AM
People keep saying that! any chance telling us were from? i am geting Withdrawal symptoms already.No simpsons,no sg1,no bg i rearly should get out more

There is a Torrent of info available if you Google for the name of the program you are looking for ;)

DJMEE
28-02-2007, 09:11 AM
come on branson sort it out!!! don't want to loose my simpsons or else i'll never know what is going on in the world!!!!

Spinifex
28-02-2007, 01:23 PM
Yo peeps,

Ive actually been in contact with sir richard and told him how we and i feel about sky.

basically sir richard needs to think of a better plan than just channel 119 (on demand) type stuff.

ive expressed my feelings of sky to him and put a few ideas his way. i am yet to receive a reply back from himself or Virgin Media.

Basically ive said he has done the right thing by telling sky to f*off and its about time somebody did.

whatever happens happens!

all the best.

Andy.

thelostone
28-02-2007, 11:13 PM
There is a Torrent of info available if you Google for the name of the program you are looking for ;)
Thanks mate i am googleing as we speek

nobby
01-03-2007, 01:01 AM
Well there you go - midnight exactly, Sky one and two gone!!!

satman
01-03-2007, 01:04 AM
sly sports news also gone :(

swanside
01-03-2007, 02:38 AM
They told you so.
How many people have joined sky in the last few hours.

I wont, just dont like being held to a ransom.

Expression:
suit, my, nose, cut face, my, too, off.

ticticboom
01-03-2007, 02:41 AM
yeah we knew it was coming but i was hoping there wud be a deal done 2 save it but hey its only a few chans but i grew up with sky one so thats a big loss, sky have won the battle with VM but the war aint over .

kryten77
01-03-2007, 05:57 AM
Can anyone recall Richard Branson backing down from a fight. He took on the might of B.A and won.He has managed to accumulate many companies under the blanket of the Virgin name. Looks like S*y arent going to have it their own way for too much longer. Branson will now probably start the price war and watch and listen to S*y bleat about how much money they have to pay for stuff etc. Branson has very good ties with the media in America, they like his style...self made man taking on the giant of entertainment.
This is not over yet......Not by a long way.

DanMB
01-03-2007, 10:21 AM
We keep sky sports dont we?

yes we do.
Sorry for answering my own question but i couldn't edit last post.

Shipoftheline
01-03-2007, 12:50 PM
I think Virgin Media are making a huge mistake if they think this Virgin Central crap can replace skyone. I may be wrong but don't you have to pay for each show you watch on that ? People aren't going to get a discount now these channels are gone yet Virgin Media expect them to pay for each show they whach on the VC channel lol

badmanvan
01-03-2007, 02:17 PM
BBC NEWS | Business | BSkyB channels taken off Virgin (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/6405549.stm)

read this should be also on other news sites and video sites

Dossermac
11-03-2007, 08:01 PM
Phone up and complain about the channels you are losing
Remember to tell them How many channels you are paying for and let them know they could be deemed as being in breach of contract as you are paying for x amount of channels and are actually getting less!
Worked for me ?2.00 a month less for the next 6 months!

Shipoftheline
12-03-2007, 09:02 AM
You didn't do that well then because according to reports from Virgin Media themselves they are offering some people upto ?10 a month discount to stay with them

DanMB
13-03-2007, 01:16 PM
I can't moan i only by their broadband and use a dreambox for my telly lol

afy46
14-03-2007, 02:00 PM
dont worry people its all gonna be back virgin are taking sky to court we shal have all our channels back very soon i have a good source were the info came from.

Shipoftheline
14-03-2007, 02:47 PM
dont worry people its all gonna be back virgin are taking sky to court we shal have all our channels back very soon i have a good source were the info came from.


Me too it was in MediaGuardian the other week :tv:

anonymouse
14-03-2007, 10:27 PM
also here: We're listening (http://allyours.virginmedia.com/fairplay/say.html)

and if you flick to sky two, sky sports news, etc you will see the message

theres a reliable source

long live branson

Shipoftheline
15-03-2007, 12:19 AM
also here: We're listening (http://allyours.virginmedia.com/fairplay/say.html)
and if you flick to sky two, sky sports news, etc you will see the message
theres a reliable source
long live branson


I find it more worrying that Sky are or may be allowed to take there pay tv to freeview!

Yes there trying to take off the free channels they had/have to make them pay tv. The interesting question is are the government going to step is or look the other way for $ky like they have in the past

anonymouse
18-03-2007, 11:22 PM
One quote i find quite ridiculous is this:


What's more, Sky forced Virgin Media to accept an 85% reduction in the price it pays for Virgin Media's TV channels ? like Living and Bravo. That's despite a 7% increase in popularity.

From the website: Fair play (http://allyours.virginmedia.com/fairplay/index.html)

TELL US WHY?!!

swanside
19-03-2007, 08:22 AM
I Dont see how going to court will solve anything tbh.

Sky One is Skys own Channel, they purchase the programs they show on that channel. Why dont Virgin Media start there own channel Virgin 1 and purchase the same programs??

It loks like the right to buy policy, I can sell you something that is mine at whatever the price it is worth, If I want to charge you more and you wont pay it, then I will keep it for myself.
Sorry but I just see thing plain and simple, and that is what this loks like. You could not take somebody to court on Ebay for selling something which cost more than its worth, you simply would not buy it.

I can see more programs going soon, Sorts and Movies.

Shipoftheline
19-03-2007, 03:34 PM
Sky implores advertisers to wait

Sky has called on advertisers and media agencies not to look to renegotiate the ?20m in ad deals, affected by the pulling of its channels from Virgin's service, until after its financial year ends in June.


Media registration promo | Media | MediaGuardian.co.uk (http://media.guardian.co.uk/broadcast/story/0,,2037650,00.html)

And only 16 days till the court date! Recon $ky know something we don't ;)

kryten77
20-03-2007, 08:16 AM
Rumour has it that Ofcom are keeping a close eye on this farce. S*y have in the past few years basically taken everything they want in the way of TV Series and Sports, looks like it may be time for the regulatory authorities to step in and have their say. I'm easy either way coz there is more than one way to view anything that appears on S*y at the moment. However if all avenues for this closed then I would have to seriously look at returning to the dreaded satellite dish.