Not that I'm bothered personally (rarely watch Discovery and Eurosport), but where we live there's no alternative to Sky, broadband speed isn't great for BT TV and Virgin Media isn't available. That'll certainly annoy a few.
I can see a deal being reached at some point. Good on Discovery taking a stand but their channel ratings are going to take one ginormous hit. If the dispute goes long term I can see Sky promoting the joint A&E channels more, History, Crime & Investigation, plus FOX's Nat Geo.
On a related note actually- what's going on with Eurosport tonight? The live tennis is on Eurosport 2, and between 0:50 and 2:25 Eurosport 1 are only showing a looped trailer with "this is Eurosport 1" on the EPG.
They started with the doubles on ES2, presumably in case there was an overlap with the first singles semi-final match which wasn't until 3:00.
I agree with another poster, and that a solution will be reached, though if previous experience is anything to go by, it could be on deadline day as it were.
I'm of course referring to 2004, when ITV3 was due to be launched on Freeview and Sky. On the day of ITV3 starting, at 21:00, there was still no agreement between ITV and Sky. The solution was in GSB, which was the Sky and ITV joint venture. ITV agreed to buy Sky's 49% stake in GSB for £10 million, thus meaning they owned both Plus and Men and Motors. ITV decided to close Plus, which happened at 16:30, moved ITV2 into Plus's old channel, and put ITV3 into the slot next to ITV2.
This all took place just hours before the launch. What I'm saying is, there will be an agreement, it's in the interests of both parties. It may just be that they need to take things to the wire in order to get the solution!
Sky's FAQ suggest the ball is in Discovery's court from 1 Feb if no deal is reached, in that they can keep broadcasting but won't be getting any money from Sky.
Quote:
Sky has chosen not to renew its contract with Discovery, and at any point from 1 February, Discovery can remove them from the Sky platform.
Does Discovery really want to lose access to the biggest Pay TV platform in the UK? No
Does Sky Digital really want to potentially lose a load of subscribers who may enjoy watching Discovery channels, including Eurosport, thus possibly losing income? No.
Two negatives make a positive. Discovery say they're working towards a solution with Sky. Whatever may be getting said in public, potential war of words etc, I'll bet you behind the scenes, both will be working hard to get a resolution that satisfies everyones honour.
I'll bet you behind the scenes, both will be working hard to get a resolution that satisfies everyones honour.
Very possibly - but then you see Sky's 'overpaying for many years' line in response to Discovery's (more measured) statement. I'd have expected something along the lines of 'Currently unable to agree a deal about the value of the channels' - but their comments have been a lot more definitive.
ES goes off air overnight normally in the week, so that's not unusual. I suspect the channel switch to ES2 was to enable post AFCON a full 3.25 hrs highlights of the previous day on ES1.
I agree with another poster, and that a solution will be reached, though if previous experience is anything to go by, it could be on deadline day as it were.
I'm of course referring to 2004, when ITV3 was due to be launched on Freeview and Sky. On the day of ITV3 starting, at 21:00, there was still no agreement between ITV and Sky. The solution was in GSB, which was the Sky and ITV joint venture. ITV agreed to buy Sky's 49% stake in GSB for £10 million, thus meaning they owned both Plus and Men and Motors. ITV decided to close Plus, which happened at 16:30, moved ITV2 into Plus's old channel, and put ITV3 into the slot next to ITV2.
This all took place just hours before the launch. What I'm saying is, there will be an agreement, it's in the interests of both parties. It may just be that they need to take things to the wire in order to get the solution!
I really wish I could be so optismic. I held out optimism over the Virgin Media/Eir Sport dispute, but five months after deadline day passed, there seems to be no sign of a resolution there (I appreciate there are slightly different cirucnstances as we are talking two competing broadband providers where Eir has an interest in not having a resolution).
Meanwhile if there's no resolution what becomes of the Variety Bundle on Sky. Without the Discovey/Eurosport channels it's just a load of largely Viacom backed music and kids TV channels. I could see plenty of people calling Sky to drop to the Orginal bundle next week.