David Prosser: Football's price war still in extra time
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.Outlook: The latest trading update from Virgin Media makes interesting reading, recording as it does the increasing demand for its cable television services. Clearly, Virgin is at last succeeding in capturing some hearts and minds from Sky, whose dominance of the pay TV market has endured for so long.
Still, Sky remains some distance out in front, with more than twice as many customers as Virgin. The speed at which that lead is cut depends partly on a group of 20 or so well-paid lawyers who have spent this week arguing in a hearing at the Competition Appeal Tribunal in central London.
Sky's legal team is demanding a stay of execution on the implementation of the recent Ofcom ruling that it must cut the price of the sports content it sells to rivals by at least a fifth. Ofcom, Virgin and various other interested parties are fighting that application.
The outcome of the hearing, which concluded last night, has real significance for everyone who pays to watch live football on television: there really might be a price war.
If Sky loses its case, Virgin hopes to be able to offer cut-price Premiership action in time for next season. In which case it may start picking customers up even more quickly.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments