Quote:
Originally Posted by Gavin-D
No news on when BT launches in Ireland no news on HD channels (BT Sport) either (Setanta is in HD)
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As I understand it, BT Sports will soon become available in southern Ireland on the Liberty Global owned UPC cable network.
It will be in the Setanta pack- and therein lies the difference. I imagine that BT will be dealing with Setanta as a third party and not UPC (and more importantly, not have access to their customer details).
This means that UPC don't have to open up their network to 3rd parties.
Perhaps this could be a solution for the VM situation if XL talks fail to achieve a resolution. ie route standalone BT subscriptions via a standalone (preferably sports) channel eg Boxnation*.
* Boxnation is currently wholesaled by VM and then retailed to VM customers, but I'd hope arrangements could be made to facilitate this if necessary.
BT will then only receive data about VM Boxnation customers.
As Boxnation is about to launch an HD variant and BT are tipped to buy Boxnation, this might offer a solution.
I'm sure both negotiating teams are exploring every avenue to reach a suitable arrangement for both parties
