Re: Guardian: "Sky Atlantic won't be on Virgin Media soon, says BSkyB boss"
 

But Sky already have long term deals with the movie companies and have had VOD rights tied up for years, where are VM etc supposed to go ?

Re: Guardian: "Sky Atlantic won't be on Virgin Media soon, says BSkyB boss"
 

And where are VM customers supposed to go. To Sky of course. But that doesn't matter because apperently monopolies are OK. Well as long as Sky are the monopoly.

Re: Guardian: "Sky Atlantic won't be on Virgin Media soon, says BSkyB boss"
 

Nothing stopping VM from bidding on the content, they chose not to.

Sky have offered to sell content via VM's platform, VM refused.

Re: Guardian: "Sky Atlantic won't be on Virgin Media soon, says BSkyB boss"
 

Ignition none of that makes any sense. Sky have loads and loads of money, VM are heavily in debt.

As for VM being offered the content can you prove that, I can't believe you have swallowed that line. Sky advertised the channel months ahead of launch as exclusive. They even said in a press release the channel was to create a difference between the content they offer and other channels offer.

Re: Guardian: "Sky Atlantic won't be on Virgin Media soon, says BSkyB boss"
 

Sky sent a team down to try and sell the channel to VM but VM decided not to go further according to sky,which to me is a sensible policy why pay shed loads for a channel sky may have overvalued and in a few months later if it bombs out sky may offer a cut price deal for.

We all know sky have shed loads of money to bid for content VM on the other hand are in debt, work it out for yourself why VM did not enter a bidding war for the content rightly so in my view. Sooner or later sky atlantic will be offered to VM at more reasonable rates,if only so sky can charge more for the adverts with a bigger potential audience just a question of when.

In the meantime for people who want to see the content there are other ways.;)

Re: Guardian: "Sky Atlantic won't be on Virgin Media soon, says BSkyB boss"
 

VM aren't 'heavily' in debt at all, that would be struggling to pay the bills. VM's total debt is more than sustainable now and they are generating considerable amounts of cash while paying their interest bill and are actively paying back their debt - read their results.

I didn't say that VM had been offered this content I said that Sky have in the past offered to sell their content via VM's platform and VM refused. By that I mean the same deal that TalkTalk TV have where Sky pay for access to the platform and the customer pays Sky.

---------- Post added at 17:51 ---------- Previous post was at 17:49 ----------

Easy, they're happy for Sky to pay for the content and them to go crying to Ofcom if Sky won't sell it to them or charge too much for it.

Re: Guardian: "Sky Atlantic won't be on Virgin Media soon, says BSkyB boss"
 

On the first point can you produce a comparison of VM and Sky's balance sheets.

On the second point I apologise profusely I misunderstood you. That would create even more of a monopoly though.

Re: Guardian: "Sky Atlantic won't be on Virgin Media soon, says BSkyB boss"
 

Well sky did pay for the content and vm are showing no sign of going to ofcom are they.? By their shear market power 10 million customers sky use content to try and batter the oppostion into submission,which is very bad for the consumer as a whole. But what is bad for the consumer is very good for sky mind you as i have said if the channel bombs as it may it will appear at a very reasonable price on vm down the line.

Mind you sky themselves appear happy that their access to BT lines is regulated saves them investing in their own eh,for their phone and broadband offerings sky are quite happy for cut price access in this case.:D;);)

Re: Guardian: "Sky Atlantic won't be on Virgin Media soon, says BSkyB boss"
 

That is very inaccurate. Sky haven't battered anyone into submission.

And I don't get the 'bad for the consumer' argument either. What is this based on? VM carry the majority of Sky's channels. Who exactly is losing out?

Re: Guardian: "Sky Atlantic won't be on Virgin Media soon, says BSkyB boss"
 

So if they can carry the majority of the channels why not all of them? Do you think exclusive content is in our interest?

Re: Guardian: "Sky Atlantic won't be on Virgin Media soon, says BSkyB boss"
 

Because quite simply VM and Sky are not meant to be homogeneous substitutes.

I don't see how it impacts your or VM customers interests. There is nothing stopping a VM customer going to Sky if what they want is Sky channels from the day they are released.

Plus going by the figures of Sky's recent misadventures I doubt anyone could question the interests of 3.8m consumers being harmed on the basis of viewing figures in the thousands.

Re: Guardian: "Sky Atlantic won't be on Virgin Media soon, says BSkyB boss"
 

It impacts on all consumers interests if it creates a monopoly. If what you say is true and Sky's attempt to create a gulf between the content they have compared with other's in an attempt to poach customers has failed then that would go a long way to calming my fears.

Re: Guardian: "Sky Atlantic won't be on Virgin Media soon, says BSkyB boss"
 

BSB? ITV Digital?

Ten years on, I don't think they would/could get away with it now, if only because of the high profits now being made by Sky and the media and regulatory focus currently on News Iinternational and BSkyB.

Medium term, I think it is in both Sky and VM's interest to co-exist, as the real challenge comes from elsewhere (YouView etc).

Re: Guardian: "Sky Atlantic won't be on Virgin Media soon, says BSkyB boss"
 

But Sky aren't a monopoly. And they aren't succeeding in poaching VM customers either. The viewing figures for the new channel are abysmal. No where near creating any kind of credible threat to any other platform.

Re: Guardian: "Sky Atlantic won't be on Virgin Media soon, says BSkyB boss"
 

Do you think only having one retail option on VM's network is in our interest? Clearly not, but all products aren't created equally.