Feeling hungry? BSkyB certainly seems to be ravenous with its plans to take on Setanta, Freeview, BT Vision and Top Up TV with its digital terrestrial pay-TV proposal which has now been branded Picnic. Presumably the name suggests a light lunch that can be eaten anywhere, although it could also be a private joke at the expense of the competition.
This piecemeal offering seems to be modelled on very much like what Top Up TV initially offered before Channel Five wanted its ball back in order to launch additional channels. If Picnic does get the go-ahead this may also retrospectively raise the issue of why BSkyB refused to let Top Up TV have access to Sky One for its original service.
When viewed in isolation, Sky's Picnic seems to bring more to the table albeit at the cost of some sacrifices being made to the Freeview budget menu, but Picnic really needs to be viewed in the broader context of Sky's dominance of pay-TV along with its spat with Virgin Media keeping Sky One, etc., off the Virgin cable TV platform.
Ofcom cannot really refuse the Picnic proposal on technical grounds (especially as the BBC HD service has recently been approved), but there are serious questions to be answered in relation to the potential dominance of the pay-TV market that would result from the launch of Picnic.
Are politicians and regulators now brave enough to say "No" to James (and Rupert) Murdoch? Or will Sky have its cake and eat it?
