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Will movie channels get cheaper?

Our digital TV expert says...

The Competition Commission has provisionally ruled that Sky’s control over “pay-TV movies” is restricting competition and pushing up prices for consumers.

The Commission is an independent body whose job it is to ensure healthy competition in UK markets for the benefit of consumers as well as companies and the economy.

According to the Commission, Sky has had exclusive rights to movies from all six major Hollywood studios for years. Because of the large customer base that Sky has built up over the due to this exclusivity, the Commission believes that rival providers are unable to compete with Sky for these rights, despite Sky supplying its movie channels - Sky Movies - to other providers.

Will other movie channels now get better and cheaper?

The Competition Commission’s findings are provisional, so nothing is certain yet. At present the Commission is inviting responses to its findings and consulting on what measures could be introduced to improve competition between pay-movie channel providers.

However, it does seem likely some sort of restriction will be imposed on Sky when the Commission makes its final decision later this year.

Laura Carstensen, chairman of the investigation, says the Commission sees “no likely prospect of change” in the market due to Sky’s (www.sky.com) big audience. This large customer base further increases its chances of getting new exclusive movie rights, which then makes its audience even bigger and so on and so forth.

The Commission has invited views on three possible remedies:

• Limiting the number of studios Sky is able to buy exclusive rights from
• Reducing the exclusivity of the rights that Sky can buy. For example, making the rights for on-demand movies available to other subscription TV providers
• Forcing Sky to offer its own customers access to rival movie channels that feature exclusive content

If any of these measures are brought in and successfully put into practice then they will, in theory at least, loosen Sky’s grip on the subscription movie channel market.

By giving its competitors, such as BT Vision (www.btvision.bt.com) and Virgin Media (www.virginmedia.com) a better chance to gain exclusive rights to films themselves, they will be able to attract more customers, forcing Sky to reduce its prices or offer better value for money in order to remain competitive.

What is the best movie channel package currently available?

What you consider the “best” subscription movie channel on the market will not only depend on what films you want to watch, but also on your budget and where you live.

Sky can obviously offer you Sky Movies, which can be added on top of your standard TV service. This will give you access to 11 Sky Movies channels and Disney Cinemagic, with over 450 movies a month.

Sky Premiere alone offers “90 of the top 100 Hollywood box office hits each year”.

Sky Movies costs £16 a month on top of your standard Sky Entertainment or Sky Extra.

However, remember that Sky is a satellite TV provider so you will need to have a dish installed - and if you live in a listed building or rented accommodation this might not always be possible.

Cable TV provider Virgin Media can offer you access to all seven movie channels it offers with its L or XL packages, as well as Movies on Demand, which will give you access to many more films.

Sky Movies 1, Sky Movies 2 can be added from £14.50 a month each, or the Sky Movies Collection, including five additional movie channels, can be bought on top of your package from £21.50 a month extra.

Availability will depend on where you live, as Virgin Media’s cable network only reaches about half of the country.

BT Vision will give you Vision Box Office, an on-demand service that will offer you 60 films including “the latest movie blockbusters”, Vision Film Club, which lets you watch 75 films a month and Film 4 through Freeview.

Vision Box Office and Vision Film Club offer films from £2.50 and 50p each respectively on top of your monthly subscription. However, you will need a minimum broadband speed of 2Mb to be able to watch anything more than standard Freeview channels on BT Vision - so do a line test with BT before you sign-up.

TV, broadband and phone packages

Company	Package Name	Channels	Broadband	Home Phone
	Sky Entertainment TV + HD + Sky Broadband Unlimited + Talk Freetime	Get channels like Sky 1, Sky Living, Sky Atlantic and more
	TV Essential + More Broadband and Calls	70 Freeview channels
	TV: L + Broadband: 30Mb + Phone: M	100 channels including Virgin 1, Sky1, Comedy Central, Bravo and many more

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If you have a general switching or provider query please email us at ourexpert@digitalchoices.co.uk