Not sure if this has been said before but -
I just spoke to Virgin CS. The guy was really helpful etc with updating my tariff and i just happened to mention about an update on the whole Sky issue.
With regards to the Sky One saga - he stated that Sky only own the rights to the channel name. Virgin are bringing the programs on there (Simpsons, Lost etc) to their own channel. Call it Virgin One if you like. Now i do not know if there are exclusivity rights etc to be factored into this or the like but the idea in principle is a good one. If people could just purchase the channels then why dont they? Channel 4 could get all the new Simpsons etc. Is the only reason they don't because of cost or other reasons.
With regards to the Sky Sports/Movies PQ - he stated that Sky keep messing about with the signal strength which of course affects Virgin broadcast and makes Virgin customers unhappy. Again i'll take this with a pinch of salt but the thought had certainly crossed my mind before as a possibility.
The guy, while only being a CS agent, seemed well informed on the issues and at least had some sort of solution to hand - no matter how believable. At least he didnt feign ignorance.
I am currently with Sky (have a sky+ box) so i am no fanboy. That said he offered me a cracking deal for a V+ box and a std box upstairs for £25 installation and £10 a month. I phoned up Sky to see if they could give a comparable offer and they wanted to charge me £300 for a HD box OR £50 for a std box and a multiroom of charge on top of the £10 i pay for sky+.
I asked if they could offer a discount on the box and they said no - Sky sell their boxes and Virgin lease them - Hence virgin being able to offer them for free. Of course you can't use the Sky box for anything else... so thats great isnt it.
I might just move back to Virgin TV (used to have it at my parents) - Sky's menus etc are alot quicker and easier to use in my experience (although i have not used Virgin/NTL for about 2 years) but the option of HD, two boxes and all that is very umm tempting.