Sky US rival in talks with Virgin
Monday, June 18th, 2007Talk of US TV deal sees Sky/Virgin war heat up
It appears that Virgin Media have indeed been doing something with the money that they’re now not paying to Sky. Virgin is reported to be in talks with US distributor Warner Bros for exclusive distribution rights to a number of hit shows.
Warner Bros, whose Ted Turner is also a media rival with Rupert Murdoch, would supply Virgin Media with a fresh pick of shows, with Virgin obliged to screen at least one show a year for however long the contract lasts.
The shows up for grabs include Gossip Girl, a new series from Josh Schwartz, creator of the hugely popular teen drama The O.C. (which had its first successful run on Fox in the US) a Terminator spin-off entitled The Sarah Connor Chronicles, and the Buffy-esque Twilight, which follows a private investigator who has been bitten by a vampire.
This news follows a similar deal between ABC, National Geographic and Channel 4, which has seen programmes such as Ugly Betty and a range of history and wildlife documentaries broadcast on 4oD.
Virgin has been keen to replace the damage done to its services after the big falling out with Sky - it has already been reported that the cable company had signed a deal with ABC in order to eventually be able to broadcast the whole third season of Lost. With the pay-TV competiton just as hot on the other side of the pond as it is here, we could see more US content from Sky rivals arrving soon. It is entirely possible that this new content will find home on Virgin 1 the new Virgin cable channel, which is sue to go live over this summer.
June 28th, 2007 at 2:29 pm
I am glad Virgin aren’t playing ball with Sky.
Sky is just being a bully and companies need to stand up to them.