Sky And BDB Attempt To Settle Set-Top Box Dispute

British Digital Broadcasting and BSkyB are believed to be holding a meeting today in an attempt to resolve the dispute over the compatibility of the companies’ set-top box decoders.

It is believed that BDB requested the meeting following a writ issued against it by Sky. The writ claimed that BDB had broken a contractual agreement formed when BSkyB left the BDB consortium (subscribers see BSkyB Issues Writs Over BDB Set-Top Boxes).

BSkyB is claiming that its rival’s decoder technology is incompatible with a number of Sky’s services; BDB says that the two can be made compatible easily at the manufacturing stage, if Sky will agree to cooperate.

Both companies have placed orders with manufacturers for their set-top box equipment.

British Digital Broadcasting: 0171 819 8000 BSkyB: 0171 705 3000