Sky News and Sky Sports News are to Return to Virgin Media.

The two-part agreement announced by Virgin and BskyB today, will see Sky’s Basic channels - Sky1, Sky2, Sky3, Sky News, Sky Sports News, Sky Arts 1, Sky Arts 2, Sky Real Lives and Sky Real Lives 2 - return to Virgin Media’s cable TV service.

The second part of the agreement provides continued carriage of Virgin Media TV’s basic channels - Living, Living 2, Bravo, Bravo 2, Trouble, Challenge and Virgin 1 – as part of Sky’s line-up on satellite. Both deals will run concurrently until 12 June 2011.

Neil Berkett, Virgin Media’s CEO, said: “We are pleased to bring our carriage negotiations with Sky to a successful close. I believe this agreement represents a fair deal and is the right thing for our customers. We recognise the quality and popularity of Sky’s channels and look forward to welcoming them back to Virgin Media’s TV service. We are also pleased to secure Sky’s continued carriage of the VMTV channels until June 2011.”

Jeremy Darroch, Sky’s CEO added: “This is great news for Sky and Virgin Media customers alike. We want our channels to be enjoyed by as many people as possible so we’re delighted to secure their return to the Virgin Media platform.”