[Ben B]

Richard it seems to me like you are actually bothered whether or not Virgin has paid re-transmission fees. It's probably not going to have an effect on customers whether or not they have because they have to remain competitive in terms of pricing as otherwise people will just vote with their wallet and leave. The deal covers the entire ITV suite of channels and yes maybe there are details about re-transmission in the terms but this will have probably been on the proviso that Virgin receive 4K etc that they have managed to come to an agreement on (I will highlight this is my subjective opinion before anyone comments with 'were you at the negotiation table?' or similar). In terms of the other PSBs asking for re-transmission fees, the BBC probably won't because of the license fee. Channel 4 and Viacom both have commercial agreements for other channels so it might be brought to the table when negotiating for them but who knows.

With regards to the UKTV channels yes people will leave because they've gone if they don't come back. UKTV saying on Twitter that it's unlikely that the channels will return and pointing people in the direction of other providers could just be to put pressure on Virgin to reach a deal. I don't think Virgin are in that much of a weak position though given not everyone watches UKTV and the fact that they've just signed a multi year deal for BT Sport. Let's face it are sports fans who are Virgin Media customers going to want to spend £27.99 a month and upwards on top of a Sky package?