Virgin Atlantic / Virgin Media

[Arthurgray50@blu]

When VM decided to have this aggro with Skys basic package, and it got pulled off, and they stated that they would continue to discuss the fee etc, l said at the time, if it was Virgin Atlantic, the problem would be sorted out within days, as the thought of losing so much money over flights,, prompted Sir Richard to do something, and bingo today after a threat of TWO strikes planned, the aircrews accepted a new deal, isn't strange that VM, which has the VIRGIN brandname, therefore to me runs VM or a shareholder, this Sky problem has been going for a months, would it be nice, if Sir Richard said come on we will sit and discuss with Sky the deal, oh l forgot how much does a subscriber pay a month £20.00, compared to £250.00 on one flight. see how much he would lose.

[lostandconfused]

virgin atlantic had a bit of a row with BA not so long ago, that lasted quite a while IIRC

[SMHarman]

Went all the way to court. Virgin won.

Virgin Atlantic when they started up shared a reservation system with BA. BA were calling up VS pax pretending to be VS, advising them of a problem on a VS flight and rebooking them onto the nearby BA flight.

There we go again, bring facts into a thread.

Tchhhhh.....

[dev]

you think negotiating with sky is like negotiating with people who need money to live on?

[Sirius]

Originally Posted by Arthurgray50@blu

When VM decided to have this aggro with Skys basic package, and it got pulled off, and they stated that they would continue to discuss the fee etc, l said at the time, if it was Virgin Atlantic, the problem would be sorted out within days, as the thought of losing so much money over flights,, prompted Sir Richard to do something, and bingo today after a threat of TWO strikes planned, the aircrews accepted a new deal, isn't strange that VM, which has the VIRGIN brandname, therefore to me runs VM or a shareholder, this Sky problem has been going for a months, would it be nice, if Sir Richard said come on we will sit and discuss with Sky the deal, oh l forgot how much does a subscriber pay a month £20.00, compared to £250.00 on one flight. see how much he would lose.

If you want the Simpsons channel that bad WHY have you not moved to SKY to get it.?

[Arthurgray50@blu]

Hi Sirius, first of all, l cannot stand the Simpsons, l like Sky News and Sky Sports News, and that was contained in the basic package.

[Sirius]

Originally Posted by Arthurgray50@blu

Hi Sirius, first of all, l cannot stand the Simpsons, l like Sky News and Sky Sports News, and that was contained in the basic package.

Both of those can be obtained using a Freeview box

There only about £30.00

[tweetypie/8]

Originally Posted by Sirius

If you want the Simpsons channel that bad WHY have you not moved to SKY to get it.?

you are so right sirus these criers are giving me an unholy pain in the a**e

[jonifen]

Originally Posted by Arthurgray50@blu

Hi Sirius, first of all, l cannot stand the Simpsons, l like Sky News and Sky Sports News, and that was contained in the basic package.

Likewise, while I can stand the Simpsons, I am not bothered that I cannot watch it on Sky One... I mean, its on other channels often enough.
I did like Sky Sports News though...

Originally Posted by Sirius

Both of those can be obtained using a Freeview box

There only about £30.00

Yes, we have a freeview box too... but there is a lot more hassle involved in changing SCART channel on the TV to hunt for the freeview remote (there are no buttons on our STB - we don't use the freeview often at all, its there incase the VM TV goes a*se up). It's just nice to be able to flick to it using the same old VM remote.

[Stuart]

Originally Posted by Arthurgray50@blu

When VM decided to have this aggro with Skys basic package, and it got pulled off, and they stated that they would continue to discuss the fee etc, l said at the time, if it was Virgin Atlantic, the problem would be sorted out within days, as the thought of losing so much money over flights,, prompted Sir Richard to do something, and bingo today after a threat of TWO strikes planned, the aircrews accepted a new deal, isn't strange that VM, which has the VIRGIN brandname, therefore to me runs VM or a shareholder, this Sky problem has been going for a months, would it be nice, if Sir Richard said come on we will sit and discuss with Sky the deal, oh l forgot how much does a subscriber pay a month £20.00, compared to £250.00 on one flight. see how much he would lose.

With all due respect, none can be entirely sure why VM dropped the channels, beyond the fact that VM/Sky did not agree a price.

Sky wanted more money, while paying less for the then Flextech channels (living, uktv etc). This much (IIRC) was admitted by both sides. Virgin claim they would have had a heavy loss on each customer if forced to pay those prices. Sky obviously claim that the extra content would help vm.

Now, the real crux of the matter, and why it's not valid to compare Virgin Media with Virgin Atlantic is simple. Sky provide services to VM. It is therefore relatively easy (and legal) for Sky to make things difficult for VM. BA (AFAIK) do not provide services to Virgin Atlantic, so, therefore, had to resort to legally dubious methods to affect them.

[SMHarman]

Originally Posted by Stuart C

Now, the real crux of the matter, and why it's not valid to compare Virgin Media with Virgin Atlantic is simple. Sky provide services to VM. It is therefore relatively easy (and legal) for Sky to make things difficult for VM. BA (AFAIK) do not provide services to Virgin Atlantic, so, therefore, had to resort to legally dubious methods to affect them.

At the time of the BA Dirty Tricks. BA did provide a service to VS, the most critical service an airline needs, that of a reservations system. Effectivly BA provided a ring-fenced version of the BA reservations system to Virgin, if I recall hosted and managed by BA.
To walk away from a reservations system and onto a new one is very difficult as you need to migrate you current reservations over not an easy task.
http://www.google.co.uk/search?sourc...stem+migration
shows just how much trouble US airways had doing this last year.

[saabmania2]

Originally Posted by SMHarman

At the time of the BA Dirty Tricks. BA did provide a service to VS, the most critical service an airline needs, that of a reservations system. Effectivly BA provided a ring-fenced version of the BA reservations system to Virgin, if I recall hosted and managed by BA.
To walk away from a reservations system and onto a new one is very difficult as you need to migrate you current reservations over not an easy task.
http://www.google.co.uk/search?sourc...stem+migration
shows just how much trouble US airways had doing this last year.

your quite right there, also BA serviced a lot of Virgins planes, as about 1/3 of Virgin's fleet is leased from BA and there was a contract between them that basically said something like Virgin had to use BA's tech services with those aircraft.
when those aircraft did go into the hangers at heathrow during the time of the legal case Virgin's planes where left for days untouched.

[Arthurgray50@blu]

Hi tweetypie/8, l am not a pain in the a**e, l just say what l think,