Branson gives Sky the finger…

My parents got the following email a couple of days ago. It looks like Virgin Media and Sky aren’t going to get on very well. More background here.

Dear customer,

Let’s face it. Things would be pretty boring if choice didn’t exist. There’d be just one kind of airline to fly with. One type of car to drive. And if Sky had their way, there’d only be one place to get TV.

We thought we’d let you in on a few tricks they’ve been trying to get their way.

While we’ve continued to make Virgin Media channels like Living, Bravo and Challenge available to all Sky customers, Sky may withdraw their non-premium channels from Virgin Media’s service – in order to force you into switching service.

Virgin Media were willing to pay an increase in costs in order to get the complete range of Sky content and channels.

However, Sky have consistently demanded an increase that bears no relation to the channels’ market value.

We have refused to accept this increase, since it would mean absorbing significant costs ourselves, and passing the kind of price increase on to our customers that is simply unfair. We are not prepared to rip off our customers.

So Sky have picked up their ball and gone home.

As a Virgin company, we’re well used to the attempts of large corporations trying to manipulate markets, stifle competition and rip off consumers.

Luckily, we don’t think Sky’s the limit.

We think the future’s full of fresh entertainment and communication possibilities. And we’re looking forward to bringing them to you. With all the freedom and choice you deserve.

We’ve launched Virgin Central, a revolutionary type of TV channel, where programmes start and stop when you say so. This is only available on Virgin Media, since Sky don’t have the technology to be able to transmit it. What’s more, it’s available to every single one of our digital TV customers.

And there’s our unique on demand library. A giant collection of over 500 films, 1000 music videos, 100s of TV shows – all at your beck and call. You can access them at any time.

We’re not scared of competition, we welcome it.

To find out more, visit virginmedia.com/fairplay.

Yours,

Sir Richard Branson

[tags]Virgin Media, Sky, BskyB, Telewest, NTL, 24, Lost, Sky One,Richard Branson[/tags]