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

[andy_m]

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!

[passingbat]

Originally Posted by andy_m

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

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

[Gunslinger]

Originally Posted by denphone

Absolutely as it seems relations between Sky and Virgin are indeed very entente cordiale and whatever poster or posters thought that Virgin would be frozen out by BT and Sky is probably choking on his porridge oats this morning because it very much seems that the odd man out could well be BT.

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....

[montehampster]

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?

[andy_m]

He's talking about infrastructure, not content.

[Gunslinger]

Originally Posted by montehampster

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

"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?

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.

[heavyside]

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

Originally Posted by heavyside

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

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.

[Chad]

Originally Posted by Media Boy

Virgin Media signs new one year deal for Sky Sports.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2013...eal-sky-sports

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?

[denphone]

Originally Posted by Chad

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?

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 ----------

Originally Posted by Chad

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?

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

[MalteseFalcon]

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?

[denphone]

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 ----------

Originally Posted by MarkC1984

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

Sky Atlantic for me.

Originally Posted by MarkC1984

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

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.

[muppetman11]

Originally Posted by passingbat

Content provision is slowly (and not so slowly) moving on line. That's where a good network comes in.


We are in a transitional phase ATM but the future is online provision.


And Sky are even a customer of VM's network provision.

http://www.cableforum.co.uk/board/35564633-post7.html

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.

[Gavin-D]

Originally Posted by toady

How many people actually subscribe to Sky Sports and Movies, suspect that a lot of people don't therefore it wouldn't be as bad as when they lost Sky basics, and even them VM managed to carry on

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