Virgin Media’s four million pay-TV customers face being unable to watch UKTV’s 10 channels, which include Dave, Gold and Drama, from Sunday as a dispute over video on demand rights to shows comes to a head.
Virgin Media has been locked in negotiations with UKTV, which is jointly owned by the BBC and US giant Discovery, over renewing a deal to carry its TV channel portfolio which includes shows such as Taskmaster, Top Gear, Only Fools and Horses, Red Dwarf, Call The Midwife and One Born Every Minute.
However, the BBC holds backs the video on demand rights to its programming, instead selling them to players such as Netflix. Virgin Media said this strategy was no longer acceptable as viewers expect to be able to watch shows on demand.
“The problem is the BBC does not grant the UKTV digital rights with its TV shows which leaves it somewhat stranded as a linear dinosaur in an on-demand modern world,” said David Bouchier, Virgin Media’s chief digital entertainment officer.
“Part of a commitment to audiences has to be allowing them to watch what they want, when they want and that also means being able to watch those programmes on demand. From US studios to small programme-makers, that is how it is done. The BBC puts UKTV in a very difficult position and we have been unable to come to terms and will replace the channels.”
Darren Childs, the chief executive of UKTV, said: “We want to continue to provide our channels to Virgin Media, but the huge cut in fees that Virgin has requested doesn’t reflect the value we bring to customers.
“UKTV’s channels account for over a quarter of pay entertainment channel viewing within Virgin Media’s basic subscription pack. If our channels are no longer available through Virgin, we will be hugely disappointed for the millions of customers who will lose out.”
From 10pm on Thursday, Virgin Media was expected to begin notifying customers online about pulling the channels, and from Friday the UKTV channels would carry a message saying: “this channel is being replaced from Sunday”.
Barring an eleventh-hour deal, Virgin Media said it would replace the UKTV portfolio with a range of channels offering shows including Suits, Designated Survivor, Britain’s Next Top Model, Deadliest Catch and sports programming.
