Virgin And Setanta Join Forces For Sky Sports News Rival
Virgin Media and Setanta Sports are in senior level talks about launching a rival channel to Sky Sports News, according to reports in Broadcast.
A source at Setanta told the publication that talks had begun between the companies and that teaming up would be an obvious strategy.
“It makes a lot of sense,” said the source. “Setanta has the rights to 46 Premiership matches for the next season and has launched a golf channel, so launching a news channel would be a perfect way in for Virgin Media. The two companies already have a good relationship in place.”
A source close to Virgin Media is reported to have said that the cable operator wants to replace Sky Sports News as a priority, after its subscribers lost the channel (and others) following its channel carriage dispute with Sky (see Sky Anytime? Not For Virgin Media Cable Homes).
“It does not have much choice other than to find an ally to partner with,” the source said. “Virgin Media does not have any sports channels or significant sports rights, so it is much easier to partner with someone who has. It also puts it in a good position when the Premiership rights come up for renewal – Virgin Media and Setanta could bid together.”
Setanta already supplies Virgin Media’s channel Bravo with coverage of Italian football. Virgin also owns the online download rights to near live Premiership matches for the next three seasons.
However, a deal between the two broadcasters is not expected imminently. One source said: “Both companies have lots going on and may have more pressing matters to deal with than channelling efforts into a deal.”
Earlier in the week, the two companies, along with other players like Top Up TV and BT, united to prompt Ofcom to launch its investigation into the pay TV sector (see Ofcom Launches Pay TV Investigation).
Sky is planning to take its basic channels off Freeview and replace them with pay-to-view channels (see Sky’s New DTT Proposal Could Damage Freeview).
Sky and Virgin have been locked in an increasingly public battle since Sky pulled its basic channels from the cable network at the beginning of this month.
Virgin Media is preparing its legal team for a courtroom battle, with the cable broadcaster saying that it will sue the satellite giant if the carriage dispute is not dealt with within the next few days (see Virgin Media Threatens Legal Action Over Sky Channel Dispute).
Ofcom and the Office of Fair Trading are carrying out separate investigations into BSkyB’s acquisition of an almost 18% stake in ITV, which arguably sparked the current war with Virgin Media after it effectively blocked the then NTL’s merger bid with ITV (see BSkyB Chief Exec Defends Company’s Swoop On ITV Shares).
Virgin Media: www.virginmedia.com Setanta: 020 7930 8926 www.setanta.com BSkyB: 020 7705 3000 www.sky.com