Virgin, Sky Solve Carriage Dispute

LONDON, November 4: After
almost a two-year absence, the Sky basic channels, including the popular Sky1,
are returning to Virgin Media's 3.8 million cable customers, with the two
platforms announcing today an agreement that ends their much-publicized
carriage row.

As of November 13, Sky1,
Sky2, Sky3, Sky News, Sky Sports News, Sky Arts 1, Sky Arts 2, Sky Real Lives
and Sky Real Lives 2 will be back on the Virgin Media's cable TV service. The
Sky basic channels were pulled off the cable service in March 2007 after the
companies were unable to agree to the terms of a new carriage deal.

The agreement announced
today also sees the continued carriage of Virgin Media TV's basic
channels—Living, Living 2, Bravo, Bravo 2, Trouble, Challenge and Virgin
1—on Sky.

Both deals will run
concurrently until June 12, 2011. 
They include fixed annual carriage
fees for the channels, plus additional capped payments if channels meet certain
performance-related targets.


Virgin Media's CEO, Neil
Berkett, said: "We are pleased to bring our carriage negotiations with Sky
to a successful close. I believe this agreement represents a fair deal and is
the right thing for our customers. We recognize the quality and popularity of
Sky's channels and look forward to welcoming them back to Virgin Media's TV
service. We are also pleased to secure Sky's continued carriage of the VMTV
channels until June 2011."



Jeremy Darroch, Sky's CEO,
added: "This is great news for Sky and Virgin Media customers alike. We
want our channels to be enjoyed by as many people as possible so we're
delighted to secure their return to the Virgin Media platform."



Sky and Virgin Media have
agreed to terminate all High Court proceedings against each other relating to
the carriage of their respective channels.

—By Mansha Daswani