Consumer body appeals for sanity

A consumer body has called on Virgin Media and Sky to stop bickering and put the interests of the customers affected by the dispute over payment for some Sky channels first.

After the two companies couldn't agree over fees that Virgin was paying to Sky to show channels like Sky One on its services, Virgin Media customers can no longer see shows such as Lost and 24.

The National Consumer Council’s deputy chief executive, Philip Cullum, said: "We urge the two companies to put consumers first, by reaching a speedy solution and being crystal clear about customers’ rights.”

No further talks between the two companies to resolve the issue have been planned. Sky has in the past few days taken out a number of full-page adverts in the national press encouraging Virgin Media customers to switch to Sky's services.

"Our reading is that Virgin Media customers have got the right to cancel their subscriptions without penalty, and we call on the company to confirm this without delay," said Cullum.

Virgin Media yesterday changed the name of the channel that used to be Sky News to 'Sky Snooze', and it is this kind of petty move that seems to have enraged the NCC.

"NCC will be contacting Sky and Virgin Media to encourage both companies to act in the interests of consumers, and will make a rapid decision by the end of March on possible action," the NCC said in a press statement.

The NCC said that this dispute has also caused it concern regarding the state of the digital television market in general and has mooted the idea of making a 'supercomplaint' to industry regulator Ofcom.

http://www.ncc.org.uk/

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