James Murdoch, chief executive of BSkyB, has said that a takeover of Virgin Media could eventually lead to an agreement over the channel dispute between the two companies.
Sky and Virgin Media are currently in court over the dispute, which has been running since the two companies were unable to reach a deal over carriage fees for Sky’s basic channels, including Sky One and Sky News.
A report on MediaGuardian.co.uk quotes Murdoch as saying: “We have been trying to engage with Virgin’s management over a resolution for our basics channels … [we are] ready to meet in the middle.
“Perhaps new leadership would engage in a more real way. We would like to have a more productive relationship with current management … but if it takes new management, so be it.”
Murdoch’s comments come after the US private equity firm Carlyle made a bid for the cable group, amid rumours that it could sever ties with Sir Richard Branson (see Virgin Media Bid Firm Could Axe Branson Link).
Sky today published a trading update which showed that it added 90,000 subscribers to its pay-TV service in the three months to June 30, a rise of 17% year on year, taking its total number of subscribers to 8.6 million.
In June, Virgin Media said that it expects its TV net additions to be roughly flat in the second quarter of 2007, revising its previous forecast for negative TV subscriber growth following the removal of Sky’s basic channel package (see Virgin Media Revises TV Subscriber Growth Expectations).
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