No Sky channels on Virgin (NTL) from end of month

[The Large One]

BTW anyone else slightly worried that this is coming a bit too close to the Cricket World Cup? I wonder what would happen if Murdoch said ..." OK Branson, f*** off , you cant have anything..." and switched off all the sky channels.

If I understand your post right, Dave, I don't think it's an issue. This is only concerned with Sky's free channels. Sky Sports and Sky Cinema are subscription packages, and are not affect by this current row.

Sky really would be cutting off their nose to spite their face if they stopped their own subscriptions for Virgin/NTL customers.

I think that's what you were on about.

 

[B.M.F]

To me this seems to be both Sky and Virgin trying to flex their muscles. Sky sees Virgin as a genuine competition here as they are set to offer the quad-band of services (cable, broadband, landline and mobile phone) and Sky risks losing customers becuase they cannot offer the same.

Virgin are saying £40 for 4 services. This is only the basic Sky packages so you would be looking at anohter £20-£25 for the sports channels but if I add up my 4 services of what I pay its still a good deal:

Sky - £32 (including movies and sport)
Landline - £10
Broadband - £18
Mobile - £25

However, I wouldn't get rid of my Sky+ although that's a good offer from Virgin. What this means is that when my Sky renewal is up I can negotiate a better deal.

My advice to people on Sky who are out of contract would be to ring Sky up and threaten to leave for Virgin and see what they will offer you to stay. Worked with me, I got a 1/3rd off the monthly subscription.

But you can get Virgin + now which is the same as sky plus
I have just got 10meg broadband
extra large package including movies sports and NASN, 3 set top boxes unlimited calls all for £80 a month so am quite happy with that. Will negotiate another discount if sky one and sky sports news go though

 

[disgruntled h blocker]

Think you could have seen this coming. With Virgin Media trying to push new technology like HD Video on Demand and proposed 50mbit broadband this year, it could easily compete with the service that Sky offers.

I've got NTL, and had terrible troubles with their customer service. Since I got it installed in December, I've received three letters telling me I need to get my phone line installed, even though I specifically said I didn't want one!

 

[Gwylan]

I have NTL (Or Virgin Media), and I couldn't give a toss if there are no Sky channels. They are all fundamentally unwatchable - Sky One and Sky Two are a joke. Sky News should be re-christened 'Blow Wave News', and Sky Sports News, aside from the odd breaking story which I can pick up an hour later from another source anyway, is pathetic.

It's more like a sports version of Hello! magazine. They have one banal pidgin English statement from a Premiership player that no-one gives a toss about, and anally fatten it up to turn it into a pisspoor 'news' item.

Nope, not going to miss it.

Spot on. I've had NTL for 18 months and I've scarcely looked at any of the Sky channels; maybe five minutes now and then.

Knock a couple of quid off the subscription and I'll be laughing.

 

[Albion Dan]

This would be unfair in the eyes of competition law, and could be viewed as Sky unfairly abusing a dominant position.

They should be very careful after Virgin whooped BAs ass when it tried to play unfair.

 

[Rougvie]

They should be very careful after Virgin whooped BAs ass when it tried to play unfair.

Did they ?

Short term maybe, but Virgin have never really whooped BA's ass, they got compensated, but BA has always maintained the higher yields on the services that it competes against Virgin, and Virgin have got themselves into a right mess over the A380 and buying an aircraft (A340-600) that cant even divert to Gatwick if Heathrow is closed because it cant deal with the sharp bends on the taxiways!

Even though I get involved with Virgin a fair bit and like their product, BA even at the time were not really whoopassed.

 

[Albion Dan]

Did they ?

Short term maybe, but Virgin have never really whooped BA's ass, they got compensated, but BA has always maintained the higher yields on the services that it competes against Virgin, and Virgin have got themselves into a right mess over the A380 and buying an aircraft (A340-600) that cant even divert to Gatwick if Heathrow is closed because it cant deal with the sharp bends on the taxiways!

Even though I get involved with Virgin a fair bit and like their product, BA even at the time were not really whoopassed.

In legal terms they won their case and shitloads of good publicity, and as a result they now operate many many routes as opposed to the 4 or 5 they had back then.

Of course Virgin as an airline will never be the size of BA, that wasnt the point, and the A380 issue is comepletely irrelevant.

 

[Mtoto]

Does anyone know if the Sky channels will be dropping off freeview as well? NTL/Virgin tell me that they will, but I just wanted to get it confirmed with someone who hasn't got a vested interest...

 

[Cian]

Does anyone know if the Sky channels will be dropping off freeview as well? NTL/Virgin tell me that they will, but I just wanted to get it confirmed with someone who hasn't got a vested interest...

they are, for an entirely different reason. Sky is taking its three channels off Freeview to use the space for a micro-Sky sub package - gonna use new compression (meaning a new box) to squeeze about 5 channels in to the space, probably sports+movies+Sky1.

 

[Drumstick]

I hope I am going to get a refund of my charges then Mr Branson......oh and whilst we are at it...the Virgin Station ( on demand) is just a rehash of the NTL On Demand service which has loads of services ...Virgin's has 6

arhh but it does have 'One Tree Hill' an amazing show!

 

[Dave the OAP]

they are, for an entirely different reason. Sky is taking its three channels off Freeview to use the space for a micro-Sky sub package - gonna use new compression (meaning a new box) to squeeze about 5 channels in to the space, probably sports+movies+Sky1.

sports on the freeview, but with a subscription? Does that mean I can get rid of all my channels apart from freeview and have the sports only?

 

[maffew]

Right, to clarify, I'm currently with NTL, they have been taken over by Virgin Media, and from next month I'll no longer get SSN?

If so they can stick it

 

[Cian]

sports on the freeview, but with a subscription? Does that mean I can get rid of all my channels apart from freeview and have the sports only?

Yes. Probably.

Teh way its going at the moment you'll need one box for Sky's DTT offering and another for Setanta Sports. The wonders of 'convergence', but if you just want SS1/2, they'll likely be on the Sky service. Or it'll be a 'best of' mash together selection of channels but I'd still expect most decent games/England games in whatever they hold rights to to be on it.

 

[Cian]

Right, to clarify, I'm currently with NTL, they have been taken over by Virgin Media, and from next month I'll no longer get SSN?

If so they can stick it

Unless a new deal is struck in 5 days time, spot on. And you won't get SSN on Freeview in about 6 months either.

 

[Mtoto]

Dammit. All I want is Sky News - not to everyone's taste, I know, but BBC News 24 is so dull and worthy it does my head in.

I agreed to the £85 package a couple of days ago - because I'll save £10 a month even though I don't want or watch the movies - and I'll probably still go through with it. The whole thing seems ridiculous, though, because there's no more than a dozen channels, if that, that I watch regularly, and Sky News is one of them.

What's the point of 1000 channels when you can't have one of the few you're interested in?

 

[Cian]

Sky News is free on satellite, you can even get a version with no ads (just extra weather and headlines). Once off fee of about 80 smackers for the gear, self install (3 hours), and you're sorted. If you go for the ad-laden version you get the full BBC digital setup, the full ITV digital setup, FilmFour, etc, etc, etc

Or you can pay Sky 150 notes for an installed non-subscription setup, gets you the above channels + Channel 4 + Five.

 

[Mtoto]

I'd change to Sky without a second thought but I'm living in a conservation area and they're very anti-dish. A few people have got them hidden away on their roof from a good few years ago, but these day Sky apparently tell you when you ring up to order that they can't/won't install one here.

 

[Cian]

Phone an independent installer. ALWAYS use an independent installer. Better quality of job, often cheaper, and will do stuff Sky's subbies won't - roofs, garden wall installs, and so on.

When doing sat installs, fuckups by the Sky subbies were the worst things to rectify.

 

[Mtoto]

Unfortunately it doesn't matter who puts it in. All it takes is for one neighbour to complain to the council and I'll have to take it down again.

 

[clippedgull]

Would be nice if I had a choice!

I live in the middle of Brighton and can't even get NTLHELL

Still I LOVE my SKY+ HD Box and dish.