Sky channels return to Virgin Media next Thursday

Sky channels return to Virgin Media next Thursday Sky and Virgin Media have just announced that, following successful negotiations, they have agreed to two new channel carriage deals, the first of which finally sees the return of the missing Sky channels to the Virgin Media TV platform next Thursday on the 13th of November – something of an early Christmas present for Virgin customers.

We can confirm that Sky’s Basic channels – including Sky1, Sky2, Sky3, Sky News, Sky Sports News, Sky Arts 1, Sky Arts 2, Sky Real Lives and Sky Real Lives 2 – will arrive on Virgin Media’s cable TV service, and in return, Virgin Media TV’s basic channels – Living, Living 2, Bravo, Bravo 2, Trouble, Challenge and Virgin 1 – will become a mainstay of Sky’s TV channel line-up on satellite.

Sky3, Sky News and Sky Sports News will be part of Virgin Media’s M TV package and therefore be available to all digital TV subscribers, with Sky1 and Sky2 will join Virgin Media’s L and XL TV packages. Sky Arts 1, Sky Arts 2, Sky Real Lives and Sky Real Lives 2 will make up the rest of Virgin Media’s XL TV package.

Living, Living 2, Bravo, Bravo 2, Virgin 1 and Challenge will be available to subscribers of Sky’s Variety pack of channels, with Trouble becoming available to subscribers to Sky’s Children’s pack.

The two deals are set to run concurrently until the 12th of June 2011, with agreements on carriage fees now fixed, with both channel suppliers able to secure additional capped payments if their channels meet certain performance-related targets.

Virgin Media’s CEO, Neil Berkett, said: “We are pleased to bring our carriage negotiations with Sky to a successful close. I believe this agreement represents a fair deal and is the right thing for our customers. We recognise the quality and popularity of Sky’s channels and look forward to welcoming them back to Virgin Media’s TV service. We are also pleased to secure Sky’s continued carriage of the VMTV channels until June 2011.”

Jeremy Darroch, Sky’s CEO, adds: “This is great news for Sky and Virgin Media customers alike. We want our channels to be enjoyed by as many people as possible so we’re delighted to secure their return to the Virgin Media platform.”

The so-called Missing Channels saga began back in March 2007, when the Virgin Media platform was barely a month old. Negotiations over carriage fees erupted into a bloody war of words, which saw the two companies taking pot shots at one another in the press, and in adverts. The feud culminated with Virgin threatening to drag Sky through the courts and submitting a joint complaint along with BT, Setanta and Top-Up TV to the Competition Commission.

As part of the agreements, both Sky and Virgin Media have agreed to terminate all High Court proceedings against each other relating to the carriage of each other’s channels.

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