Five Renews Conditional Access Deal With Sky
Five has renewed its conditional access agreement with Sky, putting an end to speculation that other terrestrial broadcasters would follow the BBC’s lead and begin broadcasting unencrypted on digital satellite.
Earlier this year the BBC withdrew from the BSkyB service to begin broadcasting to digital viewers from a different satellite, in a move designed to save the Corporation £85 million in fees over five years (see BBC Terminates Sky Carriage Deal).
Analysts put the carriage revenue that BSkyB generates from BBC, ITV, Channel 4 and Five at £25 million a year and it was widely speculated that other terrestrial channels would follow the BBC’s example and end their contracts (see BBC’s Exit From Carriage Deal Will Not Hurt Sky).
However, a spokesman for Five confirmed that a new five-year deal, including encryption and listing on Sky’s electronic programming guide, had been signed. He said: “We believe that these conditional access arrangements represent an important service for Five ensuring that there are no issues regarding the protection of programme rights.”
A spokesman for Sky added: “These conditional access arrangements permit free to air channels to protect rights and operate regionalised serves.”
Earlier this week the BBC ended its long running dispute with Sky over the positioning of BBC1 and BBC2 on the satellite broadcaster’s electronic programming guide.
After months of disagreement the Corporation signed a new deal to broadcast all eight of its digital TV channels to Sky viewers, with BBC1 and BBC2 retaining their current 101 and 102 positions on the EPG (see BBC Resolves Digital Distribution Dispute With BSkyB).
Five: 020 7550 5555 www.five.tv BSkyB: 0207 705 3000 www.sky.com
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