Re: Coming Soon to Virgin TV (2013) Vol. 2.
 

It's all posturing. Behind the scenes all the companies will be looking for mutually beneficial ways of working together. Virgin's network will now carry some of Sky's back traffic, and Sky have been reselling Bt's network for years. From a TV point of view I have long felt that it would be in Sky's interest to ensure Bt don't become even the second TV operator since from that position they are financially a much bigger threat than Virgin.

But that doesn't mean you should expect Atlantic anytime soon!

Re: Coming Soon to Virgin TV (2013) Vol. 2.
 

No one is expecting it; they are just pointing out new deal situations that could potentially open the door for it.

Re: Coming Soon to Virgin TV (2013) Vol. 2.
 

Exactly. BT are on the spot, because they have laid out £millions on sports rights which they HAVE to sell to Sky and Virgin customers - their own existing customer base by itself is way too small.

Sky (and to a lesser extent, Virgin) can probably afford to play hardball with BT on a wholesale deal - this probably why the Sky/Virgin deal is only for one year, to see how things pan out.

As a fall-back, BT could presumably use ESPN's EPG slots to market directly to satellite customers, but this too could be very difficult without Sky's co-operation and/or require setting up a whole new billing infrastructure with 3 months to go....

Re: Coming Soon to Virgin TV (2013) Vol. 2.
 

Interesting piece of hypocrisy in the Guardian article from Neil: -

"This spat that is going on between BT and TalkTalk at the moment is a bit disappointing," said Berkett. "Some of the language between Dido and Ian is not overly helpful. He believes BT should be free to set its own prices.
"You have to have a free market where an infrastructure supplier has the incentive to invest," said Berkett.


So why not a free market for a content supplier who has the incentive to invest? BT and Sky have invested heavily in content so they should also not be free to charge what they wish and we as customers of whichever platform have to decide whether we are prepared to pay that price?

Re: Coming Soon to Virgin TV (2013) Vol. 2.
 

He's talking about infrastructure, not content.

Re: Coming Soon to Virgin TV (2013) Vol. 2.
 

There is.

However unrestricted competition for content rights is not necessarily best for the end consumer - it possibly just leads to greater profits for the rights owners (e.g. US TV studios, UK Premier League) and higher subscriptions for customers, and/or 'binary choices' between platforms to get all the content you want.

You don't want to end up having to have Sky, Youview and Tivo boxes all connected to your TV, not to mention the overlapping subscriptions that go with them, to get 'everything'.

It seems sensible from everybody's point of view for there to be arrangements whereby at least the most attractive content is wholesaled between suppliers at a reasonable cost. The 'content investors' reap the benefits of income from their indirect as well as direct customers, and the profile of the content itself is enhanced by its wider coverage.

Re: Coming Soon to Virgin TV (2013) Vol. 2.
 

I suspect Virgin, Sky and BT see the real competition not as each other but Freeview.

Re: Coming Soon to Virgin TV (2013) Vol. 2.
 

Not really, it is pretty much just PSB channels & shopping at the moment. Obviously that's all ~50% of people want but that's a market unlikely to change.

Re: Coming Soon to Virgin TV (2013) Vol. 2.
 

Good read and great news for Virgin customers who enjoy SKY Sports.

Strange that there is no announcement on either the SKY or Virgin website / press offices. Also it seems the Guardian is the main source for this story. Is there anything official anywhere to clarify what has actually been agreed between both parties?

Re: Coming Soon to Virgin TV (2013) Vol. 2.
 

No there are no other press releases l can garner at the moment but l am sure there will be soon when it is officially announced by both parties.

---------- Post added at 13:12 ---------- Previous post was at 13:09 ----------

BT need to react quickly as they are certainly very much on the back foot now Chad.

Re: Coming Soon to Virgin TV (2013) Vol. 2.
 

Now we wait to see if Virgin can sign a deal with BT to carry their sports channels. And if so, whether it will be part of the XL package or a premium standalone channel. Would be happy for it to be on XL, but wouldn't pay for a standalone channel. Don't watch that much football anyway so if that is all BT will show then not too fussed about the channel not coming. But I know several here are wanting it.

Which channel is most wanted, SKY Atlantic or BT sports channels?

Re: Coming Soon to Virgin TV (2013) Vol. 2.
 

According to our CF unofficial poll unless its on the XL pack there won't be many takers at the reported £12 to £15 per monthly subscription they are likely to ask for Mark.

---------- Post added at 14:14 ---------- Previous post was at 14:13 ----------

Sky Atlantic for me.

Re: Coming Soon to Virgin TV (2013) Vol. 2.
 

Hmm. Not easy to answer. As a football fanatic who watches every EPL game put in front of me, it would have to be BT Sports. BUT if the channel isn't included in XL I would downgrade my TV package (to M+?) to offset any additional subscription charges.

Re: Coming Soon to Virgin TV (2013) Vol. 2.
 

Be very careful what you wish for , my Youview box takes its feeds from the online app based catchup services , the PQ is dire and there's ad breaks all the way through.

Re: Coming Soon to Virgin TV (2013) Vol. 2.
 

Virgin is Sky's biggest wholesale customer with around 700,000 Sky Sports subscriptions