BJ: There is a lot of confusion about all of this and rightly so, you've got to be a bit of a bush layyer to work it all out.

But just to set the records straight I will try and explain why the current unsatisfactory situation has arisen.

When the federal government gave permission for Foxtel to roll out digital tv, the ACCC placed a restriction on them, which was that Foxtel had to make available their digital infrastructure to any third party providers. TVN are a third party provider so that neither Foxtel or Sky could stop TVN using the Foxtel network.

However, both Optus and Austar had previously signed long-term exclusive agreements with Sky that didn't allow a third party provider such as TVN to be use the Optus or Austar networks.

This current situation can be resolved by either of two things occuring:

a) Sky agreeing to allow TVN to use the Optus and Austrar networks, or
b) the ACCC stepping in and making Sky allow TVN to use the Optus and Austar networks.

I suspect that the latter is the more likely as I know for a fact that the ACCC are monitoring the situation and that they have a some of their staff working on resolving this issue.

Hopefully any resolution will be sooner rather than later.