BSkyB today moved to outsmart Virgin Media with a deal to show the channels that were pulled from the cable operator’s service on its rival, Tiscali.

The satellite operator unveiled an agreement which will see popular programmes such as Lost, 24 and Prison Break made available to Tiscali’s 1.8 million subscriber base.

The full set of basic channels, including Sky One, Two, Three and Sky News, will be available to Tiscali TV customers from the summer.

The move, first revealed in The Times, is likely to further inflame the strained relationship between BSkyB, which is 39.1 per cent owned by News Corporation, parent company of The Times, and Virgin.

Sky's basic channels were removed from the cable operator’s service at the end of February after a dispute over the price that Virgin should pay. The feud has hit Virgin hard, contributing towards a customer exodus of nearly 47,000 in the last quarter.

The cable operator, which has 4.8 million residential customers, has played down the threat from smaller rivals such as Tiscali, but a tie-up between Tiscali and Sky could add to Virgin's customer losses.

It could also strengthen Sky's bargaining position with Virgin. The price-per-subscriber rate being offered by Tiscali is understood to be higher than Virgin Media's last offer to Sky.

No financial details of today’s tie-up were revealed.

Tiscali is smaller than Virgin Media with just under 1.5 million broadband customers and only tens of thousands of pay-TV customers. However, the Italian group, which last year merged with HomeChoice, the pioneering television over broadband operator, has ambitions to become a major player in the pay-TV market.

Ofcom figures last week revealed that Tiscali's number of customers with TV over broadband grew by 44 per cent or 19,000 homes to 62,000 over the three months to the end of March.

Sky Movies and Sky Sports are already available on Tiscali.

Mike Darcey, Sky’s chief operating officer, said: “We are delighted that Tiscali has chosen to invest in our suite of basic channels and use them to differentiate its expanding television service.

“This is an endorsement of our decision to increase investment in our basic channels by almost 70 per cent in the past five years.”

Mary Turner, chief executive of Tiscali UK, said: “The content that these channels bring to our platform is of the highest quality and means that Tiscali TV customers have even more viewing content to choose from.”

Tiscali's base will strengthen considerably if it acquires Pipex's 1.4 million-strong broadband customer base.

The Italian group said in May that it was in the “preliminary stages” of a potential deal to acquire Pipex’s broadband base. A deal is thought to be imminent.

Consolidation in the telecoms and media sector and the emergence into the mainstream of previously niche technologies, such as television over internet, is providing a greater variety of distribution platforms.

Virgin Media was not immediately available for comment.

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