It has been widely reported this week that Sky has backed out of exclusive sales negotiations for Tiscali’s UK broadband business. This follows Carphone Warehouse’s apparent exit from the auction process a few weeks back on the basis of price and the challenges associated with integrating Tiscali’s disparate customer operations. 

The report in the Guardian this week notes that Sky and Tiscali’s Italian parent were unable to agree on price, with Tiscali looking for a price of around £600m and Sky looking to pay closer to £450m. 

The deal would immediately have made Sky Britain’s third-largest broadband provider as Sky currently have over 1.8m customers, and Tiscali have 1.77m UK customers.

Crucially, despite very attractive pricing and heavy promotion, Tiscali are losing customers in the UK.  Their high customer churn has meant that their subscriber numbers actually declined in the last quarter by nearly 40,000 subscribers.   This coupled with the deteriorating economic climate and slumping company valuations, makes Sky’s decision to apparently back out of the negotiations understandable.

But despite these issues, if Sky believe that there is strategic logic in the deal, they may well be playing a longer game.  With a notable absence of competing buyers, Sky may well be walking away, to let Tiscali stew in its own juice for a few further weeks, before returning to negotiations next year. 

One thing that seems clear is that the longer a potential buyer waits, the better terms they are likely to dictate. So don’t count Sky out of the hunt for Tiscali just yet.

Written by chris

Virgin Media customers will once again have access to Sky channels such as Sky1, Sky News and Sky Sports News after the company signed a new channel carriage deal with BSkyB.

Virgin Media subscribers lost access to the channels at the end of February 2007 after a disagreement between the two companies that escalated over the amount that Sky wanted to charge Virgin Media to have access to the channels. 

 Sky and Virgin have since resolved the issue after Virgin agreed to pay Sky £30m per year plus yearly incentives. As such Virgin subscribers can expect to see Sky channels back on their TV’s by the 15^th of November 2008. The channels include Sky1, Sky2, Sky3, Sky News, Sky Sports News, Sky Arts 1, Sky Arts 2, Sky Real Lives and Sky Real Lives 2.At the same time, Sky subscribers will continue to have access to Virgin Media TV’s basic channels, including Living, Bravo, Virgin 1 and Trouble.

Charlie Ponsonby, CEO of Simplifydigital, said: “This is a welcome end to the stand-off between Virgin Media and Sky with the customer the real winner”

Written by chris

There could be more good news on the way for TV viewers who want to watch their favourite shows in High Definition (HD).

Last week Ofcom announced that they are reserving two Freeview slots for new HD services. One of those slots is for ITV while the other has gone to Channel 4/S4C.

The BBC will also be broadcasting its HD service on Freeview and viewers in the Granada region should be able to watch these three services from late 2009.

The Freeview HD services will then be available on a region by region basis as the country gradually moves from analogue to digital TV over the next 4 years.

But viewers in some UK cities, including London, could be watching these HD channels sooner than was first thought.

Ofcom are looking at whether spectrum could be made temporarily available so that the new HD services on Freeview can be rolled out earlier.

Simplifydigital’s guide to HDTV

 High definition TV is still very young in the UK, but is well and truly coming of age – Beijing was the first Olympics in history to be broadcast in high definition and the BBC showed over 300 hours of HD content during the games. And Sky, the UK’s leading HD broadcaster, now has over half a million subscribers having only launched their service in mid 2006.

 Moreover, all the big players see HD as the “next big thing” for television in the UK and are investing heavily to greatly increase the variety of high definition (HD) content available to watch. But HD viewing doesn’t come cheap and the breadth and depth of content on offer varies significantly across the various platforms offering high definition content.

So what is “high definition” and does it live up to the hype?

 To view content in high definition you first need a “HD Ready” TV.  This is a TV set which has many more pixels per square inch (4 times more than a standard set) allowing it to show pictures in far greater detail and with much more vibrant colours, but only if the content that it is showing is being transmitted in high definition. So you will need the right TV and a set top box able to receive and decode a high definition signal. HD signals are also broadcast in surround sound making for a much richer sound as well as visual experience.

 So in a nutshell, to enjoy HDTV you will need to make sure you have the following:

1.      A TV capable of displaying high-definition pictures
2.      A receiver that can decode the high definition signal, such Sky’s HD box or Virgin’s V+ box
3.      A TV package that includes high definition programmes.

 What is currently shown in HD?

If you walk past a TV showing content in HD you will notice a big difference – in fact so proud are new HD viewers that they often ask their friends round to gawp at the clarity of the picture. Most viewers find that HD is particularly impressive for sporting events, documentaries and to a lesser extent movies and dramas. Football in HD for example is a huge improvement on the standard TV experience – with players (and the crowd!) visible in extraordinary clarity

What does it cost?

For the budget HD viewer who is happy to watch only BBC and ITV programming in HD, then Freesat is a good choice. A Freesat HD box will cost around £150, with an additional £80 for the satellite dish and installation. However there is no monthly cost and no contract. The HD content will feel limited, but Freesat does have the added attraction of many additional channels to watch in standard definition.

 For those looking for a bit more, then Virgin Media represents great value. In addition to the BBC and Channel 4 HD channels they also offer a vast library of high definition content available on-demand through their V+ box. Prices start at £15/month for the basic TV service with a phone line, plus £5 for the V+ subscription. The V+ box also lets you pause and record live TV.

 For anyone who is serious about watching HD, then Sky offers the largest selection of HD channels and programming in the UK, covering the whole spectrum of content – from all the premium sporting action, to a large range of movies and documentaries. The Sky+ HD box also has all the features of a Sky+ box so that you can pause and record live TV. Prices start at £17/month for the basic Sky TV package, plus £10/month for the

HD subscription.

Is HD right for me?

To find out more about the HD services that are available in your area, simply give one of our experts a call or use our online digital services comparison tool.

Written by lee