Branson's decision 'refreshing' says Sky

Following Branson's move this morning to pull derogatory references to Sky channels from his Virgin Media platform, Sky says it "applauds" the decision.

Following the removal of Sky basic channels from the cable platform on Wednesday night, Virgin Media replaced the channels with titles such as "Sky Snooze try BBC" instead of Sky News, and "Old Sky Sports Snooze" in reference to Sky Sports News.

Branson announced that he ordered the removal of the on-screen jibes, adding he had been unaware of the spoof channel name manoeuvre. He told the The Guardian: "I have asked them to take it down. We do not mean any disrespect to Sky News. I think it is a very good news channel."

A Sky spokesman said: "Sky applauds Sir Richard Branson’s decision to halt Virgin Media’s childish mocking of Sky News and our other basic channels."

"After Virgin Media’s negative comments about the quality of our channels in recent days, it is refreshing to hear Sir Richard’s praise for Sky News as a 'very good news channel' and we call on him to take action to restore our basic channels to Virgin Media customers."

But Sky has again called on Virgin Media to allow it to offer its channels to cable customers direct.

"If Virgin Media truly believes they are not worth the asking price of 3p per customer per day, Sky invites Virgin to provide access to its platform so that we can retail our channels directly to customers," the statement added.