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BSkyB and Virgin Media settle channels dispute
Tuesday, Nov 04, 2008 4:34PM UTC
By Kate Holton
LONDON (Reuters) - BSkyB and Virgin Media have agreed a new deal to carry each others' basic channels, they said on Tuesday, following a highly public row in 2007.
BSkyB channels such as Sky News were taken off Virgin's cable platform last year after the two sides failed to reach an agreement over pricing in a public spat which dominated the headlines and angered many of Virgin's customers.
Shares in BSkyB were up 7.2 percent on the news and Virgin Media shares, which are listed in the U.S., were 17.3 percent higher at 1535 GMT.
"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 their respective basic channels," both groups said in the statement.
BSkyB and Virgin said the Sky basic channels would return to the cable service on November 13 and under a second agreement the Virgin Media TV basic channels such as Living and Bravo would continue on Sky.
The agreements include fixed annual carriage fees for the channels with both suppliers able to secure additional capped payments if their channels meet certain performance-related targets, they said.
"I believe this agreement represents a fair deal and is the right thing for our customers," said Virgin Media Chief Executive Neil Berkett.
"We recognise the quality and popularity of Sky's channels and look forward to welcoming them back to Virgin Media's TV service," he said. "We are also pleased to secure Sky's continued carriage of the VMTV channels until June 2011."
The BSkyB Chief Executive Jeremy Darroch said he was delighted to see the Sky channels returning to the Virgin Media platform.
(Reporting by Kate Holton; Editing by David Cowell)
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