2 March 2007
Customers using cable company Virgin Media to view Sky television may have to switch, after the company lost access to some BSkyB channels in a row over TV rights.
Virgin Media has accused BSkyB of raising its prices too high for the channels, but the broadcaster maintains that the increase in charges are justified and talks between the two have broken down.
More than 3.3 million Virgin Media customers will be affected by the move, after the two sides failed to meet the agreement deadline of midnight on Wednesday. And the result is an embarrassing problem for the newly renamed Virgin Media, which vowed to improve on the poor customer service record left by NTL when it took over earlier this year.
Figures revealed some 37,000 customers had left the company in the three months before the rebranding – a merger between cable TV firm NTL and Virgin Mobile – in January.
The feud appears to show no signs of ending soon, with both sides adamant they have made good offers, although Virgin claims BSkyB is not willing to let a third party get involved.
"Nothing Sky have said or done in the course of the negotiation indicates they had the slightest interest in doing a commercially viable deal," said Virgin Media Chief Executive Steve Burch.
A spokesman for BSkyB said: "We're disappointed that we will now be denied access to cable TV homes.
"We've made repeated efforts to reach an agreement but Virgin Media has rejected all of our proposals - including our latest offer."
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