Virgin threatens Sky with legal action

05/03/2007 - 3:17:32 PM
Virgin Media said today that it will take BSkyB to the high court if its dispute over the carriage of Sky channels on its UK service is not resolved within 30 days.Virgin Media said it is challenging Sky for its “abuse of dominance” after Sky refused its offer to try to settle the dispute over charges through arbitration by an independent expert.At the same time, Sky said Virgin had rejected its latest offer of 3p per customer per day, and had refused to table a new offer of its own.Sky’s basic channels were removed from the Virgin service at the end of last month after both sides failed to reach an agreement over charges for the Sky package.The channels affected included Sky One and Two, Sky News and Sky Sports News.Virgin said it is seeking remedies including the supply of Sky’s basic channels at a reasonable rate, as well as fair payment from Sky for the broadcast of its own channels, which include Living and Bravo.