Blank screens in cable wrangle

Mar 1 2007

HUNDREDS of thousands of cable television customers woke up to blank screens on some of their favourite channels today after the deadline passed in a row between Sky and Virgin Media.

The bitter dispute showed no sign of being resolved as Virgin Media chief executive Steve Burch said nothing Sky had said or done in the negotiation indicated it had the slightest interest in doing a commercially viable deal.

Talks broke down yesterday in the row over how much Virgin Media -formerly known as NTL - pays Sky to screen its channels.

Channels including Sky One and Sky News disappeared from screens shortly after midnight, when the current contract between the two cable platforms expired.

It will come as a blow to fans of hit series such as 24 and Lost, who will now be unable to follow their favourite shows.

Sky One, Sky Travel, Sky News and Sky Sports News are the channels affected.

Talks between Mr Burch and BSkyB chief James Murdoch came to a standstill during a telephone conversation yesterday.

Sky has rejected Virgin Media's offer of arbitration and Virgin Media has rejected Sky's latest offer, confirming it would not table a new offer of its own.