Sky is once again looking to reduce the amount of money it pays to third party channels on its DTH platform. The Sunday Telegraph reports that Sky has already pushed through a reduction in the amount of carriage fees paid to Viacom, which controls the MTV channels, Nickelodeon and Paramount Comedy, and is currently in talks with Emap, which runs music channels The Hits and Kerrang. Next in line is Turner Broadcasting, which runs CNN, Cartoon Network and Boomerang.
Earlier this year Sky irked Virgin Media by reducing the amount it paid for the former Flextech Television channels Living TV and Bravo, before insisting on an increase from the cable operator for its own channels.
It is only the larger, well established brands that receive any carriage fee from Sky, new entrants having to rely on limited advertising revenues and other sources of income, such as teleshopping and call TV.