Discovery is demanding £1B ($1.25B) "for its portfolio of channels in the U.K., according to pay-TV provider Sky, which is engaged in a dispute with the U.S. channels giant over the renewal of their carriage agreement," according to Leo Barraclough of VARIETY. A Sky spokesperson said, "We have offered hundreds of millions of pounds to Discovery, a $12 billion American business, but that wasn't enough. They asked the Sky Group to pay close to £1 billion for their portfolio of channels, many of which are in decline." Discovery refuted Sky's £1B claim, and stated that Sky pays less now than it did 11 years ago. Discovery said, "We have asked them for a few pennies extra per year for each Sky household. We would never choose to come off Sky and abandon our viewers who we value enormously." The exact terms of the alleged $1.25B demand, "such as the length of the deal, are unclear." If the companies fail to resolve their differences, the Discovery channels -- which include Discovery, Animal Planet, Eurosport and TLC -- will be "pulled from Sky on Wednesday." Eurosport aired announcements over the weekend warning Sky customers that they were "in danger of losing access to the sports channel" (VARIETY, 1/30). BROADBAND TV NEWS' Julian Clover reported Discovery enlisted the support of "a number of celebrities" including Jonathan Edwards, Ronnie O'Sullivan, Jimmy White, Colin Murray and Katie Hopkins. The broadcaster adopted the hashtag #keepdiscovery in its campaign to keep its suite of 12 channels in Sky homes. A promotional video is also running "on screen" (BROADBAND TV NEWS, 1/30).
