Virgin Media has begun its High Court case against BSkyB. In papers submitted to the Court, Virgin has accuses the pay-TV platform of abusing a dominant position.
The two companies have been involved in heated exchanges since February, when the former NTL-Telewest took the Virgin name, though the dispute over the carriage of Sky’s basic channels goes back for several months longer. It came to a head in March when BSkyB withdrew its channels from the platform.
Virgin alleges that BSkyB has been engaged in abuse behaviour against what is the satellite operator’s only material competitor. The potential withdrawal of Sky News, Sports News and Sky Three from the Freeview platform suggests that BSkyB is now looking to use its basic channels as a draw for subscribers to its DTH platform.
BSkyB has called for Virgin to return to the negotiating table.
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