Virgin Media to up prices for customers with Sky Sports or Movies

The move will see Sky Sports go up by £2/month to £29.25/month, while Sky Movies will increase by 50p/month to £15/month.

Virgin Media says the price rise is a result of an increase in charges it has to pay Sky to supply these channels. The telecoms giant adds that it's not increasing other prices off the back of this. See MoneySavingExpert.com's Digital TV Deals guide for the best offers.

Only last month Sky announced it was upping certain TV package prices by up to £54/year from June. It's decision will see Sky Sports prices go up £1/month to £25/month, while Sky Movies will increase by 50p/month to £17/month. See the Sky TV customers to be hit with price hikes MSE News story for more.

You can cancel penalty free

However Virgin Media customers hit by the price hikes can leave their contract penalty free.

Where you have Sky Sports or Sky Movies as an add-on, you can cancel that add-on part of your contract penalty free, where you've got a bundle with Sky Sports or Sky Movies in it, for example the Big Daddy package, you can cancel the entire bundle contract.

Virgin Media says customers who get a letter detailing the changes dated as being sent in April have until 30 May to cancel penalty free, while customers who get a letter about the move dated May will have until 30 June to cancel without paying an early termination charge.

To cancel, just call Virgin Media's customer services team.

Brigitte Trafford, chief corporate affairs officer says: "This price rise is entirely due to the increase in charges we have to pay Sky to offer Sky Sports and Sky Movies to our customers.

"As we have made clear to Ofcom any increase in the value of the Premier League's live TV rights eventually ends up hitting the pockets of fans. This is why we are arguing so strongly for a change in the way those rights are sold."