Wednesday, April 04, 2007

Virgin Media Vs Sky

Here's an interesting one. Sky (or rather, BSkyB) seem genuinely surprised they have lost 24.5% of their audience viewing figures since 'excusing' their channels from Virgin Media. Shows such as "Lost", "24" and "The Simpsons" have seen their audiences drop dramatically, which I think is one helluva shame for all those involved in the creative and production process.

Meanwhile, Virgin Media are gearing up for their legal jugular swoop when Sky eventually respond to the grievance letter sent by the aforementioned.

I have a grievance here too. I am still paying the same sodding amount every month to not have access to a few channels I really wanted.

Yes, I could move to Sky, but I would need to have the dinner plate on the front of my house and have been told on more than a few occasions actually getting their Broadband installed is something just short of a miracle. I currently have all my techie stuff with Virgin Media including 10Mb broadband (which I believe is going up to 20Mb soon) and was looking to get their new V+ box - but with all this going on, what's a girl to do? I suppose I will just have to watch the 'Them Vs Them' case very closely.

Whatever the outcome, it will provide a benchmark for future channel disputes, but in the meantime, the only winners are once again the illegal download sites.

And there goes another truckload of royalties out of the window.

3 comments:

  1. I am gutted at missing out on Lost. And I live in a conservation area, so we can't defect to Sky because we aren't allowed to put the Sky dish anywhere on the building. However, I read on the Motley Fool website that some Virgin customers have complained at losing Sky One and still paying the same prices and have been successful in getting some compensation. I'm going to try it!

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  2. Me too, Lianne. I am really suffering from 'Lost' withdrawal symptoms. It's a cruel, cruel affliction and I mourn my loss every weekend.

    I managed to screw a rebate out of Virgin Media just after Christmas due to their shoddy workmanship almost ruining all my great Christmas viewing. Maybe I'll have a go again...

    I heard that Virgin Media were offering a 'no strings' contractual break if Customers wanted to cancel their deal by the end of March to deflect to Sky or Freeview - but surely Virgin broke the contract in the first place? Apparently not. They are still standing by their tiny small print.

    If I lived across the other side of the road my dinner plate could go on the back of the house - I have a thing about dishes on the front of houses, y'see!

    Let me know how you get on though!

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  3. You can still download Lost? that's what I do..

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