Sky Winds Down Picnic Plans

LONDON, September 12:
BSkyB has abandoned its plans to launch three pay-TV channels on DTT platform
Freeview under the brand name Picnic, British press reports indicate.

The decision is reportedly
in response to delays in the regulatory process being conducted by Ofcom,
investigating the U.K. pay-TV market.

Picnic was set to deliver Sky
Sports 1, Sky Movies and Sky1, together with broadband and telephony services,
for a monthly subscription fee.

Picnic would have replaced
the three free-to-air channels BSkyB has on Freeview: Sky News, Sky Three and
Sky Sports News.

A BSkyB statement said:
"We continue to believe strongly in Picnic. It will be good for consumers
and a good opportunity for Sky. While our launch plans are already well
advanced, there is no definitive conclusion in sight to the Ofcom process.
Consequently, we intend to wind down preparations by redeploying as many of the
team as possible to other parts of Sky. We will decide whether to reactivate
the project when we have more certainty over the Picnic TV proposal. This is
not as a result of any change of view as to the attractiveness of the
opportunity.”

—By Mansha Daswani