Earlier this month, Virgin Media subscribers, like myself, stopped getting Sky News and Sky One.

I don’t know what is worse, being deprived of Eamonn Holmes in the morning or Homer Simpson at night. My television viewing life is shattered.

Worse still I don’t know who is to blame. Is it Murdoch’s fault for asking Virgin Media for more money for Sky’s so-called free-to-air channels, or Branson’s fault for not paying up?

All I know is my two favourite channels are gone and I’m paying the same as before!

Come to think of it, no one asked me if I wanted to be Virgin Media subscriber anyway. I had Birmingham Cable installed seven years ago, who then got bought by TeleWest, who got bought by NTL, who got bought by Virgin Media and I’ve ended up with Richard Branson in charge of my television!

Now I’ve got a test card message telling me how Virgin is standing up for consumers where my favourite channels used to be.

The trouble started last year, when BSkyB thwarted Virgin’s attempt to buy ITV by taking a 17.9 per cent stake in the PLC, after Virgin had begun merger talks.

The rapid growth of the competing cable companies didn’t use to worry BSkyB.

Sky are, after all, in the content business and the more viewers their channels get, even through competitors’ networks, the more revenue they get.

For instance, #30 of my hard-earned money ends up in Murdoch’s pocket each month for Sky Sports, even though I am not a Sky customer (I notice BSkyB haven’t withdrawn such lucrative channels from Virgin).

But Virgin Media’s ambition to produce its own content, by buying ITV, would have been a serious threat to BSkyB.

Denying Virgin Media its free-to-air channels isn’t without impact on BSyB’s own balance sheet. Cadbury and Honda want to change their advertising deals with BskyB, claiming that without Virgin Media's 3.3 million customers they will lose ten per cent of their audience.

Estimates suggest that falling out with Virgin Media could cost BSkyB #23 million in lost advertising revenue.

But what damage will it do to Virgin Media’s subscriber base? For instance, exactly how long can I wait for my next visit to Springfield? Is it just a matter of time before I switch to Sky?

Sky keep reminding me of what I’m missing, by advertising their programmes on the other commercial channels still coming through the Virgin Media service. ‘Don’t Lose Lost’, is their current ad campaign!

There is hope for Virgin though, as Ofcom have stepped in to review BSkyB’s alleged anti-competitive activity after the BBC, ITV and Channel 4 complained that BSkyB was pulling its free-to-air channels from their Freeview consortium too.

But as we all know, "content is king" and while Sky owns most of that, it will control the broadcast market.

 Chris is managing director of Internet consultancy WAA WebXpress. Previous Post articles can be found here. E-mail chris@webxpress.com.