Digital TV Wrangles Continue Over Sky Sports 2
The intended smooth introduction of digital television in the UK has seen a spate of squabbles between the two major players, BSkyB and ONdigital, as well as the departure of a number of top ONdigital directors recently (see ONdigital Directors Quit). In the latest dispute, the Independent Television Commission (ITC) has been forced to decide whether or not BSkyB is obliged to provide its premium Sky Sports 2 channel to ONdigital.
BSkyB had claimed that, under the ITC’s digital television points system, ONdigital would not be allowed to broadcast the sports channel along with its other channels. However, the ITC has decided that this is not the case and has given Sky until the end of next week to put forward its case as regards the provision of Sky Sports 2.
This issue follows a similar disagreement between the two companies over the broadcast rights to major sporting events. ONdigital has refused to allow Sky access to its UEFA Champions’ League games and, in retaliation, Sky has threatened to move the broadcast of the Ryder Cup golf tournament from Sky Sports 1 to its pay-per-view service, Sky Box Office, thus preventing ONdigital from showing the competition (see BSkyB Threatens To Withhold Ryder Cup Rights From ONdigital). The OFT is currently investigating whether or not either of the groups is acting anti-competitively and in the meantime the Ryder Cup organisers are understood to be annoyed at being used as a pawn in the fight for digital TV viewers.
Perhaps the major area of dispute in digital TV is between ITV and BSkyB over the former’s refusal to allow its channels to be shown on Sky Digital (see BSkyB Fails To Gain Access To ITV2). ONdigital is 50:50 owned by two major ITV companies, Carlton Communications and Granada.
A report expected to be released later in the week is understood to show that only just over half of the population is interested in buying into pay-TV. The Government is keen to drive the uptake of digital so that the current analogue service can be shut down and the spare frequency sold off to telecoms companies.
It is currently in debate how much the DTV industry should be regulated, in order to sort out the disagreements mentioned here, and how much the different groups should be left to fight it out in open competition. A spokesperson for the Department of Culture, Media and Sport was unable to comment on whether the Government would intervene if the current disputes were to continue. An ITC spokesperson said that Commission deals primarily in specific complaints on a case by case basis and does not monitor the overall development of digital TV as a medium.
Further problems have arisen for ONdigital as its former chief executive, Stephen Grabiner, issued a writ against the group claiming a year’s salary for the termination of his contract. It is reported that Grabiner earned around £300,000 per year. Grabiner left ONdigital in July this year after accepting a job at News Corporation’s eVentures. He later changed his mind and joined venture capital group Apax Partners (see Grabiner Rejects eVentures For Investment Group). There has since been a series of directorial departures at ONdigital, including the loss of commercial director Jim Radcliffe (see ONdigital Directors Quit).