Virgin Media has disappointed many of its customers by announcing it won’t be offering them the option of subscribing to individual Sky Sports channels.
On Monday the UK’s largest sports broadcaster unveiled a radical overhaul which includes sport-specific channels which its own customers can sign up to individually to suit their budget and interests.
However Virgin Media, which owns no channels of its own and is reliant on selling third party content from Sky, BT, UKTV and other broadcasters, says it has no plans to follow suit and will only offer the channels in a full bundle.
In a statement posted on its support forum the cable firm said: “Virgin Media is not offering the Sky Sports channels on a standalone basis. We will continue to offer all of the Sky Sports channels in one combined package.”
That news has been greeted with dismay by budget-conscious sports fans looking to reduce their monthly bill and risks Virgin, still seeing a downside to its recent price hikes, handing Sky a serious competitive advantage.