Virgin Media customers could see the return of the Sky channels as early as January the 1st – a report first leaked on Brand Republic details how Sky and Virgin have again been getting together for secret huddled talks regarding the return of the five Sky channels to the cable TV platform “from the start of 2009″.
In March last year, the Sky channels Sky 1, Sky Sports News, Sky News, Sky Arts and Sky Real Lives (aka Sky Travel) were pulled from Virgin Media after the ‘Quad Play provider’ refused to pay the rates Sky were demanding.
In light of the Ofcom report published last week which decreed that Sky should divvy up its premium footy and film content on a wholesale basis, it looks as though the two might be able to work out a deal; Virgin Media are already paying Sky a pretty penny for their Sky Sports and Sky Movies channel packages, and the pending wholesale framework would presumably see Virgin having more money to play with, and therefore be able to meet Sky’s demands for its channels.
A Sky spokesperson said: “We remain keen to agree a carriage deal with Virgin Media but it needs to be a fair price that reflects our investment in the channels.”
The removal of the channels by Sky is widely seen as the catalyst which prompted Virgin, BT, Setanta Sports and Top-Up TV to submit a joint complaint to Ofcom last year, the results of which have recently been published.
The pulling of the channels also prompted a very public war of words between Sky and Virgin, and a series of aggressive marketing campaigns, which pooh-poohed the quality of each other’s services (see above). Now now children.
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