04 Jun 10

BSkyB to buy VMTV for £160m

The much-anticipated sale of the Virgin Media Television portfolio of channels to BSkyB has finally been confirmed.

The £160m deal will create a multi-channel powerhouse that combines the likes of Living and Bravo with Sky 1. The VMTV channels, formerly known as Flextech, comprise Living and sister channel LivingIt, Challenge and Challenge Jackpot, plus Bravo and Bravo 2 and Freeview channel Virgin 1.

Sky will pay £160m in cash for the business, with £105 million paid on completion and the remainder paid following the regulatory process. The scale of the deal means it will inevitably attract the scrutiny of the competition authorities, with so many channels changing hands. Striking the deal has been a drawn out process, not least because of a raft of other agreements that have been struck between the UK’s two biggest pay TV rivals.