BT has been accused of jumping the gun after it emerged that its complaint to Ofcom over access to Sky content for its fledgling IPTV service came before it had even requested the material.
The complaint from BT, Virgin Media, Setanta Sports and Top Up TV was made in January. However, Sky told the Daily Telegraph that it only received contact from BT commercial director Mark Watson only after its February 8 announcement on plans for a DTT pay service. It is understood that a meeting between Sky’s COO Mike Darcey and BT Vision’s CEO Dan Marks took place on February 28.
The move away from Freeview by Sky would potentially result in the loss of all three basic Sky channels (Sky News, Sky Sports News and Sky Three) for BT because the telco is relying on Freeview for all of its linear channels. (JC)
