Virgin Media customers who take Sky’s sports package "are being hit" with a £2 ($3) a month increase -- double the £1 ($1.50) a month hike that Sky’s own subscribers face from June, according to Rupert Jones of the London GUARDIAN. Announcing the changes, Virgin Media hit out at the satellite broadcaster, and suggested that "it was passing on the costs in a way that was fairer than that chosen by Sky." Sky announced on March 18 that the price of a sports TV package would rise by £1 a month, "while the cost of its popular family bundle, which includes its highest profile shows and access to drama channel Sky Atlantic," is going up by £3 ($4.50) a month. Now Virgin Media -- which has 3.8 million TV customers, several hundred thousand of whom take Sky Sports or Movies -- has announced that from June 1, customers who take Sky Sports will pay £2 a month more, while those who have Sky Movies will pay 50 pence ($0.75) a month more. Virgin said these were the only two Sky channels it sold as add-ons, adding, "Sky is spreading the cost across its other TV packages, so their customers who don’t take Sports or Movies will also see the cost of their packages go up … Our rises are simpler and only mean that customers who take the content pay the increased price for that content" (GUARDIAN, 4/17).
