Quote:
Originally Posted by johnasimmons
Ok, to the point and no peeing about here - what the deal probably entails is that VM cannot announce the deal with BT Sport until the last possible moment as BT want to maximise people moving to BT Infinity broadband for as long as possible; in that respect we might not hear anything until tomorrow evening or even not at all - we might just find the BT channels on our V/V+/TiVo boxes on Thursday  |
I must say I don't really buy this 'deal done, but no announcement, so more people switch to BT' line.
Why would VM go along with something that encourages customers to leave, even in the short term? Would a collusive agreement like that (to actively mislead customers) be legal under competition and/or consumer law?
And how would customers react if, having been told by BT the channels won't be on Virgin, they switch to BT on Wednesday only to find them popping up on VM on Thursday? I know all the telcos have been told off by the ASA at one time or another, but that is surely pushing the limits...
I suspect each side is holding out till the last minute for the 'best' commercial deal; at the end of the day VM 'need' BT Sports to keep customers happy, and BT 'need' the income to offset some of the costs of the rights they have purchased. Otherwise, it is a very, very, very expensive way for BT to promote their broadband service.