Regulator piles pressure on BSkyB with pay-TV market investigation

Published on Wednesday 21 March 2007 00:06

BSKYB came under further regulatory pressure yesterday after Ofcom, the media watchdog, announced plans to investigate the pay-TV market.

The move follows a submission to Ofcom from a group of smaller broadcasters asking it to look into the sector.

Ofcom said it had agreed to undertake an inquiry to see if the market needed to be referred to the Competition Commission.

Its investigation will cover the entire pay-TV market, including subscription and video-on-demand services on cable, satellite, digital terrestrial television (Freeview) and the internet.

The decision comes weeks after a public row between Virgin Media and BSkyB saw Virgin customers lose access to several high-profile Sky channels after the two companies failed to reach an agreement over prices.

The loss of the Sky package - which includes Sky One, Sky News and Sky Sports News - sparked anger from consumer groups, including the National Consumer Council.

Ofcom also said it would be looking at Sky's intention to launch a new pay-TV service on Freeview, which would also see the same channels removed from free digital TV.

The industry regulator said that its investigation would include the possible impact that this would have on both consumers and competition in the market.

The submission for an inquiry came from BT, the Irish broadcaster Setanta, paid-for digital TV service Top Up TV and Virgin Media.