More bickering between Sky and Virgin

The bickering between satellite broadcaster Sky and their recently re-energised cable TV competitors Virgin Media (formerly NTL Telewest) continues, with Sky threatening to pull its flagship channels Sky One and Sky News from the cable network. The two companies are currently renegotiating the deal regarding the inclusion of Sky's own channels on the cable network, and word has it there is considerable disagreement between the two media companies over price. To that end, Sky are telling viewers of its channels on the cable network that they should lobby Virgin Media to ensure the Sky channels remain on the network - ie that Virgin should agree to whatever price Sky are demanding. Of course Sky arguably have nothing to lose - either they bully Virgin into paying a higher price, or they pull their channels and try to use it as an excuse to persuade cable users to switch to Sky satellite (assuming, that is, the average cable viewer watches Sky's channels - though Sky One does have some pretty good US shows). With that in mind, it will be interesting to see if Virgin can win this one - though an appeal to media regulator OfCom may yet be made - with Sky's actions arguably backing Richard Branson's previous accusations that Sky are abusing their market dominance in a anti-competitive way. Expect more bickering.