Virgin Media’s 4 million pay-TV customers face losing hit ITV shows including Coronation Street and Love Island as a longstanding dispute with the broadcaster comes to a head.
ITV is understood to have written to Virgin Media warning that it could remove its channels as soon as this weekend if an agreement cannot be reached.
Virgin Media and ITV have been in protracted and at times tense talks over a range of issues including the carriage of ITV, ITV2, ITV3, ITV4, video-on-demand rights and guarantees of the prominence of its programming, as cable viewers increasingly watch programmes on demand from Netflix, Amazon and broadcasters’ own streaming services.