This could be a disaster for Virgin Media. I know it I was still a customer I'd be switching straight over to sky.
Luckily, I saw the light over a year ago and made the switch then from NTL to Sky. They offer a much better package, and their customer service is....well they have customer service!
Come on all you Virgin Media customers, see the light and make the switch to sky!!
This could be a disaster for Virgin Media. I know it I was still a customer I'd be switching straight over to sky.
Luckily, I saw the light over a year ago and made the switch then from NTL to Sky. They offer a much better package, and their customer service is....well they have customer service!
Come on all you Virgin Media customers, see the light and make the switch to sky!!
What on earth are you talking about? What does Sky offer that Virgin Media doesn't?
VM has cable broadband with consistently higher download speeds than the "up to 16Mb" service offered through ADSL; as with all ADSL services, you're lucky to ever get close to that
VM offers the Sky premium channels at a lower price than Sky itself
VM has VOD services available to all customers, and some premium VOD services including pay-per-view
VM customer service is extremely good (and indeed Telewest customer service that I personally used was also consistently impressive for the eight years that I used the service before that; though I accept that ntl was much much poorer on that front)
A VM contract doesn't require you to buy your equipment up front, and also includes any maintenance costs as part of your monthly contract; Sky requires you to pay for the box, and pay for maintenance visits and equipment replacements
Sky has scores more channels, but most of these additional channels are shopping or music channels which add little value to the service, and really aren't missed on VM
The only real lead that Sky has over VM is on HD services, which on VM are an absolute joke at the moment.
I'm absolutely stunned at Sky's current arrogance, in presuming that they can bully a competitor into paying such a huge premium for their channels, or else remove them, and in additionally planning to remove their channels from the Freeview platform in favour of charging people on DTT to watch them.
Sky obviously realises that the majority of people won't care who said this and who did that behind the scenes, and that most Virgin Media customers will simply hurl abuse at VM for removing the channels rather than consider Sky's underhand anti-competitive bullying tactics, and yes, they will win some customers from VM as a result of these aggressive actions.
The only party who really loses out in all this is the viewer, as the more people who defect to an increasingly powerful, influential and abusive BSkyB, the stronger that bully gets, and the more Sky will feel that they have a right to dictate how the broadcasting landscape is shaped.
It really is about time Sky was put in its place - I can't honestly understand how OFCOM can accept this kind of activity as being acceptable for such a powerful organisation.
This could be a disaster for Virgin Media. I know it I was still a customer I'd be switching straight over to sky.
Luckily, I saw the light over a year ago and made the switch then from NTL to Sky. They offer a much better package, and their customer service is....well they have customer service!
Come on all you Virgin Media customers, see the light and make the switch to sky!!
Except for those of us who can't have Sky (well not easily).
I have Virgin (ex-Telewest) and am quite happy with it. The only Sky channel I watch is Sky News and it's no real skin off my nose if that goes. On Telewest we never have had Sky 2,3 or Travel.
I don't really care about how much better Sky's customer service is as I never normally have to contact customer service anyway. When I do their support forums via newsgroups are very good
This sounds like a complete case of cutting off your nose to spite your face on Sky's part.
Advertisers won't want to pay as much for services on satellite only. That's assuming they don't come to a last-minute agreement.
That might well happen, either that or they'll wait a few weeks not get what they want and then agree carriage. This isn't without precedent; Nickleodeon couldn't come to an agreement a while back and their channels disappeared for a while.
As for the advertising, that's very true.... Sky do provide a difrent feed to cable companies with seperate adverts. If that's just going off to Hull and The Isle of Wight it's not that attractive to advertisers
Sky should be done for this - it's exactly the reason I've always said they shouldn't be allowed to run the digital satellite platform and provide channels.
One minute they're cutting the price they pay Virgin for airing their channels on Sky from 40p to 10p - and next they're demanding Virgin pay more for theirs and lay all the blame on Virgin when they won't give into their demands.
The best way to get Sky to toe the line is to hurt them in their pocket.
I have been trying to disconnect from Sky for 20 months and each time they offer me 2 packages (entertainment & Docs) for £7.50. I have been threatening to leave them every six months and each time the come up with a different offer but it adds up to the same amount. Say you can get top up TV for less or whatever excuse that comes to mind and they will treat you as a "valued customer" After almost 2 years I have finally got rid of the subscription altogether and don't miss the repeats of american docs and entertainment.
Why pay for just three months programming per year which is repeated over 12 months?
DON'T RING THE 0870 404040 NUMBER. Try the say no to 0870 site as Sky frequently change the free access numbers. Be warned it usually takes 15 - 20 mins for them to answer.
I can't believe there's some story on the news about VM being immature going on the radio and moaning at Sky. What about Sky's childish and juvenile adverts on their own channels, moaning at Virgin!
It's starting to become pretty clear what Sky is up to now...
* Removing their channels from Virgin Media (by grossly overpricing them).
* Charging for receiving their channels on DTT
They're starting to realise that more and more customers will turn away from the Sky platform because they can get cheaper options for television elsewhere. They're doing this by restricting access to their channels exclusively to their own platform(s).
The one problem with this that Sky don't seem to get is that their channels aren't that good. I can't see droves of people leaving Virgin Media for Sky just because they can't get Sky One, Sky Travel etc - lowrate channels that mostly show repeats.
In the past I've never had a problem with Sky (in fact, I've resented the way that people call it "$ky), but their recent tactics are far too bullish and are denying consumers choice, and that's just bad for british broadcasting.
The best way to get Sky to toe the line is to hurt them in their pocket.
I have been trying to disconnect from Sky for 20 months and each time they offer me 2 packages (entertainment & Docs) for £7.50. I have been threatening to leave them every six months and each time the come up with a different offer but it adds up to the same amount. Say you can get top up TV for less or whatever excuse that comes to mind and they will treat you as a "valued customer" After almost 2 years I have finally got rid of the subscription altogether and don't miss the repeats of american docs and entertainment.
Why pay for just three months programming per year which is repeated over 12 months?
DON'T RING THE 0870 404040 NUMBER. Try the say no to 0870 site as Sky frequently change the free access numbers. Be warned it usually takes 15 - 20 mins for them to answer.
How is paying them £90 a year going to hurt them in the pocket?
In the past I've never had a problem with Sky (in fact, I've resented the way that people call it "$ky), but their recent tactics are far too bullish and are denying consumers choice, and that's just bad for british broadcasting.
I agree with that. I've always respected Sky before, thinking that they were a respectable company, quietly going about their company. But now they're trying to intefere with other companies, and in a rude and aggresive manner.
VM has cable broadband with consistently higher download speeds than the "up to 16Mb" service offered through ADSL; as with all ADSL services, you're lucky to ever get close to that
