Customers lose out in media row (Virgin V BSkyB)

**MIG-31** · Mar 1, 2007, 05:26 PM

Source: BBC.CO.UK
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Pity the poor Virgin Media customer, caught in the middle of a war of words between Virgin and BSkyB.

The deadline has passed and three million homes no longer have access to Sky's basic channels, including Sky One - which shows high-value series such as 24, Lost and Nip/Tuck - and Sky News. Both sides continue to blame the other.

Sky was first to issue a statement, shortly after midnight, saying: "Virgin Media has withdrawn Sky's basic channels from its television customers following the expiry of the agreement between the two companies."

Matth · Mar 2, 2007, 05:41 PM

Since NTL / TW (now Virgin) have blamed every Family pack TV price increase on costs passed on from Sky, will we now see a decrease in prices?

It also appears that the change in service (loss of Sky One / Two / News / Travel etc.) is accepted as grounds for release from a minimum term of contract.

One viewer on a radio phone in was complaining about the loss of "Discovery Kids", though that channel appears to have ceased broadcasting on all networks.

Next question, are any other channels at risk on the Virginmedia platform?

Additionally, where does this leave the Virginmedia owned channels?
Do Sky pay for them, or does the channel provider pay for carriage on Sky?

To be honest Virginmedia's current offering looks hopelessly uncompetetive with Sky's £26 Talk / Watch / Surf package - the only advantage of VM being the on-demand features (including free catchup of many shows), and the only disadvantage of Sky being the ugly dish.

Something else VM could do with attending to, is the rather weak "red button" support - how many times do you need to hear "if you are watching on digital satellite or freeview, press red for...."

If you have an old Pace DiTV1000 STB, on the other hand, struggling to juggle TV, broadband and interactive with an underpowered CPU & RAM, press red and you're lucky if the wretched thing doesn't crash.

Time to decide just how ugly that dish is, or have a serious go at getting the the kind of retention discount that everyone seems to be talking about.

After seeing a friend's Talktalk broadband (ethernet modem) actually deliver a full 8 Mbit, I'm now rather disappointed with my 1 Mbit (would be 2 it wasn't through the clunky old Pace STB), instead of being rather smug with the rocksolid performance compared to the flaky old USB ADSL modem he used to have.

Mar 1, 2007, 05:26 PM	#1
MIG-31 HardwareHeaven News Mod Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: Nottingham,UK Posts: 56,818 Rep Power: 471 System Specs	Customers lose out in media row (Virgin V BSkyB) Source: BBC.CO.UK _______________ Pity the poor Virgin Media customer, caught in the middle of a war of words between Virgin and BSkyB. The deadline has passed and three million homes no longer have access to Sky's basic channels, including Sky One - which shows high-value series such as 24, Lost and Nip/Tuck - and Sky News. Both sides continue to blame the other. Sky was first to issue a statement, shortly after midnight, saying: "Virgin Media has withdrawn Sky's basic channels from its television customers following the expiry of the agreement between the two companies." __________________ Please Post Your News Submissions Here

Mar 2, 2007, 05:41 PM	#2
Matth Flash Banner Hater Join Date: Jun 2002 Location: UK Posts: 3,426 Rep Power: 93 System Specs	Since NTL / TW (now Virgin) have blamed every Family pack TV price increase on costs passed on from Sky, will we now see a decrease in prices? It also appears that the change in service (loss of Sky One / Two / News / Travel etc.) is accepted as grounds for release from a minimum term of contract. One viewer on a radio phone in was complaining about the loss of "Discovery Kids", though that channel appears to have ceased broadcasting on all networks. Next question, are any other channels at risk on the Virginmedia platform? Additionally, where does this leave the Virginmedia owned channels? Do Sky pay for them, or does the channel provider pay for carriage on Sky? To be honest Virginmedia's current offering looks hopelessly uncompetetive with Sky's £26 Talk / Watch / Surf package - the only advantage of VM being the on-demand features (including free catchup of many shows), and the only disadvantage of Sky being the ugly dish. Something else VM could do with attending to, is the rather weak "red button" support - how many times do you need to hear "if you are watching on digital satellite or freeview, press red for...." If you have an old Pace DiTV1000 STB, on the other hand, struggling to juggle TV, broadband and interactive with an underpowered CPU & RAM, press red and you're lucky if the wretched thing doesn't crash. Time to decide just how ugly that dish is, or have a serious go at getting the the kind of retention discount that everyone seems to be talking about. After seeing a friend's Talktalk broadband (ethernet modem) actually deliver a full 8 Mbit, I'm now rather disappointed with my 1 Mbit (would be 2 it wasn't through the clunky old Pace STB), instead of being rather smug with the rocksolid performance compared to the flaky old USB ADSL modem he used to have. __________________ Mary had a little lamb, Her father shot it dead Now Mary takes her lamb to school, Between two crusts of bread