Last week, UK cable companies, led by International CableTel and Videotron, said they had lodged formal complaints with the OFT and competition authorities in Brussels, claiming the long-term agreements, which include non-competition clauses enjoining Nynex and Telewest from broadcasting sports and movie services that compete with BSkyB, constitute a restraint of trade.According to industry sources, cable executives are now in talks with independent production companies, as well as cable TV channels, to secure a new range of film and sports programming that would be broadcast only on cable.Cable companies without fixed agreements have six weeks to decide whether to sign. “Why should we let Mr Murdoch have it? This is our birthright.”The ITV/Channel Four letter is the latest salvo in what has become a calculated campaign to increase pressure on the OFT to review the cable contracts. “Clearly, Channel Four is discriminating against us,” Mr Elstein said.Mr Grade responded angrily to the accusation.”Film on Four is our brand,” he said. “We were only doing what the OFT said we should do,” he said, referring to informal undertakings reached between the Office of Fair Trading and BSkyB earlier this year regarding long-term programme supply arrangements for pay television.”This is a campaign driven by fears that we will soon launch a digital television system,” he said, adding that “we are happy to work with any terrestrial broadcaster.”Mr Elstein said that, by contrast, Mr Grade had been unwilling to allow theatrical films in which Channel Four invested to be shown on pay-TV despite several requests from BSkyB.

Michael Grade, chief executive of Channel Four Television, and Leslie Hill, chairman of ITV Association, said in a letter to Michael Heseltine that BSkyB “had built a new monopoly position in the UK pay television market” and that the lack of alternative sources of pay-TV programming was against the public interest.
They specifically criticised fixed-term agreements between BSkyB and the two largest cable companies – Nynex CableComms and Telewest – and called on Mr Heseltine, the President of the Board of Trade, to refer the contracts to the Mergers and Monopolies Commission.David Elstein, head of programming at BSkyB, defended the agreements. ITV and Channel Four joined UK cable companies yesterday in a campaign against BSkyB, the cable and satellite broadcaster 40 per cent owned by Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation, prompting a fresh row in the fractious UK media market. The technology being used in the Venom has the highest UK content, and the helicopter is arguably the most British of the three.. Rolls-Royce has a 20 per cent stake in the engine being fitted to the Tiger.The Cobra Venom would be shipped to the UK in parts and assembled by GEC-Marconi, which is building the cockpit. Therefore, Bell sources claim, the link with the US Marine Corps could be more appropriate to new and different kinds of warfare.The Apache AH-64 is a formidable if complex helicopter, but relatively expensive. Whichever helicopter wins the competition will have to carry the Starstreak missile system, built by Shorts of Belfast.

McDonnell Douglas and Bell have both been in discussion with Shorts, and the Starstreak could be fitted to operations which involve small numbers of helicopters working in less flat terrain and possibly needing to fly from ships.What makes the decision facing Roger Freeman, the defence procurement minister, so difficult is that none of the helicopters is of domestic origin. Choosing a model solely on military grounds is not an option because the spin-off work for the UK defence industry is particularly crucial.Westland would ship in part-built Apaches and fit them with engines and electronics. The company said the UK manufacturing content would be 40 per cent and would mean work for Shorts in Belfast, Hunting, and Racal.An order for the Tiger would supply BAe with 20 per cent of the work and would mean building an assembly at its site near Guildford It would also involve BAe supplying the Trigat missile. The logistic back-up for Army helicopters is optimised for fighting in large formations, not for small groups with limited local resources. The British Army view was conditioned, not unreasonably, by the thought that whatever the US Army had must be the best.But the British Army now recognises that the most likely type of operation will involve small numbers of helicopters operating in less flat terrain and possibly needing to operate from ships. The Apache faced severe problems in the Gulf War, and Bell claims that the Cobras flew twice as many sorties as the Apache with one third the number of aircraft.When the British Army’s requirement for an attack helicopter was drawn up, it was still based on the need to halt a massive Russian-style tank attack on the plains of Europe – a battle not dissimilar to that which was actually played out in the Iraqi desert.

BAe’s role in the Tiger, for example, would be to build the tail of the aircraft.A crucial advantage is that the new Cobra is marinised – made resistant to saltwater spray to allow operation from ships. Bell also claims the new high-technology cockpit represents the largest and most significant British industrial component of any of the contenders. The British firm GEC would develop the cockpit.The result, Bell claims, would be as formidable as Apache but cheaper, more rugged and more reliable. The Cobra is therefore likely to be the Apache’s main competition.US/UK co-operation on the Cobra Venom would involve the US developing a four-bladed rotor for the Cobra, which currently has two, to enable it to carry more ordnance. This follows news of proposals by the US Navy for US/ UK co-operation which would enable the Cobra Venom to carry the same weapon load as the Apache, including 16 anti-tank missiles, as against the Tiger’s eight. The Tiger is not highly regarded, mainly because it is a relatively small helicopter and although it meets the MoD’s stated requirement, the same helicopter cannot carry all the weapons systems likely to be needed.The Cobra Venom, a new version of the highly successful Bell Cobra for which GEC would build the most advanced and “user-friendly” cockpit, has emerged as the dark horse in the race. The MoD’s technical team has been evaluating the bids and the department is due to make its recommendation to the Cabinet later this month.Until recently, the lead contenders were seen to be the AH-64 Apache, to be built by McDonnell Douglas and Westland, and the Eurotiger, to be built by the Franco-German Eurocopter consortium and BAe.The Netherlands recently confirmed an order for the Apache, which is also believed to be the British Army’s favourite.