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Originally Posted by Media Boy
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Sorry I'm a little puzzled. Does this mean Smallworld can't get access to ITV2 HD "due to the lock-out signed into the carriage agreement with the other operators"?
I thought Adam Crozier confirmed about 18 months ago that the deal with SKY for ITV2HD, ITV3HD and ITV4HD was a non-exclusive deal. Adam Crozier also stated:
"Building new revenue streams by exploiting our content across multiple platforms is a key part of the ITV transformation plan."
It seems strange that some lock-out deal would be in place between SKY and ITV unless a deal has recently been agreed with ITV and Virgin, but not yet announced. Similar to the SKY deal with ITV, which made SKY the exclusive satellite broadcaster of the channels, maybe Virgin are the exclusive cable carrier of the channels which locks out Smallworld.
Why would ITV and Virgin delay announcing such a deal? Who knows. But remember it wasn't too long ago that Virgin, Eurosport and the BBC deliberately held back announcing their deal to bring 2012 Olympics to Virgin Media customers by way of linear channels.
Personally I view the post from Smallworld a a positive that the missing ITV HD channels might actually be on their way to Virgin soon.