[nichomach]

It's a tricky line to walk; on the one hand I want to see some stuff which is Sky exclusive currently on VM, so I lean toward the idea that channels should be available on any carrier for a reasonable cost, but on the other I can see that a carrier would wish to differentiate their service on a qualitative basis - essentially, "Go with us, because we make/buy the programs you like/carry our programming in a format you want" (in the latter case I'm thinking of things like Sky 1HD, for example). In general, most other parts of the economy allow differentiation of product by features and/or quality; you can have a Hyundai Sonata or a Jaguar XF - the latter will cost you more, but has more/better features and/or higher quality. With broadcasting, the product is delivered to its destination in a strictly limited and defined series of formats, so there isn't much wiggle room as far as quality goes. Eliminating the ability to compete through offering different features (say, exclusive channels) leaves price as the sole basis of competition, encouraging a "race to the bottom" with companies perhaps left with little incentive to invest in better infrastructure or more inventive programming.