Further apart than ever-We will be updating till midnight hour - Virgin Media TV and Phone

AbsDigi · 28-02-2007, 18:45

http://media.guardian.co.uk/broadcas...023477,00.html

4.15pm

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Sky and Virgin hold firm as deadline nears

Chris Tryhorn
Wednesday February 28, 2007
MediaGuardian.co.uk

Last-minute telephone negotiations between Sky and Virgin left the two sides further apart then ever today.
Hopes were fading today that BSkyB and Virgin Media could settle their carriage row in time to prevent Sky's basic channels such as Sky One disappearing from cable TV viewers' screens at midnight tonight.

James Murdoch, BSkyB's chief executive, today spoke by phone to Virgin bosses Steve Burch and Jim Mooney, but the two companies failed to find common ground.

Virgin rejected Sky's proposed tariff for the channels and Sky turned down Virgin's suggestion of independent arbitration to settle the dispute.

The warring companies even disagreed about who called up whom: Sky claimed Mr Murdoch picked up the phone, while Virgin said this was "wholly inaccurate".

"The conversation with James Murdoch was instigated by Virgin Media's chairman Jim Mooney in order to try to find a constructive way through this impasse," a Virgin spokesman said.

"We're sorry that Sky once again rejected our offer of binding independent arbitration to find a fair and equitable solution that works for consumers, and instead prefer to rely on using their market power to drive a withdrawal of their struggling basic channels."

Sky said Virgin's bosses wanted to reopen the deal covering what Virgin is paid by Sky for taking its channels on the satellite network. Virgin has indicated it wants this addressed as part of any arbitration by a third party.

"Mr Mooney and Mr Burch sought to impose a new condition on future discussions: to reopen the existing contractual agreement for the distribution of Virgin Media's channels on Sky's platform," Sky said. Sky has also proposed to retail its basic channels directly to Virgin's customers if Virgin Media will provide access to its closed platform. Virgin rejected this earlier today as a "ludicrous" proposal. Separately, Virgin's leading shareholder and public face, Sir Richard Branson, said he was determined to keep the pressure on Sky.

"We've got to draw a line in the sand and we've got to make a stand," Sir Richard told Andrew Neil in an interview for BBC News 24's Straight Talk, to be broadcast on Sunday.

Sir Richard also said Virgin was still interested in ITV, in which Sky became a 17.9% shareholder in November, thwarting Virgin's hopes of a merger.

"We'll have to watch how the competition situation develops and we'll just have to watch this space," Sir Richard said. "It was perceived that [Murdoch] played a clever move in spending a billion buying 18% of ITV," he added. "Personally, I don't think it was a clever move, it was maybe one move too many, and we'll have to see how the competition authorities rule on it."

28-02-2007, 18:45	#1
AbsDigi Forum Member Join Date: Sep 2006 Posts: 47	Further apart than ever-We will be updating till midnight hour http://media.guardian.co.uk/broadcas...023477,00.html 4.15pm -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sky and Virgin hold firm as deadline nears Chris Tryhorn Wednesday February 28, 2007 MediaGuardian.co.uk Last-minute telephone negotiations between Sky and Virgin left the two sides further apart then ever today. Hopes were fading today that BSkyB and Virgin Media could settle their carriage row in time to prevent Sky's basic channels such as Sky One disappearing from cable TV viewers' screens at midnight tonight. James Murdoch, BSkyB's chief executive, today spoke by phone to Virgin bosses Steve Burch and Jim Mooney, but the two companies failed to find common ground. Virgin rejected Sky's proposed tariff for the channels and Sky turned down Virgin's suggestion of independent arbitration to settle the dispute. The warring companies even disagreed about who called up whom: Sky claimed Mr Murdoch picked up the phone, while Virgin said this was "wholly inaccurate". "The conversation with James Murdoch was instigated by Virgin Media's chairman Jim Mooney in order to try to find a constructive way through this impasse," a Virgin spokesman said. "We're sorry that Sky once again rejected our offer of binding independent arbitration to find a fair and equitable solution that works for consumers, and instead prefer to rely on using their market power to drive a withdrawal of their struggling basic channels." Sky said Virgin's bosses wanted to reopen the deal covering what Virgin is paid by Sky for taking its channels on the satellite network. Virgin has indicated it wants this addressed as part of any arbitration by a third party. "Mr Mooney and Mr Burch sought to impose a new condition on future discussions: to reopen the existing contractual agreement for the distribution of Virgin Media's channels on Sky's platform," Sky said. Sky has also proposed to retail its basic channels directly to Virgin's customers if Virgin Media will provide access to its closed platform. Virgin rejected this earlier today as a "ludicrous" proposal. Separately, Virgin's leading shareholder and public face, Sir Richard Branson, said he was determined to keep the pressure on Sky. "We've got to draw a line in the sand and we've got to make a stand," Sir Richard told Andrew Neil in an interview for BBC News 24's Straight Talk, to be broadcast on Sunday. Sir Richard also said Virgin was still interested in ITV, in which Sky became a 17.9% shareholder in November, thwarting Virgin's hopes of a merger. "We'll have to watch how the competition situation develops and we'll just have to watch this space," Sir Richard said. "It was perceived that [Murdoch] played a clever move in spending a billion buying 18% of ITV," he added. "Personally, I don't think it was a clever move, it was maybe one move too many, and we'll have to see how the competition authorities rule on it."