Devilfish
13th February, 2008, 03:56 PM
Arsenal TV has publicly called on fans to e-mail Virgin Media asking for it to be broadcast.
The channel's statement, issued more than two weeks since it launched, comes as Virgin said blaming capacity for Arsenal TV's absence was "simplistic and erroneous".
Arsenal TV was launched by the club and Setanta Sports on January 14 with fans previously being told it would be available to Setanta subscribers on Virgin.
On launch the channel said it was not on the cable provider due to "issues with Virgin Media's channel capacity", though negotiations were ongoing.
This week Arsenal TV published another statement saying: "The Arsenal TV channel is now into its fourth week of broadcasting and the feedback so far from fans has been good. The exception is from supporters who have Virgin Media as their provider...
"To help us, we suggest that all fans that can receive the Setanta Sports pack on Virgin, or intend to subscribe to the Virgin XL pack, call the Virgin customer service centre and register an interest in receiving the Arsenal TV channel.
"We want Virgin to know that there are lots of customers or potential customers that care about Arsenal and the best way for that to happen is for you to tell them."
Today Virgin Media said discussions were ongoing but denied the problem was capacity.
"We are currently in discussion with Arsenal Football Club and Setanta Sports, the distributor of Arsenal TV, about launching this channel on our platform," said a spokesman. "We hope to launch Arsenal TV soon and will make an announcement in due course.
"As we deliver services over cable we can technically carry many more channels than we do now, but there are many issues that can affect a channel launch, including contract negotiations, terms and conditions and licensing; therefore the assumption that there are capacity issues is a simplistic (and erroneous) conclusion."
The channel's statement, issued more than two weeks since it launched, comes as Virgin said blaming capacity for Arsenal TV's absence was "simplistic and erroneous".
Arsenal TV was launched by the club and Setanta Sports on January 14 with fans previously being told it would be available to Setanta subscribers on Virgin.
On launch the channel said it was not on the cable provider due to "issues with Virgin Media's channel capacity", though negotiations were ongoing.
This week Arsenal TV published another statement saying: "The Arsenal TV channel is now into its fourth week of broadcasting and the feedback so far from fans has been good. The exception is from supporters who have Virgin Media as their provider...
"To help us, we suggest that all fans that can receive the Setanta Sports pack on Virgin, or intend to subscribe to the Virgin XL pack, call the Virgin customer service centre and register an interest in receiving the Arsenal TV channel.
"We want Virgin to know that there are lots of customers or potential customers that care about Arsenal and the best way for that to happen is for you to tell them."
Today Virgin Media said discussions were ongoing but denied the problem was capacity.
"We are currently in discussion with Arsenal Football Club and Setanta Sports, the distributor of Arsenal TV, about launching this channel on our platform," said a spokesman. "We hope to launch Arsenal TV soon and will make an announcement in due course.
"As we deliver services over cable we can technically carry many more channels than we do now, but there are many issues that can affect a channel launch, including contract negotiations, terms and conditions and licensing; therefore the assumption that there are capacity issues is a simplistic (and erroneous) conclusion."