Acquisition by Sky of Virgin Media Television

[TheDon]

Originally Posted by Sirius

Are we the only 2 that has seen this. No way could the negotiating team have missed this, But there again

You've answered your own question there. The reason no one else is bothered is because it's so blatantly obvious that there's no chance it's been missed, and so likely isn't going to be an issue.

It's the same with the ofcom decision, if Sky move premier league games to SS 3 and 4 ofcom can immediately review their decision and add SS 3 and 4 to the must offer obligation without any additional consultation.

VM employ some VERY intelligent people, they know what they're doing. They aren't amateurs in this. If you've spotted a potential pitfall you can bet your life that they will have as well. This isn't a deal that was done over a pint in an evening down the pub, there has been months (maybe even years?) of discussion, consultation, investigation and research into it. You don't sign these deals without covering all your bases.

[donkbong]

Originally Posted by Sirius

Are we the only 2 that has seen this. No way could the negotiating team have missed this, But there again

]

But if do charge for Sky Sports HD 1 & 2 then what is the point if they not showing premier league matches useless.

[spankysmagicpian]

You can bet your bottom dollar that Sky will sooner rather than later move shows like Criminal Minds, Ghost Whisperer, Cougar Town, etc etc to Sky One and leave Living as a poor relation to Sky Three.

[zantarous]

Originally Posted by donkbong

]

But if do charge for Sky Sports HD 1 & 2 then what is the point if they not showing premier league matches useless.

They can't just move stuff OFCOM have already placed strict guidelines on the moving of content. Sky are free to move some stuff butto much will cause them to step in. Remember moving content will also affect BT & Talktalk

Originally Posted by TheDon

VM employ some VERY intelligent people, they know what they're doing. They aren't amateurs in this. If you've spotted a potential pitfall you can bet your life that they will have as well. This isn't a deal that was done over a pint in an evening down the pub, there has been months (maybe even years?) of discussion, consultation, investigation and research into it. You don't sign these deals without covering all your bases.

I see ... which would be the reason VM bent over and took it up the wrongun when Sky demanded they slash the carriage charges for these channels a couple of years ago.

A situation that was only redeemed thanks to Sky's stupidity in trying to overcharge for its own Basics channels, thus giving VM an opportunity to stop carrying Sky One and then drag the whole lot back onto the table for renegotiation. A clever rearguard action, I admit, but only necessary because the original deal for carriage of their own channels on the Sky EPG was so weakly handled by VM.

[donkbong]

Originally Posted by spankysmagicpian

You can bet your bottom dollar that Sky will sooner rather than later move shows like Criminal Minds, Ghost Whisperer, Cougar Town, etc etc to Sky One and leave Living as a poor relation to Sky Three.

I can guaranteed that!

[Felim_Doyle]

Originally Posted by Sirius

VM have made a massive mistake here. Sky sports 1 and 2 in HD however you can see it now


SKY exclusive Watch ****** only on Sky sports 3 or 4 HD, Exclusive to SKY only******

Can you imagine the drinks in the bar after the deal was signed.

Sky negotiator on the phone to Murdock. "Yes boss they fell for it, You can start to move the main content from Sky sports 1 and 2 HD onto Sky sports 3 and 4 HD from today"

Murdock "now we have them " Well done i will give you a big fat bonus for that

Believe it or not, the psychology and negative prestige of having your premium sports content on your 3rd and 4th channels will probably (largely) prevent this. There may be (apparent) exceptions but, unless (and this is a real possibility borne out by past events - see below) Sky rename their Sports channels, I can't see them cheating you and giving you only minority sports like tennis (ooh, I'm gonna get some comments for that!) and women's beach volley ball (ooh, I'm gonna get some (different) comments for that too!) on Sky Sports 1 & 2 HD.

Like the movie channels, they could rename Sports 1, 2, 3 and 4 as Sky Tennis Volley, Sky Beach Volley, Sky Premiership and Sky Howzzat! forcing them to launch Sky Oval Balls (to compete with BBC and ESPN) and Sky Gaelic Games (to compensate for the loss of Setanta).

Oh what have I started? Now they'll want women's beach volley ball in 3D!

Yes you will... to call tennis a minority sport is ignorant and plain wrong.

[Felim_Doyle]

Originally Posted by CardinalGold

I'm a little concerned some of my favourite programmes may disappear, such as Drop Dead Diva on Living, White Collar and Leverage on Bravo and Chuck on Virgin 1.

I can't believe that you admitted to that in a public forum!

Originally Posted by CardinalGold

maybe the recent changes to Sky 2 are a sign that this might be used

Oh yeah, I forgot about Sky2 being a part-time Sky1 +1. Interesting!

Originally Posted by CardinalGold

If I am being honest both Living and Sky One could do with strengthening and so a combined channel that could offer more high quality US Comedy and Drama would be really worth watching and we might not need quite so much filler rubbish and repeats.

We still occasionally watch a repeated Cold Case on Sky One, Two or Three but not much else. Maybe all the hype some time ago about getting the Sky basics back was misplaced. I have, surprisingly, enjoyed some programming a few months ago on some of the other Sky channels, including "Sky Arts - Suggs' Italian Job" which was a cultural tour of Italy in a mini cooper! I'm edumicated me!

---------- Post added at 17:38 ---------- Previous post was at 17:30 ----------

Originally Posted by Mobes

Yes you will... to call tennis a minority sport is ignorant and plain wrong.

Oh darn it! I've left the out again but I thought the "ooh!" tone conveyed the light-hearted nature of the comments. Anyway Mobes, you ought to know me by now.

You weren't having me on were you? Not sneakily leaving out the smileys to see how I'd react? Or, was there really a in there?

I may not be a tennis fan or, indeed, a sports fan but I will be watching QoS with Sue Barker at 19:30. I mean I'll be watching it presented by Sue Barker, I won't be watching it with her.

[one2escape]

Originally Posted by Mobes

Yes you will... to call tennis a minority sport is ignorant and plain wrong.

It is until once a year.

[Recluse Sister]

Originally Posted by TheDon

VM employ some VERY intelligent people, they know what they\\\\\\\'re doing. They aren\\\\\\\'t amateurs in this. If you\\\\\\\'ve spotted a potential pitfall you can bet your life that they will have as well. This isn\\\\\\\'t a deal that was done over a pint in an evening down the pub, there has been months (maybe even years?) of discussion, consultation, investigation and research into it. You don\\\\\\\'t sign these deals without covering all your bases.

That\'s the infamous NTL you are talking about... that paid lots of dosh to just change their name....they will pay more for SKY Sports 3, even MORE for Sky Sports 4 and EXTRA more for SKY Sports EXTRA....

[HDFootyMan]

Well, as a VM customer, I sit back, drink a cold beer and ask myself:

Will I miss Living, Bravo and the other VMTV channels going to Sky?

And the answer is.....no. I hardly watched anything on those channels anyway. Chuck and Supernatural, that was it. IMO, Virgin 1 blew its chance of becoming a decent channel when they didn't show Sarah Connor in Widescreen.

Here's some stuff I'd like to watch:

HD football.

So, for me, this deal is win win. Sure, 9 years from now the deal may look crap, hell, I'm sure it will because this is Sky were dealing with here.

Until then, I get all the HD footy I can watch; Red button; HD Movies (I'll probably stick with Lovefilm to be honest) Sky content on VOD (I wonder if any of that is in HD? If so, it makes Sky's Anytime+ VOD system look even worse by comparison to VM VOD).

And also, in 9 years time, VM I'm sure, will have cracked that 5 million TV customer barrier (or so hope so, for their sake ). Another channel carriage dispute in 9 years time will hit Sky even harder than the last one, which resulted in a 23% drop of Sky 1's audience overnight.

[Felim_Doyle]

Originally Posted by mersey70

The situation with VM and VMTV was no different than having BSkyB as a delivery platform and Sky as a broadcaster. It works fine for them!

The situation IS completely different. Sky hold very lucrative premium content and VMtv do not and never have, or shown any signs of wanting to.

I think most people will now accept what some of us accepted long ago that VM do not want a future in content, as per Berkett's statement in the press release.

Sorry, potentially ambiguous statement on my part, I wasn't intending to get into the nitty gritty of volume, quality and penetration of content ownership by Sky, I merely wanted to point out that there was VM the carrier and VMTV the broadcaster just as there is BSkyB the carrier and Sky the broadcaster (which all sound like Welsh professional names ).

I suspect what's at the root of this is VM's belief that linear broadcast TV is becoming obsolete, and in 9 years, when the carriage fees for Sky's content comes up for renewal, VM will rely far less on the delivery of linear broadcast TV as part of its product offering.

They will be hoping that they can sell cable as first and foremost a VOD service, with broadcast channels there in the mix for those who still want them. If VM can show it doesn't really need to buy Sky's channels anywhere near as much as Sky needs to sell them, then they will still have leverage at the negotiating table.

Personally I think that's a pretty huge gamble. But I guess we will just have to wait and see how it pans out.

[HDFootyMan]

MILK AND HONEY (IN HD) UNTIL 2019/20!

After that.....erm.....

VM: "So.....about those negotiations for the Sky content on Digital Cab-"

Sky: "Bugger off will ya? We're finally completing our plans for world domination! Shoo......begone!"