Quote:
Originally Posted by OLD BOY
Which would be stupid, right?
Let's not over-react. Carriage disputes like this go on all the time in the US.
It has happened before between Sky and Virgin. Sky almost had its Discovery channels dropped barely a few months ago.
The TV industry is now under threat from the global streamers, and whether we like it or not, the telcos have to respond. They cannot afford to keep paying channels sky high prices for their content when all the content on providers like Netflix can be had for under a tenner.
I am afraid it is UKTV who are in denial.
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The difference being that the Discovery channels were never actually removed from Sky as a deal was thrashed out.
I've never known such a backlash from customers and widespread media attention over any cable issue, let alone channel removal.
It's not a matter of if, but when at least some of the UKTV channels return. The situation for VM is becoming more untenable by the day and the current stance by management of digging their heels in to appear robust is only serving to protract and worsen the negative fallout. Threatening to auction off the former UKTV EPG slots is downright inflammatory and not something i'd expect from so called professionals at such a delicate and sensitive time, particularly when Ofcom are about to start mediating between the two parties. I'm sure that Ofcom will take a very dim view of this latest move by VM management.
I'm afraid it's now got to the stage where damage limitation is the best that they can hope for. Whether VM (or anyone else) believes that they are in the right will eventually have to be put to one side to safeguard the whole future of the business. I do genuinely think that it's now that serious.
People are complaining to Ofcom about not being able to cancel after being kept on hold for excessive lengths of time, that live chat appears to have been suspended and the other day the telephone system stopped working because it simply could not cope.