The BBC, ITV and Channel 4 had attacked the rising carriage costs charged by BSkyB for carrying digital channels on its service and were hoping that the communications bill would address the issue.
Instead the bill has shifted the onus on to the BBC and Channel 4, saying that it is their duty to see that their channels are carried on BSkyB's Active Digital service. The bill stops the public service broadcasters, which also includes publicly funded Channel 4, from withdrawing their services.
There had been speculation that the BBC was considering pulling its BBC One and BBC Two channels from Sky over carriage costs. However, it has since denied this is the case.
In a recent statement, the BBC said: "Our contract to be on the BSkyB platform comes up for renewal next year, and all negotiations will be done in the best interests of licence-fee payers."
BSkyB charges all the terrestrial networks for access, although broadcasters do not have to pay similar charges to be carried on cable services Telewest and NTL.
The communications bill will add to the disappointment felt earlier this year, when the telecoms watchdog Oftel threw out a complaint from ITV that the £17m a year it was charged for carriage on Sky Digital is too high.
BSkyB argues that its charges are justified because it has invested £2bn in its digital network.
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