Re: Coming Soon to Virgin TV (2011) Vol. III.
 

I sent a email to Neil Berkett's office and here is their reply.



I'm sorry that you feel underwhelmed with our channel offering. We really welcome customer feedback and I will pass your suggestions on to our TV team.



I hope to assure you that we are continually in talks with a wide range of content providers and are constantly looking at new and innovative ways to bring even more content to all of our TV customers, whether this is through linear channels or through our extensive on demand service. Don't forget Sky Anytime is coming to our on demand service very soon.




We recently launched the Virgin Media TV Guide app created exclusively for our TiVo customers and with regards to Red Button services these are most definitely in the pipeline. I'm sure you're aware TiVo is a much more advanced service , so we're working closely with our partners to deliver a premium Red Button service that will deliver a fantastic experience for our TiVo customers to enjoy. We've launched a number of apps specifically created for TiVo including, Harry Potter content, Photo Sharing and we've a really exciting line-up of apps all coming soon.



As you may know, we have a very active community forum where we encourage discussion of any issues customers might have and aim to keep an open line of communication for all updates and changes. We also have a beta group where we trial new features, so customer feedback is absolutely something we value.



Kind regards,

Re: Coming Soon to Virgin TV (2011) Vol. III.
 

[QUOTE=jtaylor06;35282388]Depends on the customer's choice.
Sky can be better on the linear front, but Virgin certainly has an advantage with content delivery since they can host a on demand service without the download/buffer bit that Sky Anytime+ has.

An advantage with content delivery unless of course VM don't actually have the content you are wanting.

VM give the usual 'constantly negotiating with channel providers' response, except when it comes to the one channel the majority of people actually want - Sky Atlantic.

Also, in reply to another post, we can't all just go to Sky if we're not happy - those in rented property may not be allowed a Sky dish from their landlords and are left with VM as it's better than nothing.

Re: Coming Soon to Virgin TV (2011) Vol. III.
 

The problem is though that if Virgin did get Sky Atlantic (which I'm sure it will at some point), that there would be another channel that users on this forum would then describe as "the one channel the majority of people actually want". It doesn't matter what they carry, some people just alway want more. And I'm just getting fed up with the comparison to Sky's tV offering. Sky's tv offering is completely irrelevant to the discussion, as this discussion is about Virgin's tv offering.

Re: Coming Soon to Virgin TV (2011) Vol. III.
 

Re: Coming Soon to Virgin TV (2011) Vol. III.
 

PBS to launch UK Channel on Virgin Media?

http://mediadecoder.blogs.nytimes.co...id=autohttp://

Re: Coming Soon to Virgin TV (2011) Vol. III.
 

Already announced a few pages back

Re: Coming Soon to Virgin TV (2011) Vol. III.
 

Sorry I was offline yesterday - things busy in real life.

Re: Coming Soon to Virgin TV (2011) Vol. III.
 

I am not 30 until Saturday.

Re: Coming Soon to Virgin TV (2011) Vol. III.
 

%Media Boy, you share the same birthday as me :p:

Re: Coming Soon to Virgin TV (2011) Vol. III.
 

Premier Sports on Virgin Media update.

winkle has told me that both Premier Sports & Virgin Media will make a joint statement in ''the coming days'' and the Premier workers was only given an information update on Monday.

---------- Post added at 15:29 ---------- Previous post was at 15:13 ----------

Maybe Virgin as signed an new deal with UKTV as part of selling their 50% of UKTV.

Yesterday and Eden +1 hours channels may relaunch on Virgin Media as part of this deal.

Re: Coming Soon to Virgin TV (2011) Vol. III.
 

i hope vm, get it

Re: Coming Soon to Virgin TV (2011) Vol. III.
 

New info on Sky Sports RB.

Letters being sent out by Virgin about Sky Sports Red Button. The letter says ''football first'' will be available on Virgin Media from this season.

http://forums.digitalspy.co.uk/showt...9#post51805419

Re: Coming Soon to Virgin TV (2011) Vol. III.
 

great news hope be to record match choice too :):):):)

Re: Coming Soon to Virgin TV (2011) Vol. III.
 

Well I do hope this is true.:D

Re: Coming Soon to Virgin TV (2011) Vol. III.
 

Doubt it. If they just put up channels instead of whatever method they use, this could have been working (for any box) for months. Sky wouldn't allow though I imagine.

Re: Coming Soon to Virgin TV (2011) Vol. III.
 

Great news about time.

Re: Coming Soon to Virgin TV (2011) Vol. III.
 

I think the recording feature will stay exclusive to Sky customers, but I hope not.

Re: Coming Soon to Virgin TV (2011) Vol. III.
 

well not long now to find out 10 days to go

Re: Coming Soon to Virgin TV (2011) Vol. III.
 

Here's something I found interesting. 2 days ago when someone posted here that Premier Sports may be joining Virgin soon I checked the Premier Sports website and it appeared to be under construction. Their website showed they have the rights to the upcoming rugby matches between Scotland Vs. Ireland, England Vs. Wales and other fixtures. Their website also showed they've snapped up the rights to show the Republic of Ireland's remaining Euro 2012 qualifiers plus plenty other qualifying fixtures from across Europe. Since then their website has returned to normal, with no sign of these sports being mentioned anywhere.

I wonder if Premier Sports is going to launch on Virgin and confirm various new content deals for rugby and football in an attempt to attract new customers?

Did anyone else visit their site during the "construction period"? I was trying to see if Virgin was mentioned on the site but I couldn't see them anywhere.

Just been trawling through the Premier Sports Facebook page. It seems the rumour is an announcement about Premier Sports launching on Virgin will be made on the 05th August 2011 with the channel launching on the 10th, just in time for the first live Blue Square Premiership game of the season. SKY customers are livid at the suggestion this might arrive on the XL package. We will just have to wait and see.

Re: Coming Soon to Virgin TV (2011) Vol. III.
 

Oh how I would love that to be true. (Being on XL)

Re: Coming Soon to Virgin TV (2011) Vol. III.
 

I only know that both Premier Sports & Virgin Media will make a joint statement in ''the coming days''.

If I get any more news before Friday I will post it here...

Re: Coming Soon to Virgin TV (2011) Vol. III.
 

The problem with Premier Sports being added to XL is it dwindles the 24.50 XL money even further which seems a bit unfair to none sports fans , considering ESPN is already included.

Re: Coming Soon to Virgin TV (2011) Vol. III.
 

Not really. A Virgin employee confirmed here last year that the deal for ESPN costs Virgin no more than 20p per XL customer per month. If Premier Sports does arrive as part of the XL package, Virgin will undoubtedly be paying them roughly the same as ESPN. 20p from my £24.50 subscription each month for a premium channel is fantastic value for money, in fact that's less than 1% of my monthly subscription charge for the XL package.

Now non sports fans on XL package may complain however general entertainment channels such as SKY Arts 1 & 2 HD have been added to the XL package in recent months, and dwindles the £24.50 XL money too, however not too many people complained when they were added. Sure SKY Arts 1 & 2 HD are not classed as premium channels however I'm sure Virgin will be paying a fair carriage price to SKY.

In reality any new channels or content added to the XL package dwindles the £24.50 XL charge. I'd much rather see Virgin invest the money in new channels to strengthen their packages than adding nothing at all, which has been the case more often than not in the last 6 months... if you excuse the arrival of SKY Arts HD.

XL customers who are not sports fans can look forward to SKY Anytime being added to their package in the coming months. This too dwindles the XL £24.50 charge however based on your reckoning is unfair on anyone on the XL package who doesn't like SKY programming. Also please note there are more entertainment channels, music channels, lifestyle channels, kids channels and factual channels included in the XL package than sports channels. If anything Virgin SHOULD be trying to launch more Sports and news channels as part of the XL package.

Re: Coming Soon to Virgin TV (2011) Vol. III.
 

We'll have to agree to disagree on that Chad , I'm sure the majority on here would much sooner see other content arriving before this , but I agree it's new content if it happens and to me that's a big IF.

Re: Coming Soon to Virgin TV (2011) Vol. III.
 

I'd love to see Premier Sports on XL, I'd take this over Sky Atlantic every time!

Re: Coming Soon to Virgin TV (2011) Vol. III.
 

That's cool Muppetman, we can't agree on everything:)

I personally can't see Premier Sports being added to XL, but if it is then I'm well happy. I've been unhappy over the past 12 months that I didn't have the option to subscribe to the channel, and as a result I've missed plenty of live boxing that I wanted to see. Even if Premier Sports launches as a subscription only channel, I'll still be chuffed.

Also for the record, I'm so excited about SKY Anytime coming soon. I hope that movies are made available through the service.

Re: Coming Soon to Virgin TV (2011) Vol. III.
 

Yeah fair point even if it was by subscription at least those who wanted access could subscribe and watch it.

Re: Coming Soon to Virgin TV (2011) Vol. III.
 

It's very unlikely that ESPN cost 20p per XL subscriber more like £2.50.

Re: Coming Soon to Virgin TV (2011) Vol. III.
 

I'm sure it would be more than 20p otherwise even if every VM customer was on XL (which obviously they're not) they would only get £740,000 a month from Virgin.

Compare that to Sky customers with Sky Sports having to pay £9 means they would get the same from 83,000 Sky customers as they would from Virgin Media entirely (if every single VM customer had XL).

But hey, I'm not complaining, its great to be saving that much per month.

Re: Coming Soon to Virgin TV (2011) Vol. III.
 

as would I.

Re: Coming Soon to Virgin TV (2011) Vol. III.
 

Just to clarify my original post, it was SKY subscribers who already pay the £7.99 per month for Premier Sports who are upset at the prospect of XL Virgin customers potentially getting it added to their pack for free. I didn't mean every single SKY customer is upset.

You're lucky the sports you want to watch are covered by SKY Sports and ESPN. Fans of the Blue Square Premiership, NASCAR and to a certain extend boxing are likely to subscribe to Premier Sports to watch the sport they love.

What I don't understand is why a SKY subscriber who has no interest in Premier Sports wastes their time posting so passionately on a forum that should mean nothing to them? Are you just a SKY employee having a laugh? Are you just a troll who I'm feeding with this post? Gobble it down troll, try not to choke:p:

Can someone PM me and tell me how to block future posts from this user? I have no desire to read anymore of this pro SKY propaganda when visiting the Coming Soon to Virgin TV thread. First person to help me will receive some reputation as a reward.

EDIT: I've worked out how to block posts from my pal myself.

Re: Coming Soon to Virgin TV (2011) Vol. III.
 

Ah just seen your edit as I worked out how to do it.
If anyone else wants to know though, go on to a user profile, select the User Lists drop down, then add to ignore list.

Re: Coming Soon to Virgin TV (2011) Vol. III.
 

Thanks anyway. It's working a treat. I should have done this sooner. I tend to feed the trolls around here but not any longer.

I wonder if I'm on any one's ignore list?

Anyway back on topic.

Does anyone know if the SKY Anytime VOD will also be accessible online via Virgin Media Player?

Re: Coming Soon to Virgin TV (2011) Vol. III.
 

Just had a cheeky Google to find out, but have came across nothing other than the fact that the content is on demand via the STB itself.

Personally, I doubt that it will probably arrive on Player, but I could be wrong?

Re: Coming Soon to Virgin TV (2011) Vol. III.
 

Gutted if it's not. The press release from the 04th June 2010 stated:

"Virgin Media will also have access to red button interactive sports coverage and the opportunity to deliver selected standard definition programming over the internet."

I assumed the programming over the internet would be on demand content. Not for the first time I may have assumed wrongly!

Re: Coming Soon to Virgin TV (2011) Vol. III.
 

Sky Anytime+ http://community.virginmedia.com/t5/...t/true#U623779

Re: Coming Soon to Virgin TV (2011) Vol. III.
 

Thanks for the link. Plenty of good info. Also plenty of our site members seem to post there too.

Re: Coming Soon to Virgin TV (2011) Vol. III.
 

just had a look at the premier sports website, the sport on there is awful, south american football, crappy american sports and some boxing of fighters no-one wants to see.

Give me ITV2-4HD instead of this crappy channel VM :)

Re: Coming Soon to Virgin TV (2011) Vol. III.
 

Well everybody is entitled to their own opinion but l would like this channel on my package.

Re: Coming Soon to Virgin TV (2011) Vol. III.
 

At least its new content and not utter tripe or shows from the 80's still in SD.

Re: Coming Soon to Virgin TV (2011) Vol. III.
 

Exactly.

Re: Coming Soon to Virgin TV (2011) Vol. III.
 

Any new content would be welcomed by me.:D

Re: Coming Soon to Virgin TV (2011) Vol. III.
 

Discovery Channel 3D launches on Virgin Media on Saturday.

Virgin Media will launch Discovery Channel 3D on Saturday via Virgin on Demand.

http://shop.virginmedia.com/digital-...-tv/3d-tv.html

Re: Coming Soon to Virgin TV (2011) Vol. III.
 

Blue Sq Football, European Football and Boxing has more appeal to me than the ability to watch the likes of the awful Kerry Katona and Katie Price in HD!
Much admit I'd like ITV4 HD purely for the Sport.

Re: Coming Soon to Virgin TV (2011) Vol. III.
 

l agree.

Re: Coming Soon to Virgin TV (2011) Vol. III.
 

Same there's alot of sport i watch on ITV4, Football, Darts (once a year), BTCC and then any other one off sports they show, so ITV4HD would be a welcomed addition to me.

Re: Coming Soon to Virgin TV (2011) Vol. III.
 

this there any new channels comeing too virgin soon your in the pip line for this year ?

Re: Coming Soon to Virgin TV (2011) Vol. III.
 

Premier Sports is rumoured to be set to launch on Wednesday (August 10th).

Re: Coming Soon to Virgin TV (2011) Vol. III.
 

Who by ? Only place I've read it is on Facebook by an individual , hardly concrete.

Re: Coming Soon to Virgin TV (2011) Vol. III.
 

Lets see MB as we will see with the red button as well and the proof is in the pudding when it happens and not before.

Re: Coming Soon to Virgin TV (2011) Vol. III.
 

Spot on there Den, we have had to many false dawns to be taken in again.

Re: Coming Soon to Virgin TV (2011) Vol. III.
 

winkle posted some info on Monday on Cable Forum.

http://www.cableforum.co.uk/board/35281717-post813.html

---------- Post added at 18:05 ---------- Previous post was at 18:04 ----------

That why I also says ''Rumoured'' when I was posting.

Re: Coming Soon to Virgin TV (2011) Vol. III.
 

And long may we see your postings as they are very helpful.

Re: Coming Soon to Virgin TV (2011) Vol. III.
 

Talking of Sport, looks like ESPN is bigging it up with a new ad campaign.
http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/broadcas...-campaign.html

Re: Coming Soon to Virgin TV (2011) Vol. III.
 

All very well but its about time ESPN showed their real colours and took on Sky.

Re: Coming Soon to Virgin TV (2011) Vol. III.
 

Can't see it



The campaign is running on all Sky Sports channels and ESPN-owned media, as well as on selected radio stations, digital media and print publications across the UK.

Re: Coming Soon to Virgin TV (2011) Vol. III.
 

ESPN (UK) and Sky Sports will work together for years, they won't challenge them for games.

Re: Coming Soon to Virgin TV (2011) Vol. III.
 

Its seem Goliath does not want to take on another Goliath.

Re: Coming Soon to Virgin TV (2011) Vol. III.
 

ESPN is a US goliath, its Setanta with Ray Stubbs over here.

Re: Coming Soon to Virgin TV (2011) Vol. III.
 

It has become pretty clear that Sky and ESPN are bed fellows unfortunately.
So the status quo will be maintained with ESPN possibly getting back the third package that Setanta lost to Sky.

Re: Coming Soon to Virgin TV (2011) Vol. III.
 

will it be free 4 people on xl pack

Re: Coming Soon to Virgin TV (2011) Vol. III.
 

Nothing has been confirmed by VM or Premier Sports its a wait and see situation.

Re: Coming Soon to Virgin TV (2011) Vol. III.
 

If it is confirmed one would hope it would be on the XL pack.

Re: Coming Soon to Virgin TV (2011) Vol. III.
 

You mean 2nd :D Each pack consists of 23 games ESPN currently only have 23 , Setanta had 46 at first.

Re: Coming Soon to Virgin TV (2011) Vol. III.
 

OOps your right my mistake:o:

Re: Coming Soon to Virgin TV (2011) Vol. III.
 

I agree imagine if these two goliaths took each other on we would end up paying £50.00 a month for a sports sub :D and ESPN in XL would be a thing of the past.

Re: Coming Soon to Virgin TV (2011) Vol. III.
 

Come on MM as l think market forces would keep subs to a reasonable price for us customers.

Re: Coming Soon to Virgin TV (2011) Vol. III.
 

Are you sure that you do not mean a Goliath (SKY) and a Behemoth (ESPN):erm::D:D:D

Re: Coming Soon to Virgin TV (2011) Vol. III.
 

What muppetman was saying is.............

If ESPN and SKY went into a bidding war for the premiership football tv packs then the cost would soar for ESPN and Sky. They would then have too increase the cost of the Subs.

But ESPN and Sky are bed friends when its comes to premierleague rights. It suits them both not to get into a crazy bidding war.

Re: Coming Soon to Virgin TV (2011) Vol. III.
 

Yes as SKY would lose if that happened:erm:

Re: Coming Soon to Virgin TV (2011) Vol. III.
 

And l think most people would be happy with that outcome as Sky generally like bullying the opposition but does not like being bullied themselves.

Re: Coming Soon to Virgin TV (2011) Vol. III.
 

I wish, then I could cancel Skyports and Just pay for ESPN:).

Re: Coming Soon to Virgin TV (2011) Vol. III.
 

That may well prove to be right, but there is no evidence of this yet, as the ESPN rights were inherited, and ESPN have yet to bid for rights. Anything else is merely speculation.

Re: Coming Soon to Virgin TV (2011) Vol. III.
 

Very true. When are the Premiership rights next available? Doesn't ESPN's current deal for 23 games only last until the end of this season? I honestly don't know so any info would be great.

Re: Coming Soon to Virgin TV (2011) Vol. III.
 

2 more seasons, they have them up until 2013

Re: Coming Soon to Virgin TV (2011) Vol. III.
 

Well they haven't bid for any other rights that Sky have and I'm sure at least one sports rights (that is shown on Sky) has came up for renewal since 2009.

Re: Coming Soon to Virgin TV (2011) Vol. III.
 

Thanks for the info.

---------- Post added at 23:34 ---------- Previous post was at 23:32 ----------

Mmmmm......

So what exactly is the point of ESPN then? Surely they can't be turning a big profit here in the UK? Hopefully they are just bedding themselves in at the moment, getting their name familiar amongst UK TV customers, waiting for their moment to pounce. If this isn't their strategy, surely they're just waisting their own time and money broadcasting in the UK.

Re: Coming Soon to Virgin TV (2011) Vol. III.
 

You do know ESPN is owned by Disney? They don't have a blank cheque but I imagine aslong as they don't lose massive amounts then Disney will fund
a certain level of loss in the UK. Just like Sky do with SkyNews.

Disney want ESPN to be the biggest sports network in the world.

Re: Coming Soon to Virgin TV (2011) Vol. III.
 

They didn't get any of the new Football League contract - and the BBC also lost their rights so it went exclusively to Sky.

Re: Coming Soon to Virgin TV (2011) Vol. III.
 

Re: Coming Soon to Virgin TV (2011) Vol. III.
 

I'm beginning to think that Premier Sports is going to replace ESPN on VM's XL package and we will have to pay extra for ESPN like Sky customers.. or not?

Re: Coming Soon to Virgin TV (2011) Vol. III.
 

Whoops soory missed MB's post?

Re: Coming Soon to Virgin TV (2011) Vol. III.
 

l hope not as if that happened many more customers could possibly leave.

Re: Coming Soon to Virgin TV (2011) Vol. III.
 

Rather than spending money on 3D content, I would prefer VM to give us some more HD content first.
I know there are a few people who have 3D TV's but they are very few are far between if the official figures on sales of 3D TV's are to be believed.

Re: Coming Soon to Virgin TV (2011) Vol. III.
 

Yes very true as I do not have a 3d TV as well. But it was coming soon :erm:

Re: Coming Soon to Virgin TV (2011) Vol. III.
 

They can go shove ESPN where the sun don't shine if they do.

Re: Coming Soon to Virgin TV (2011) Vol. III.
 

Is that a black hole where the light can not escape:erm: (in space)

Re: Coming Soon to Virgin TV (2011) Vol. III.
 

For me ESPN, ESPN classic and ESPN America on XL package is probably the only thing keeping me with VM for TV.

Re: Coming Soon to Virgin TV (2011) Vol. III.
 

Yeah, the £9 saving vs. Sky makes a big difference. Take it away and I'm one step nearer to a UFO attached to the side of my house.

Re: Coming Soon to Virgin TV (2011) Vol. III.
 

Well lets see what next week brings.:rolleyes:

Re: Coming Soon to Virgin TV (2011) Vol. III.
 

Likewise :D

Re: Coming Soon to Virgin TV (2011) Vol. III.
 

Yes me going away for a week so it will be quiet for you lot:erm: Maybe

Re: Coming Soon to Virgin TV (2011) Vol. III.
 

Remember the analogue ones :D now they were hideous :D

Re: Coming Soon to Virgin TV (2011) Vol. III.
 

Well Devil make 3 wishes and they might come true while you are alway and l hope you enjoy your week away.:D

Re: Coming Soon to Virgin TV (2011) Vol. III.
 

Not going till next Saturday so you have one more week of me. But it got you wishing:D:D:D:D

Re: Coming Soon to Virgin TV (2011) Vol. III.
 

if we get Premier Sports on the 10th will have too pay for is channel if your on the xl pack your will it be free ?

Re: Coming Soon to Virgin TV (2011) Vol. III.
 

Any insiders got any info on if Premier Sports is set to launch on Virgin.

Can you PM me if you have any info.

Re: Coming Soon to Virgin TV (2011) Vol. III.
 

No-one knows anything at the moment.

Re: Coming Soon to Virgin TV (2011) Vol. III.
 

Absolutely nothing but who knows next week might bring some cheer we hope.

Re: Coming Soon to Virgin TV (2011) Vol. III.
 

Has any one contacted the CEO about it. I have e mailed him about Sky Sports Red Button?