Market investigation into the pay TV industry | Ofcom

Market investigation into the pay TV industry | Ofcom

Ofcom has received a submission from BT, Setanta, Top Up TV, and Virgin Media to investigate the pay TV industry and to consider whether they should be investigated by the Competition Commission under the Enterprise Act 2002.

Ofcom Consumer Panel and the National Consumer Council have also expressed concerned about BSkyB removing channels on Virgin Media's platform.

Sky have a virtual monopoly on a huge ammount of content and other payers want equal access. Sky will probably lose out in the long term, but in the meantime lots of Virgin Media customers are likely to migrate to Sky to gain access to prime shows like Lost, 24, BattleStar Galactica etc. Sky are even offering promotional pricing to attract cable customers. Virgin Media are not cash rich and losing droves of customers could put them in a very dangerous position in terms of city expectations.