Judges Throw Out Sky Appeal

Judges have thrown out Sky’s appeal to prevent confidential documents being seen by lawyers for Virgin Media.

Virgin Media is in the process of suing Sky for abusing its market dominance in negotiations over channel carriage deals between the two companies.

Three judges threw out Sky’s request that there would be restrictions placed on who saw confidential documents which it handed over to Virgin’s legal team at the end of March.

Sky lodged the appeal as lawyers retained by Virgin are also advising the company on its submission to the Competition Appeals Tribunal investigating Sky’s 17.9% stake in ITV (see Sky Confirms Legal Challenge To ITV Share Ruling).

The satellite giant sought assurances that staff working on this case would not see documents relating to the first. However, Sky’s case was rejected.

A Virgin Media spokeswoman said: “We are pleased with the result and hope the administrative pre-trial process can now progress expeditiously.”

A Sky spokeswoman said: “The hearing was about purely procedural matters. It does not affect the substantive issues or our resolve to defend ourselves against Virgin Media’s misconceived and groundless claim.”

Sky: 08702 40 40 40 www.sky.com