[jonbxx]

I would imagine that if there were ongoing negotiations with Sky for HD, the last thing Sky would want is publicity about it. Sky will want to convert as many Sky+ and VM users to HD as they can before selling the crown jewels.

If I was in Skys shoes, I would provisionally agree to sell HD channels to VM but ONLY when the Sky+HD box sales growth had at least plateaued. The fact that they are giving the Sky+HD box away for free now suggests that they have now sold to all the early adopters and now are going for the Sky+ box owners. I would wait until the World Cup was over and then open up the channels.

(I know that World Cup games will be in HD on VM, well at least the BBC ones but let's face it, Sky are the de facto HD provider in the UK)