Lost Caught in the Middle
It seems like ‘Lost’ has become the cause of an actual plot twist over
television station airings in the UK. Sky and Virgin Media both
operate in the UK, offering a satellite and cable (respectively)
television service. Sky has the rights to broadcast shows such as
‘Lost’ and ‘24′ over in the UK, but also offer their channels to
Virgin Media to put over the cable as well. In the recent dispute, Sky
has removed their channels from Virgin Media cable, jeopardizing about
3.5 million people from being able to watch our beloved ‘Lost’.
But hope is at hand! Virgin has brokered a deal with ABC to air ‘Lost’
on Virgin’s Video-on-Demand service. All three seasons! This doesn’t
bode well for negotiations, which apparently have broken down
resulting in Sky pulling their channels (besides sport and movie
packages) from Virgin. Virgin pays 17 times as much to put their
channels over satellite than Sky does according to the new proposal.
If Virgin can get deals like that for other shows too, then why would
it need Sky?
No matter who is right in this dispute (seems like Virgin to me, but
whatever), at least ‘Lost’ is secured to all the viewers who want to
watch it. Virgin has lost for now and may lose most of the most
popular US shows that they air, and their first priority is to get
‘Lost’ onto televisions. It gives me a warm, fuzzy feeling.
Just as a side note this is my first contribution to the site, one of many I hope to add in the future. Thank you for giving me this amazing opportunity to contribute to something I love. I hope you all enjoy reading what I post and that you’ll all let me know what you think.
Thank you!
Here’s what we think: Big F’ing deal.
Just kidding!! Welcome aboard! I can’t imagine having to deal with that kind of nonsense in the UK. I’m so glad that so long ago, our forfathers fought so diligently for our freedom. This is truly the greatest accomplishment of our Independance.
Richard Branford owns Virgin still, right? And didn’t he fly a balloon around the world? So in a sense, he’s like Henry Gale, aka Ben Linus. Ergo, Richard Branford is Alvar Hanso…once again, the booze is talking..and typing…and now seeking a ham sandwich…
Comment by El Prez — March 8, 2007 @ 8:38 pm
What does “on-demand” mean in this context? It gets thrown around like mad over here in the states. Is it a pay-per-viewing deal, or is it an extra piece of service that allows you to call up select content when you like just because you’ve added said service to your subscription?
Either way, sounds like Virgin’s got themselves a winning strategy…providing of course the fanbase over there isn’t infiltrated by droves of nay-sayers like it’s been here in the US.
Comment by Richard Lennox — March 8, 2007 @ 11:09 pm
*raises hand* Virgin Media customer here. The video-on-demand service doesn’t seem to be pay-per-view, but it’s very glitchy at the moment. It comes along with the base package, no extra money required. So hopefully they’ll get Lost up there soon (I’m sick of downloading it, already).
Thanks for posting this up, I’d heard vague rumours about getting Lost back like that, so it’s nice for them to be confirmed!
Comment by Louise — March 9, 2007 @ 1:38 am
Virgin Customer as well, not too bothered as i download anyway but Virgin have stated that their on demand service will only be free for the next few months, after which you will have to pay to watch shows on it, which is pretty crap to be honest.
Comment by Sheepboy — March 9, 2007 @ 2:04 am
Oh. Bugger. The downloading will have to continue, then!
Comment by Louise — March 9, 2007 @ 8:24 am
Ah, so then it *is* a clever strategy to get Lost fanatics to pony up more cash. Boo on Virgin, then.
Comment by Richard Lennox — March 9, 2007 @ 11:14 am
I’m from the UK (with Virgin Media) and you’re correct David, it is Virgin who are in the right. When Virgin Media was formed, it was basically more than twice the size of Sky and had the finance and size to crush Sky. Immediately Sky panicked and bought a 17% stake in a large UK TV company called ITV, and demanded higher prices to be paid for its TV channels. And not just a small increase, they wanted 100% more!
Virgin Media we’re having none of it, and so Sky spat their dummy out. Sky have ad campaigns all over the net with “DON’T LOSE LOST” and “GET JACK BACK” for Lost and 24 to try and bring back customers. They also prompt Virgin Media customers to call Virgin and ask for the channels back. Seems like Sky lost this one.
Comment by Jordan — March 9, 2007 @ 4:04 pm