Rupert Murdoch

Sky News announced today that Sky Television has bought Virgin Media for £160m but astonishingly there was no mention of regulator intervention or referral to the competition commission despite Sky being the market leader in Pay-Per-View television services, and Virgin Media being the only competitor in the market.

This gives Sky Television unfettered control over the industry and will inevitably see subscription price rises for Sky Television and Virgin Media subscribers. Over many years Sky Television has abused its market position in the pursuit of ever increasing market share and staggering profits for News Corp, owned by Rupert Murdoch and the owner of Sky Television. Why this acquisition has not been referred to the competition commission remains a mystery considering this sector only had, until today two companies competing with each other.

In the run up to the recent General Election Rupert Murdoch’s newspaper industry, which includes The Sun came out in support of David Cameron and the Conservatives, and there was much talk at the time that David Cameron had done a deal with Rupert Murdoch to garner his support. It doesn’t take much to work out that in return for The Conservative Party receiving positive media during the election campaign from Rupert Murdoch’s newspaper and television interests (The Sun, The Times, Sky News etc.), and if elected a continuation of stories supporting the government over the course of the Parliament, then the government would turn a blind eye to any further regulation of the media industry and also to wave through any acquisition by Sky Television of Virgin Media.

We now know what that backroom deal between Rupert Murdoch and The Conservative Party means in practice – continued dominance of one of the least regulated industries in the country for the benefit of News Corp and Rupert Murdoch, and increased subscription prices for Sky Television customers. You have to ask yourself who is really running this country?

Sky News

Am I the only one to notice whenever a premiership footballer makes an obvious dive or the ball clearly passes the goal line but the referee fails to award it, Sky News is there like a thunderbolt calling for goal and touch line cameras to aid the referee? now I’m not saying this in itself is a bad idea but the coverage that Sky News gives to this subject in out of all proportion, and its impossible to come away without thinking that Sky quite clearly has a financial interest in bringing this technology into the game. Has anyone else picked up on this story? I would be interested to hear your views.

Jonathan Ross and Russell Brand

Today is a very sad day in the life if British television and radio, after decades of independent ground breaking production of high quality television and radio, the BBC Trust have decided to kill off the BBC as we know it and instead hand the reigns of the corporation to the Daily Mail newspaper and allow the journalists (and I use that word lightly) of that right-wing anti-everything to run this institution. I feel desperately sad that the BBC Trust, and I suspect in time Ofcom when it reports on the Jonathon Ross and Russell Brand incident will also submit to the pressure by a daily newspaper instead of standing up to what is nothing more than trouble makers and overpaid ego’s (and yes I point to those newspaper journalists again and not Jonathon Ross).

Today is the end of the BBC as we have grown to know and love it over the years and I’m left wondering why nobody has the backbone or teeth to stand up to this newspaper, to be fair the newspaper is scum and doesn’t even warrant being used as toilet paper and I desperately wish people would stop being so politically correct and act in the interests of what the licence fee payer actually wants instead of pampering to these right-wing conspirators who only want to sell a few extra newspapers instead of reporting the real problems in the world today.

For the last 15 years newspaper sales have decreased year on year and the only time they see a spike in sales is during a national or international catastrophic event so it doesn’t take much to figure out that by making a non-story as high profile as possible, sales will increase – it infuriates me that nobody has the backbone to stand up to these fools and regulate them in the same way every other industry in the country is regulated, free speech my backside – if they reported responsibly and accurately people would stand up and applaud them for their actions but at its core the newspaper industry is nothing more than a trouble maker and a playground bully – light the blue touch paper and stand back to watch the ensuing firework display. Has nobody got the balls to stand up to these idiots?

Sky Television

Is Rupert Murdoch not satisfied with his already obscene wealth?

I have happily been a SKY Digital subscriber for many years, enjoying the range of Music, News and Documentary channels provided on the basic package. I never saw the point of subscribing to the Movie channels because I tend to see everything I want to see when it comes out at the cinema, and I prefer the atmosphere of the local pub to watch the big football matches. Steadily and with surprising little fanfare, the subscription cost has increased time and again, over a period of about 4 years I have seen an increase in the cost of my subscription of close to 50% and I am now starting to question if I really want SKY Television in my home any longer.

I had considered upgrading at one point to SKY+ but SKY Customer Services explained that I would need to upgrade my package to include at least two premium channels (Movies or Sports) or see an increase in my monthly subscription cost of £10 on top of what I am already paying. At first I thought she was joking but I soon realised this is SKY’s policy, my argument as I explained is that when I go to my local electrical store and pay hundreds of pounds for a new television, Hi-Fi or computer system, I don’t then have to pay the manufacturer or retailer a monthly fee on top of the purchase price for the privilege of using the equipment, and neither should I be expected to pay this additional £10 per month to use SKY+.

On principle alone I believe this is totally wrong and unless SKY seriously consider changing their policy, myself and many others I have spoken to who feel the same, will simply disconnect our subscription to SKY Television and either go back to the basic five terrestrial channels, or take out a subscription with a competing operator.

SKY Television are abusing their dominant position in the marketplace, only this month a further increase in my subscription has been imposed and my message to SKY is you have reached your limit, any additional increases will make the service untenable and you will start a backlash with your subscriber base defecting to the opposition, look again carefully at your pricing policy of both SKY Digital and SKY+, the consumer is beginning to question their need for your service.

Sky Television