General : Coming Soon to Virgin TV (2012) Vol. 2.

[carlwaring]

I would assume that BT will be keeping it as an exclusive.

[Chad]

Originally Posted by carlwaring

I would assume that BT will be keeping it as an exclusive.

BT have confirmed that they will launch a new football-focused channel to carry the games and will look to distribute it on other platforms.

http://www.btplc.com/News/Articles/S...9-DD5237069DD8

This might just be the beginning of the end for ESPN

[borrissey]

Thats a huge blow for ESPN!!!!

Interesting to see if this new BT channel will be in the XL package and in HD. Big move by BT.

[andy_m]

Virgin have long been the home of "free" Premier League football. This channel will be available to Virgin on a subscription basis, I would imagine, much like ESPN currently is on Sky, but I reckon it'll only be on BT Vision and you view that you'll be able to watch it as part of your subscription-that's the new home of "free" Premier League football.

[Itshim]

Originally Posted by virginruinedntl

Hoping that ESPN is ditched from the XL package and replace with BT's new upcoming channel.

Would BT even let Virgin have rights to show it.

I have a friend whom is talking about ditching Virgin & moving to a "joint" Sky/ BT setup . Not happy about two phone line rentals etc.

Me I could not care less

---------- Post added at 09:29 ---------- Previous post was at 09:27 ----------

Originally Posted by Chad

BT have confirmed that they will launch a new football-focused channel to carry the games and will look to distribute it on other platforms.

http://www.btplc.com/News/Articles/S...9-DD5237069DD8

This might just be the beginning of the end for ESPN

Just seen this So I guess thats the answer, Ill shut now. Well for the moment anyway

[Perfect Choice]

Thought you might be interested in a snippet from the BT statement issued to BT employees which states what has been publically stated but puts an important different slant on one specific aspect namely:

"We will launch a new football-focused channel to carry the games. It will offer new interactive features when supplied over BT’s fibre network and we will look to distribute it on other platforms.”

So what the above “could” mean is that while VM will have access to this new BT football focused channel (subject to negotiations of course), the "additional new interactive features" will only be available via the "BT fibre network"?

If that is what eventually happens (could be reading more than is here today), could we end up with a big dispute with BT, like VM had with the Sky red button for their interactive sports features?

VM are working on the strategy they are an independent carrier now, reaching agreements with content providers. Trouble with that strategy is that if the content owner (in this case football coverage) are themselves competitive carriers and want to secure an advantage (e.g. lack of F1 HD on VM is an example of that right now), then do VM have the necessary right and weight from anti-competitive legislation to force change on such providers? It will be an interesting 12 months to see have things develop with this new BT channel.

[BenMcr]

To be honest even if Virgin were still content providers i.e still owned Virgin Media TV and UKTV, there wouldn't have been anything they could have done about this

[Itshim]

Originally Posted by Perfect Choice

competitive carriers and want to secure an advantage (e.g. lack of F1 HD on VM is an example of that right now), then do VM have the necessary right and weight form anti-competitive legislation to force change on such providers? It will be an interesting 12 months to see have things develop with this new BT channel.

Firstly Virgin Media ( for the moment) is my provider of choice ,but I fail to see why ANYONE should be forced to use them if they choose not to

[andy_m]

Originally Posted by BenMcr

To be honest even if Virgin were still content providers i.e still owned Virgin Media TV and UKTV, there wouldn't have been anything they could have done about this

Possibly not, it depends on how much of a driver free Premier League football was for signing up new subs. I suspect not very-the recent upsurge appears to be more down to TiVo, for example-the majority of people wanting sport will always choose Sky. I fear that Virgin might in for a nasty shock when it comes to finding out how many subs free Premier League football actually retains however, but we'll see. I do not believe that Virgin and ESPN together were powerless to prevent the rights going to BT, but they obviously didn't see the value in doing so. For the very first time since I've been a cable customer, I now find myself thinking that Virgin are going to have some very good news for it's customers, and soon, or they may find themselves in a bit of trouble.

[The Yank]

Originally Posted by virginruinedntl

Hoping that ESPN is ditched from the XL package and replace with BT's new upcoming channel.

The EPL isn't the be-all end-all with everyone (saying that well done Reading ).

There are a lot of sports I watch on ESPNA + ESPN has some good Rugby coverage and would HATE to lose it from the XL pack.

[Perfect Choice]

"Firstly Virgin Media ( for the moment) is my provider of choice ,but I fail to see why ANYONE should be forced to use them if they choose not to"

The "force" comment from me was meant to be VM onto BT to at least have neutral status on what is incuded in an agreement with BT on this new channel, since without that, consumers are "forced" to subscribe to BT to gain all features of the channel. Apologies if missleading. Nobody is forcing consumers to subscribe to a channel except Sky (in the case of HD) and maybe BT now IF you want all the features with that channel.

That is the situation now with the Sky F1/SP3/SP4 channels where to get all features (HD in this case), you can only get that from Sky. The additional interactive features could potentially be an new battle ground where VM loose out? We shall wait and see.

[BenMcr]

Originally Posted by andy_m

I do not believe that Virgin and ESPN together were powerless to prevent the rights going to BT, but they obviously didn't see the value in doing so

I may be stating the obvious here but ESPN are owned by Disney, who aren't exactly short on cash. I don't think Virgin getting involved financially would have made any different to the decision by ESPN

[denphone]

Originally Posted by andy_m

Possibly not, it depends on how much of a driver free Premier League football was for signing up new subs. I suspect not very-the recent upsurge appears to be more down to TiVo, for example-the majority of people wanting sport will always choose Sky. I fear that Virgin might in for a nasty shock when it comes to finding out how many subs free Premier League football actually retains however, but we'll see. I do not believe that Virgin and ESPN together were powerless to prevent the rights going to BT, but they obviously didn't see the value in doing so. For the very first time since I've been a cable customer, I now find myself thinking that Virgin are going to have some very good news for it's customers, and soon, or they may find themselves in a bit of trouble.

Just remember the old saying of the lull before the storm.

[andy_m]

There's a difference between having access to Disney's cash, a company who don't have a desire to have a strong foothold in the broadcasting British sport in Britain, and BT's cash-a company who, through BT Vision and you view, have demonstrated a desire to be an important part of this country's communication media. Disney, and by extension ESPN, might have considerably more money than Virgin, but if the old adage that you have to speculate to accumulate is true, I would suggest that Virgin had more to gain by spending their's than Disney did. Either way, what's important is that neither ESPN or Virgin saw the value in making a serious effort to acquire these rights, and BT did.

[Perfect Choice]

There is the "interesting" aspect here of BT using its cash generated from legacy telco and business comminications to enter the media business as they certainly did not find that cash from BT Vision revenues. That is a market I suppose, just needs strong anti-competitive ligislation to make sure a fair competitive market is in place and on-content owners like VM do not get locked out. No issue on BT owning these rights now as long as they are available via subscription of course.