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MCE British Superbike series director Stuart Higgs is adopting a ‘wait and see’ policy following the announcement yesterday that Eurosport ‘is unlikely’ to be shown on Sky TV after February 1

Discovery Communications - which owns Eurosport, Discovery Channel and Quest among others - is having a contractural fall-out with Sky and some posturing led to a statement appearing on Sky’s website, which read: “From 1 February, Discovery Communications’ portfolio of channels are unlikely to be available in Sky TV packages.”

Quote:In the UK and Ireland, this includes Animal Planet, Discovery HD, Discovery History, Discovery Home & Health, Discovery Science, Discovery Shed, Discovery Turbo, DMAX, Eurosport1, Eurosport2, Investigation Discovery, Quest and TLC.

It is not the end of the world, however, as Eurosport - which also shows WorldSBK in Britain - has its own online player and is also available on the Virgin Media platform. Some of Discovery’s other channels, like Quest, are available on Freeview which would boost BSB’s audience figures by orders of magnitude.

“We need some time to understand the implications fully and the alternative host options and platforms that Eurosport may be presented on,” Higgs told BSN this morning.

“The statement is barely 24 hours old so we will adopt a wait and see approach and take it from there. There always has been more than the Sky platform to access Eurosport programming and we will see how it pans out over the coming days.”

Discovery today announced its portfolio of channels would remain on satellite "for years to come" following the agreement, ending a bitter public spat over cost

Sky TV viewers will no longer lose 12 channels including Discovery and Eurosport after a deal was reached hours before they were due to be axed.

Discovery today announced its portfolio of channels would remain on Sky "for years to come" following the agreement, which ended a bitter dispute between the two companies.


The 12 channels, also including TLC and Animal Planet, had been set to be pulled from Sky at midnight on Tuesday, January 31.

The two firms had been embroiled in a public spat over the cost of renewing the deal .

But Susanna Dinnage, managing director Discovery Networks UK, said: 

“We have reached a new agreement that guarantees Sky’s customers access to Discovery’s wide range of channels and programmes for years to come.

"Our fans’ voices were heard loud and clear. They want choice and great TV and I cannot stress how much we love them for their support.”

She added: 

"We want to thank our millions of viewers and fans for their overwhelming support over the last few days.

"We have been humbled by the strength of the passion people feel for all our brands, including Discovery Channel, Eurosport, TLC, Animal Planet and Investigation Discovery."

As part of the deal, the flagship Discovery Channel will remain available Now TV in the UK.

Discovery's channels have been part of Sky packages since the satellite firm launched in the UK in 1989.

As the bitter dispute between the two companies escalated last week, Ms Dinnage accused Sky of "using what we consider to be its dominant market position to further its own commercial interest over those of viewers and independent broadcasters".

She added: 

"The vitality of independent broadcasters like Discovery and plurality in TV is under threat."

But a Sky source claimed: 

"We have been overpaying Discovery for years and are not going to anymore."

The broadcasting giant said Discovery was demanding the equivalent of £850million, a figure Discovery branded a "fantasy."

Discovery claimed it was paid less by Sky now than it was 10 years ago, despite having increased its share of viewers on Sky by more than 20%.

Sky told the Mirror last week that customers would it not reduce its costs if Discovery's channels were pulled.

It said: "We will spend every penny that we were going to pay to Discovery on more and better content that our customers value."

The 12 channels that had been under threat were:

Discovery Channel
TLC
Eurosport 1
Eurosport 2
Animal Planet
Investigation Discovery
DMAX
Discovery Turbo
Discovery Shed
Discovery Science
Discovery History
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