The battle for the British Pay TV industry is heating up as flamboyant entrepreneur Richard Branson is playing the underdog David role against the News Corp. Goliath and Rupert Murdoch.
It's caught the attention of people everywhere as it's one of the biggest media battles in Britain in decades, according to the Journal News. We've talked about it before at bizofshowbiz when Branson tried to get ITV and BSkyB's response.
Branson's Virgin Media was basically formed when he sold his Virgin Mobile operations to NTL and Telewest, which had merged, and Branson became the largest shareholder with an 11 percent stake in the company.
BSkyB has been the dominating player in pay-TV in Britain for a long time.
When BSkyB found out that Virgin Media was trying to get ITV, they bought a 17.9 percent stake in the company, which started all the spat that's become so intriguing. The stake in ITV by BSkyB basically blocked any possibility for Virgin Media to own the company.
While to outsiders the battle is being presented as over the pricing of programs, in reality it's a battle over the future of the very profitable pay-TV industry in Britain.
Branson's two key strategies is the underdog role we already mentioned, and pointing out the potential harm to the "public interest" of consumers. While he seems ahead in the "public opinion" area, the battle will probably only be won if the British government feels the deal could be damaging to the "plurality of the domestic media." If it's deemed as such, the government could step in and block the merger of BSkyB and ITV.
Branson is playing this as his main card as he accused the British government of being "scared stiff" of Rupert Murdoch, an obvious play to public opinion.
If Branson eventually wins that public battle, it could sway politicians to make a decision in his favor. Again, probably the only way to win this battle. It's a real possibility that he could. It's pretty fun to watch the battle go on.
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