Ofcom Responds to Sky’s Picnic Position

LONDON, September 15:
Ofcom has hit back at Sky’s implications that the Picnic service was dropped
because of delays in the media regulator’s investigation into the U.K.’s pay-TV
market.

Sky revealed on Friday
that it was abandoning plans to launch three channels on the Freeview platform
under the Picnic brand for a monthly subscription fee. The satellite platform
cited delays in Ofcom’s investigation.

Ofcom said in a statement that the Picnic proposal “raises complex issues, and is
likely to have a significant effect on the future development of the pay-TV
market as a whole. As all parties are aware, Ofcom will very shortly issue a
further consultation document. Any decision to suspend the project is entirely
a business matter for BSkyB.”

The regulator maintains
that Sky took two months to submit its application to launch Picnic and another
two months to provide enough information for a consultation document. “When
Ofcom consulted on both the Picnic proposal and the pay-TV market
investigation, several stakeholders, including BSkyB, responded late to these
submissions. BSkyB submitted its response on the pay-TV market investigation
over six weeks after the February 26, 2008, deadline.”

—By Mansha Daswani