Sky, Virgin Media End Channel Dispute, Ink Carriage Deals

Following successful negotiations, Sky and Virgin Media reportedly have agreed two new channel carriage deals that will run concurrently until 12 June 2011

Under the first deal, Sky’s Basic channels will return to Virgin Media’s cable TV service on 13 November. These reportedly include Sky1, Sky2, Sky3, Sky News, Sky Sports News, Sky Arts 1, Sky Arts 2, Sky Real Lives and Sky Real Lives 2.

The second agreement, according to the officials, provides for the continued carriage of Virgin Media TV’s basic channels as part of Sky’s retailed channel line-up on satellite. These basic channels are: Living, Living 2, Bravo, Bravo 2, Trouble, Challenge and Virgin 1.

Both agreements include fixed annual carriage fees for the channels and will allow BSkyB (News - Alert) and Virgin Media to secure additional capped payments provided their channels meet certain performance-related targets, according to the companies.

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