VM cable: No plans to add Sky Sports Tennis

System

This discussion was created from comments split from: The Virgin Media Television thread.

awec

https://www.irishtimes.com/business/2024/02/27/virgin-media-ireland-has-no-plans-to-add-sky-sports-tennis-channel/

They really are the most half-arsed outfit out there.

deezell

How many different Sky sports subs are there? It'll get to the stage where top table clashes will have their own channell and sub, or pay per view.

lertsnim

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121822381#Comment_121822381

People should cancel and go elsewhere for Sky Sports. It's the only way they will learn. I did it after they told me they won't be adding Sky Sports Tennis. Now I have the tennis channel and all of the extra streams that they show. I'll cancel the virgin television service completely when that contract is up.

You can be certain that they also wont have the extra Sky Sports Premier League Sunday games if they are on a red button when that contract starts.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121822520#Comment_121822520

Sky cannot make games PPV unless they purchase the rights for games in that format.

awec

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121822520#Comment_121822520

There is only 2 Sky Sports subscriptions in Ireland. You cannot subscribe to just Sky Sports Tennis, or Sky Sports football for example.

There is Sky Sports, which gives you all the Sky Sports channels, and Sky Sports Extra, which gives you the TNT channels plus Premier Sports.

In this case, Virgin customers paying for Sky Sports are paying for a channel they can't watch.

icdg

The problem with that now, not to use a pun, is that Virgin Media are the only remaining player in this market with a wholesale deal with Sky for Sky Sports.

Eir and Vodafone no longer retail Sky Sports in this market to new customers. Instead they are pointed towards Now TV, which of course is a Sky product.

This is the very thing that Ofcom were trying to avoid in the UK market about 15 years ago when they put Wholesale Must Offer rules in place for Sky Sports. It is either Sky direct (be that Q, Glass/Stream, or Now TV) or VM now.

lertsnim

Correct but Sky Sports through Now TV can be had for a very reasonable price using a promotional code of which many are available so even though it is owned by Sky it can be a lot cheaper.

mackersdublin

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121822637#Comment_121822637

There is only 1 Sky Sports Subscription and that includes 9 channels (8 on VM), with the option of paying for it in SD or HD. Sky Sports News, Mix and Racing are available without a Sky Sports sub on Sky TV and VM TV

Sports Extra is a separate package, and as you said includes TNT Sports and Premier Sports

icdg

Slightly OT but in similar vein I think I’m correct in saying that Sky Sports F1 isn’t on VM cable either? So it’s actually two channels less you are getting?

mackersdublin

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121824513#Comment_121824513

No, SS F1 is available in SD & HD on VM. It launched in August 2022

Although it's only mentioned 3 times on https://www.virginmedia.ie/television/premium-channels/?intcmp=tv-nav-feb23 (360 box)

AJB39

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121824521#Comment_121824521

It took several years to launch on VM after its launch on Sky though. Interesting to see the steep subscriber drops for VM TV in the last two years mentioned at the end of that Irish Times article. They really can’t afford to alienate their remaining subscribers by stupid decisions like not adding Sky Sports Tennis.

mackersdublin

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121824789#Comment_121824789

Sorry, I should have said SS F1 has been on VM here since August 2022. The channel itself launched in March 2012, so over 10 years later. I would presume SS Tennis will eventually be added here, presumably in less than 10 years, even if the current stance is "no plans" and "limited available space". If they removed the SD duplicates in the 700's, they'd create plenty of space for SS Tennis (HD & SD)

AJB39

Wow. I didn’t realise it took ten years for VM to launch SS F1. That’s incredible!

Delta2113

"limited available space" is a total lie.