General : ESPN, BT, Euro, Premier and Sky Sports news

[denphone]

Originally Posted by passingbat

But why aren't VM leading the way?

l agree as its better to lead from the front rather then lagging behind like a snail.

[Dave42]

Originally Posted by passingbat

But why aren't VM leading the way?

what do people expect VM to do about sky withholding the channels not a lot can be done sadly

---------- Post added at 13:49 ---------- Previous post was at 13:47 ----------

Originally Posted by muppetman11

It wouldn't surprise me in the least if they gained access to Sky Atlantic.

cant see sky stopping with holding it MM

[denphone]

Originally Posted by Dave42

what do people expect VM to do about sky withholding the channels not a lot can be done sadly

---------- Post added at 13:49 ---------- Previous post was at 13:47 ----------



cant see sky stopping with holding it MM

But there are other channels not owned by Sky which Virgin should have.

[Dave42]

Originally Posted by denphone

But there are other channels not owned by Sky which Virgin should have.

yes totally agree Den it looking like I be offski when contact end January

[passingbat]

Originally Posted by Dave42

what do people expect VM to do about sky withholding the channels not a lot can be done sadly

---------- Post added at 13:49 ---------- Previous post was at 13:47 ---------

But it looks as if BT are trying to do something about that, hence my comment.

[Dave42]

Originally Posted by passingbat

But it looks as if BT are trying to do something about that, hence my comment.

understand that but cant see sky stopping with holding them would love to be proved wrong though

[muppetman11]

Originally Posted by Dave42

understand that but cant see sky stopping with holding them would love to be proved wrong though

BT have something no other rival platform has been able to bring to the table and that's 38 EPL games for the next three years plus other sport , a great bargaining chip to start with.

[colin25]

Originally Posted by muppetman11

BT have something no other rival platform has and that's 38 EPL games for the next three years plus other sport , a great bargaining chip to start with.

i would be happy with that trade, if we could see all the games, for a reasonable fee

[Gavin-D]

Virgin Media Is Interested in Carrying BT Group’s Sports Content

Virgin Media Inc. (VMED), the U.K.’s second largest pay-television company, is interested in carrying the sports programs that BT Group Plc (BT/A) has acquired this year as part of an expansion into television rights.

“It’ll be interesting how it will play out,� Virgin Media Chief Financial Officer Eamonn O’Hare said at a Morgan Stanley conference in Barcelona today. “Hopefully they will see value in the 4 million customers that we have, and see that as a route to market for their valuable content.�

O’Hare said he was open to talking to BT about carrying the shows. BT, the U.K.’s biggest fixed-line phone company, has acquired rights to broadcast Premier League soccer games and English rugby matches, challenging pay-TV providers such as British Sky Broadcasting Group Plc. (BSY) which also bid for the rights. BT has said it plans to release its BT Sport service by next summer and hasn’t given details about the format.

Phone and cable companies are increasingly offering a similar suite of services -- bundles of television, high-speed Internet and phone lines. Virgin Media, BSkyB and BT are using exclusive rights to shows and movies as well as video-on-demand services to differentiate themselves and to make extra money by leasing rights to competitors.

“We do think customers will want more fragmented, different-sourced content,� O’Hare said. “But we think they will definitely value a one-stop-shop.�

http://www.businessweek.com/news/201...sports-content

[denphone]

Originally Posted by Gavin-D

Virgin Media Is Interested in Carrying BT Group’s Sports Content

Virgin Media Inc. (VMED), the U.K.’s second largest pay-television company, is interested in carrying the sports programs that BT Group Plc (BT/A) has acquired this year as part of an expansion into television rights.

“It’ll be interesting how it will play out,� Virgin Media Chief Financial Officer Eamonn O’Hare said at a Morgan Stanley conference in Barcelona today. “Hopefully they will see value in the 4 million customers that we have, and see that as a route to market for their valuable content.�

O’Hare said he was open to talking to BT about carrying the shows. BT, the U.K.’s biggest fixed-line phone company, has acquired rights to broadcast Premier League soccer games and English rugby matches, challenging pay-TV providers such as British Sky Broadcasting Group Plc. (BSY) which also bid for the rights. BT has said it plans to release its BT Sport service by next summer and hasn’t given details about the format.

Phone and cable companies are increasingly offering a similar suite of services -- bundles of television, high-speed Internet and phone lines. Virgin Media, BSkyB and BT are using exclusive rights to shows and movies as well as video-on-demand services to differentiate themselves and to make extra money by leasing rights to competitors.

“We do think customers will want more fragmented, different-sourced content,� O’Hare said. “But we think they will definitely value a one-stop-shop.�

http://www.businessweek.com/news/201...sports-content

Well its quite clear that its Virgin intention to try to get BT sports on the XL TV pack but whether BT wants to do this is open to question.

[andy_m]

Originally Posted by muppetman11

BT have something no other rival platform has been able to bring to the table and that's 38 EPL games for the next three years plus other sport , a great bargaining chip to start with.

Except that as soon as they acquired the content they immediately made clear their intention to make it available on the Sky platform.

[muppetman11]

Originally Posted by andy_m

Except that as soon as they acquired the content they immediately made clear their intention to make it available on the Sky platform.

Very true however they haven't disclosed under what terms , BT may sell the channel themselves like Setanta did on satellite or they may use Sky to sell the channel on the Sky platform like ESPN do , so plenty of things to be thrashed out I'm sure.

[andy_m]

I should imagine the Premier League, and more importantly their sponsors, made it clear that the Bt rights must be made available to Sky. If it was that much of a bargaining chip then Bt wouldn't have to make public statements about appealing against Court approved wholesale prices for Sky Sports. What they do have is pots of money so it will be interesting to see what happens if they're really prepared to test Sky's resolve over Atlantic.

Trade BT Sports for Sky channels (and millions of possible customers) then withhold it from Virgin in order to slowly kill them off, its the perfect plan.

[muppetman11]

I guess time will tell , in my opinion it will be available on BT Vision , VM and Sky however BT still hold all the aces there's nothing stopping them keeping HD , premium features for their own platform that said I can't see them doing that if they go down the line of selling the channel as a standalone on cable and satellite as many wouldn't bother if it was SD only.