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Consumers lose out in Virgin Media & Sky war
(13-03-07) - Customers of BroadbandChoices have voiced their anger after popular Sky channels stopped airing on Virgin Media (formerly ntl:Telewest) at midnight on February 28th after weeks of acrimony between the two companies. (Visit www.sky.com / www.virginmedia.com)
Chris Eagle of BroadbandChoices commented "we have received tens of e-mails from customers that feel they are losing out in the battle of egos between Richard Branson and James Murdoch".
Many customers signed up for Broadband and TV bundled packages with Virgin Media (formerly ntl:telewest), attracted by the offer of broadband and multi channel television for only £20 per month.
Virgin Media argue that Sky is being unreasonable in demanding double the previous fees for channels such as Sky 1, Sky News and Sky Sports News. The National Consumer Council has now waded into the row, demanding that the two companies resolved their differences, otherwise the matter will be referred to the competition authorities.
What does this mean for Virgin Media customers?
If you’re a former ntl:Telewest subscriber or you’ve just signed up for Virgin Media , you’ll no longer receive the basic Sky channels: including Sky One, Sky Two, Sky Three and Sky News, however, Sky Sports and Sky Movies subscription channels are unaffected.
Chris Eagle, Commercial Manager at BroadbandChoices.co.uk, says: “The customer is the only person losing out; if this is referred to the competition authorities it could drag on for months rather than weeks".
In the medium term Virgin Media is planning to do its own deals for content directly rather than rely on Sky. In the mean time they are planning on taking Sky to court.
I’m with Virgin Media – should I switch to Sky?
Bear in mind if you are a Virgin Media customer you make big savings by bundling your phone, television and broadband, splitting your services could mean big price increases.
For example, if you take broadband and television from Virgin Media you could be paying as little as £20 per month. If you decided to switch your TV to Sky your total monthly cost would increase to £30 (£15 for Sky's basic package and £14.99 for Virgin Media broadband).
Unless you’re really fussed about particular Sky programmes or channels, don’t make any rash decisions right now. Sky also offer a very competitive bundle that offers TV, broadband and phone services for £26 per month. However, you will have to pay £125 to activate a BT phone line and around £11 per month for line rental (required for Sky’s broadband service). Line rental is included with Virgin Media.
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