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The Ofcom Consumer Panel has stepped in two weeks after Sky One, Sky News and Sky Sports News were withdrawn from Virgin's basic subscription package after the two sides failed to renew their existing carriage deal, each accusing the other of obstructing a new deal.

The panel's 11 members are appointed by Ofcom, but it sets its own agenda.

Colette Bowe, the panel chairman, has written to Ed Richards, the chief executive of Ofcom, to express the panel's concern that more than 3m Virgin Media customers have been left without access to Sky programmes since the end of February.

Virgin Media is understood to be losing hundreds of customers as a result, with fans of 'Lost', '24' and 'Battlestar Galactica' leaving.

She asks Ofcom "to use your influence as the regulator of this market to facilitate an early resolution of this dispute in the interests of consumers".

The letter continues: "This is the latest in a series of disputes between operators in this sector. The panel is now concerned that problems for consumers are developing in this market that are not easy for consumers to resolve themselves directly -- and which are therefore generating serious consumer detriment."

On March 2, it emerged that another consumer body, the National Consumer Council, is considering making an official complaint about the situation either to the Office of Fair Trading or Ofcom.

The NCC is largely funded by the Department for Trade & Industry and was set up in 1975 to represent the interests of consumers to decision makers.