[Perfect Choice]

Thought you might be interested in a snippet from the BT statement issued to BT employees which states what has been publically stated but puts an important different slant on one specific aspect namely:

"We will launch a new football-focused channel to carry the games. It will offer new interactive features when supplied over BT’s fibre network and we will look to distribute it on other platforms.”

So what the above “could” mean is that while VM will have access to this new BT football focused channel (subject to negotiations of course), the "additional new interactive features" will only be available via the "BT fibre network"?

If that is what eventually happens (could be reading more than is here today), could we end up with a big dispute with BT, like VM had with the Sky red button for their interactive sports features?

VM are working on the strategy they are an independent carrier now, reaching agreements with content providers. Trouble with that strategy is that if the content owner (in this case football coverage) are themselves competitive carriers and want to secure an advantage (e.g. lack of F1 HD on VM is an example of that right now), then do VM have the necessary right and weight from anti-competitive legislation to force change on such providers? It will be an interesting 12 months to see have things develop with this new BT channel.