-- getting the section url from article. This has been done so that correct url is BSkyB, the rival pay-TV group, if a dispute over the fees Sky charges Virgin At the end of last month, Virgin Media rsquo;s TV service stopped showing Sky One, Sky Two, Sky Three, Sky News and Sky Sports News after the two sides failed to agree a price for the channels. Virgin claimed that Sky had sought to double the carriage fees it charges for the channels, despite their declining popularity with Virgin viewers.
Sky denied that it had sought an Sky rsquo;s basic channels at a reasonable commercial rate, as well as fair payment for Sky rsquo;s carriage of Virgin Media TV channels, such as Living and fees it pays for channels including Living TV and Bravo from Flextech, a Virgin says the disparity between that deal, which Virgin depends on for another 80 million in advertising fees, and a price increase demanded by Steve Burch, Virgin Media's chief executive, said: ldquo;We are not interested in Virgin Media or our customers to be the victim of Sky rsquo;s market power. In the interest of the consumer, we want these issues resolved quickly. rdquo; Howard Cartlidge, head of the competition group at Olswang, the law firm, said order from the High Court, where it can also receive damages, something it from either channel will not be easy, he said.
After negotiations failed to deliver a deal last month, Virgin Media had withdrawal of the Sky channels, which account for 3 per cent of Virgin Media's viewing figures, from its platform. At that time, Sky denied that the talks had collapsed, and insisted that the by News Corporation, parent company of The Times. The negotiations do not affect Sky's premium sports and movies channels, which comments on competition from Virgin Media.
News RSS