Virgin, Sky in Carriage Talks

LONDON, May 9: Virgin
Media has reportedly had discussions with BSkyB over resuming its carriage of
the satellite platform’s basic channels, including Sky One, British press
reports indicate.

The Sky basic channels
were pulled from the cable platform early last year after the two parties were unable
to agree over new carriage terms. Virgin Media at the time claimed that Sky was
charging “onerous” fees for carriage—while at the same time reducing the
fees it paid to carry the cable platform’s own channels. Virgin Media
subsequently filed suit against Sky.

The news of new talks
between Virgin Media and Sky was revealed by the cable platform’s CEO, Neil
Berkett, after announcing the company’s first-quarter results. Berkett was not
the head of Virgin Media when the spat began, taking over from Steve Burch in
August 2007 as acting CEO, before being formally appointed to the role earlier
this year. Sky, too, is under new leadership, in the form of Jeremy Darroch,
who succeeded James Murdoch in December 2007.

“There is no emotional
legacy around the position and I have a lot of respect for Jeremy as a leader,
so who knows?" Berkett is quoted as saying. "We have ongoing
dialogue."

He added: "Headlines
that we have kissed and made up are a slight exaggeration. We are still in
court and fiercely fighting our position."

—By Mansha Daswani