Sky completes acquisition of Virgin Media Television

BSkyB has completed the acquisition of Virgin Media Television (VMtv), renaming it the Living TV Group.

Following regulatory approval in the Republic of Ireland, Sky has paid Virgin Media an initial £105 million.

Up to an additional £55 million will be paid on UK regulatory clearance.

The portfolio of channels includes Living, Livingit, Challenge, Challenge Jackpot, Bravo, Bravo 2 and Virgin1 and their related websites.

Sky said that it will not license the Virgin brand and will “announce the new channel brand for Virgin1 in due course”.

Sky will assume responsibility for selling advertising for VMtv channels from January 2011, taking over from Virgin’s sales house IDS, which is also the sales house for UKTV, Virginmedia.com and Virgin Mobile.