Re: Guardian: "Sky Atlantic won't be on Virgin Media soon, says BSkyB boss"
 

Maybe it was a mistake just having shows from HBO maybe they should of had HBO shows and others.

Re: Guardian: "Sky Atlantic won't be on Virgin Media soon, says BSkyB boss"
 

Totallly agree with DF. I want Sky Atlantic, but VM shouldn't pay more than a fair price.

Sky probably though they were being really clever buying the exclusive rights to HBO content, thus blocking other providers from doing deals with HBO and leaving the only access via Sky.

Sky spent a fortune and the poor viewing figures have come back to bite them.

The question is, wheather Sky are prepared to absorb that money as it gives a "quality" aspect to their content or want to re-coop some of the money by selling access to it at a reasonabl price and so gaining more viewers and greater add revenues?

Re: Guardian: "Sky Atlantic won't be on Virgin Media soon, says BSkyB boss"
 

I think VM should only do a deal if they can get both versions of Sky Atlantic though SD and HD.

Re: Guardian: "Sky Atlantic won't be on Virgin Media soon, says BSkyB boss"
 

Well said i thought that they still did the entertainment pack, shows how much i check SKY out now:erm:

Re: Guardian: "Sky Atlantic won't be on Virgin Media soon, says BSkyB boss"
 

Maybe Sky Atlantic should show a of few Sky Movies Premier movies at the same time as them, that would up there viewing figures, draw them in and get them used to watching the channel.

Re: Guardian: "Sky Atlantic won't be on Virgin Media soon, says BSkyB boss"
 

FX and Channel 4 have True Blood tied up so Sky will not get it :D

Re: Guardian: "Sky Atlantic won't be on Virgin Media soon, says BSkyB boss"
 

What you say and the reality are completely different. Look at the viewing figures for the channel. If you extrapolate those to VM then which customers should Mr Berkett be listening to? The vast majority or the tiny minority? Because so far this channel is showing no signs of being popular even by pay tv standards.

I'm sure that Mr Berkett values every customer but I doubt he is going to harm the interests of the majority of his customers by looking to please a niche and paying over the odds only to have this money diverted away from projects/content that would be of use to the majority.

If it doesn't go into the XL pack and isn't movies or sport by Sky I doubt Mr Berkett even cares. I very much doubt he is waiting to offer Atlantic as a premium channels because firstly this would mean every few months Sky invent something new and charge XL customers more just to have it and secondly Mr Berkett would look silly trying flog a channel for money when Sky couldn't do it for free.

Re: Guardian: "Sky Atlantic won't be on Virgin Media soon, says BSkyB boss"
 

SKY should re-brand SKY Atlantic to SKY Titanic. Everything that's had it's maiden voyage on Atlantic so far has sunk quicker than a luxury liner hitting an iceberg.

Looks like SKY need the assistance of a few tugboats to get her through some choppy water, us the Virgin viewers could be the tugboats to pull them to safety. All we need to hear is a humble mayday from SKY and not a demand for a ridiculous amount of money.

Re: Guardian: "Sky Atlantic won't be on Virgin Media soon, says BSkyB boss"
 

hahahaha

https://www.cableforum.co.uk/images/...2012/07/15.gif

very good :D

Re: Guardian: "Sky Atlantic won't be on Virgin Media soon, says BSkyB boss"
 

Firstly, who knows how much Sky are charging for this channel, Secondly, we have the same situation as the basic channel problem, Sky have to make money out of everything they sell, So therefore they have to sell a channel at a reasonable price.

How much does a channel wholesale charge cost.

Re: Guardian: "Sky Atlantic won't be on Virgin Media soon, says BSkyB boss"
 

Virgin shouldn't pay stupid money , but I still believe the majority of there customer base would like to see Atlantic on the VM platform.

Re: Guardian: "Sky Atlantic won't be on Virgin Media soon, says BSkyB boss"
 

The way things are going I think we will get it sooner or later.

Re: Guardian: "Sky Atlantic won't be on Virgin Media soon, says BSkyB boss"
 

Totally agree however whilst Virgins customer base may want the channel, how many would actually watch it? If the SKY viewing figures are anything to go by it doesn't seem like it's a channel Virgin should be investing much money in getting.

If it came down to a choice between either getting the ITV HD channels or SKY Atlantic, I'd take the ITV channels.

Re: Guardian: "Sky Atlantic won't be on Virgin Media soon, says BSkyB boss"
 

I'd watch it, so that's 1.

And I'd definitely take it over HD versions of ITV 2, 3, and 4, which mainly show older shows that are SD repeated content, though there is some new HD content.

Re: Guardian: "Sky Atlantic won't be on Virgin Media soon, says BSkyB boss"
 

isn't that the same as Sky Atlantic though, repeated content with a few new programmes

Re: Guardian: "Sky Atlantic won't be on Virgin Media soon, says BSkyB boss"
 

Nope, HD has been very popular for years in the US. The majority of the content from there will be HD

Re: Guardian: "Sky Atlantic won't be on Virgin Media soon, says BSkyB boss"
 

Yeah, plus SD in America was awful compared with UK SD. It was a bigger leap for them in terms of picture quality.

Re: Guardian: "Sky Atlantic won't be on Virgin Media soon, says BSkyB boss"
 

The figures for the week between the 07th and 13th of February on Barb don't cover SKY Atlantic in glory. A weekly share of just 0.3%. Even the following channels out performed SKY Atlantic during this period:

SKY 3
SKY News
SKY Sports News
4 Music
Alibi
BBC News
CBBC
CBeebies
Challenge TV
Dave Ja Vu
E4 + 1
G.O.L.D.
ITV3
Nick Jr.

Okay so some of the above channels are on Freeview and other formats so have an advantage in terms of drawing a viewing audience. Cbeebies weekly share is 4 times more than SKY Atlantic.

Re: Guardian: "Sky Atlantic won't be on Virgin Media soon, says BSkyB boss"
 

True, but the new stuff on Atlantic is mostly critically acclaimed and we can see the ITV shoes already.

Re: Guardian: "Sky Atlantic won't be on Virgin Media soon, says BSkyB boss"
 

Wow, that list really shows how little impact all that advertising has has on viewing figures!

I've watched countless TV ads and seen several billboards promoting the new channel, I think Sky expected this to be a really big hitting channel. They must be hugely disappointed by these figures. :dozey:

Re: Guardian: "Sky Atlantic won't be on Virgin Media soon, says BSkyB boss"
 

Man I hope so!!!!

Re: Guardian: "Sky Atlantic won't be on Virgin Media soon, says BSkyB boss"
 

Wow, it must have been bad if people preferred CBeebies!

Re: Guardian: "Sky Atlantic won't be on Virgin Media soon, says BSkyB boss"
 

hey hey easy tiger, can't beat a good episode of rastamouse to unwind after work followed by gigglebiz and topped of with a bit of chuggington.


.................bet sky look at that and think if only we had that calibre of quality programming :D

Re: Guardian: "Sky Atlantic won't be on Virgin Media soon, says BSkyB boss"
 

Do not worry as i will be able to add to that viewing figures next year as my partner is due to give birth in May ( so if they are getting the shares on the viewing figures it shows what people were doing over a year ago ):erm:

Re: Guardian: "Sky Atlantic won't be on Virgin Media soon, says BSkyB boss"
 

I think part of Sky Atlantics problem are the slots for shows are already filled for most viewers.

EG 10pm is taken in our house almost every night with an already established in our viewing habbits show.

As some series end EG Shamleess, Vampire diaries, True blood, ect ect then maybe people will wonder over to Atlantic.

Although TREME and BIG LOVE are now being squeezed in or recorded and watched at another time in our home.

I wonder if there is a figure for recorded shows? We record about 7 or 8 shows off Atlantic but don't watch a lot live broadcast.

Re: Guardian: "Sky Atlantic won't be on Virgin Media soon, says BSkyB boss"
 

Would probably have to ask BARB that question.....

Re: Guardian: "Sky Atlantic won't be on Virgin Media soon, says BSkyB boss"
 

Now, here's a thing. My daughter came round yesterday afternoon and she was singing the praises of 'Lovefilm', saying they subscribed to them for a small amount each month and they were able to get films, box sets, etc as part of the subscription. I asked whether she could get 'Boardwalk Empire' and the like, and she said that all the US series were available.

Now that is really interesting, because maybe this is Virgin's strategy in relation to moving its audience from live TV channels to VOD. There is nothing to stop VM from doing a deal with Lovefilm and getting streamed films, TV series, etc into our rooms via the TIVO box. We could have limited access for a small number of films/TV series each month for a small amount of money (say £6 per month) or we could have much more (perhaps unlimited) for a higher rate subscription.

If I paid the same for this as I currently paid for Sky Movies, what a deal that could be! I could select those programmes I wanted to see from Sky Atlantic (it's only a limited number of programmes I am interested in) and there would be no more angst about not being able to receive this channel.

For me, that would be a deal clincher, and I would be much more prepared to part with the money VM are charging for the TIVO box. I am not prepared to pay the amount they are asking under the present arrangements, much that I would like TIVO!

I sincerely hope that this is the plan. This would revolutionise everything for me and I would be as happy as a pig in muck!:)

What do you all think? Good idea or what?

Re: Guardian: "Sky Atlantic won't be on Virgin Media soon, says BSkyB boss"
 

I have lovefilms to tear subscription and the movies you can stream for free are older films. The new movies have to be paid for seperately.

Boardwalk empire is available on there to reserve but not to rent. Lovefilm streaming service is pretty good though.

Obviously not broadcast quality but watchable. Personally though I use Lovefilm for xbox/PS3 games an sometimes stream Lovefilm to the PS3 in my kids room.

Re: Guardian: "Sky Atlantic won't be on Virgin Media soon, says BSkyB boss"
 

Some households do actually cater for their children's viewing and like me when my two were small, actually watch with their offspring.

Tis a pity I've no very young people to share such moments with anymore.:(

Re: Guardian: "Sky Atlantic won't be on Virgin Media soon, says BSkyB boss"
 

I think the streaming \ VOD rights are different, therefore even if VM had a deal with lovefilm they would still need to do a deal with the proper studios in order to get access to the content.

I could be wrong on the above though

Re: Guardian: "Sky Atlantic won't be on Virgin Media soon, says BSkyB boss"
 

.


Lovefilm deal would be easy for Virgin to arrange as its now owned by Amazon and they have stuff to stream as well.

Amazons size would lead the film studios etc to not ignore it like they did Lovefilms in the past.

VM could simply set up a fiber link to stream content direct to us so even HD is possible.


On top of that Google is reportedly planning to launch an unlimited movie subscription service in the UK.


Wonder if this would work under the TiVo YouTube app.


Would be amazing if it did as would make TiVo even more desirable

---------- Post added at 15:40 ---------- Previous post was at 15:33 ----------


I doubt it, it would be the same as now with aps on computer, tv's, iphones etc.


VM would be acting as an isp in this reguard not supplying content and charging Lovefilm etc by bandwidth used or a cut of the sub like itunes do now.


They are already talking to Lovefilms among others for services like this on TiVo.

http://paidcontent.co.uk/article/419...-tv-explosion/

Re: Guardian: "Sky Atlantic won't be on Virgin Media soon, says BSkyB boss"
 

So it looks a real possibility then. This would break Sky's stranglehold over TV series and film rights which would make the Sky Atlantic complaints irrelevant. Let's hope that this is the way we are going.

Re: Guardian: "Sky Atlantic won't be on Virgin Media soon, says BSkyB boss"
 

I think Virgin decided they couldn't compete with sky on purely linear offerings so have gone from a content broadcaster to a content provider in their business plans.


They see that with their cable network IPTV and streaming media is an area they can beat Sky hands down.


Lets hope for better in the future :D

Re: Guardian: "Sky Atlantic won't be on Virgin Media soon, says BSkyB boss"
 

As much as I believe VM have come on in leaps and bounds they will never overtake Sky.

Re: Guardian: "Sky Atlantic won't be on Virgin Media soon, says BSkyB boss"
 

You're missing big ted's point. Leaving aside the fact that VM physically can't overtake sky (due to being limited by the reach of their cables), the point is, VM knows it can't outdo sky if it tries to sell itself as a provider of a quality tv experience, because sky is always going to have the edge on exclusivity and quantity of linear channels. But what VM can do, and is doing, in its latest TV campaign, is setting itself apart as the best all-round content delivery platform - a platform that offers linear TV, VOD and high-speed Internet with equal ease and all down the same cable.

Re: Guardian: "Sky Atlantic won't be on Virgin Media soon, says BSkyB boss"
 

Correct me if I'm wrong but once Sky start using FTTC they will be able to offer 40 mbps BB which is ample for most. improved VOD over a faster network and the best Linear content.

Re: Guardian: "Sky Atlantic won't be on Virgin Media soon, says BSkyB boss"
 

Ah, but now you have shifted from what is, to what might be ... A different prospect altogether. ;)

Besides, the fact is, the linear channels available on VM are ample for most, yet you talk up Sky because whatever VM has, Sky has more. So how is it that when you talk about broadband speeds, suddenly it's ok to argue that what Sky offers will be 'enough'?

Surely, you either believe that a product has to be the best, or you don't? So which is it?

Re: Guardian: "Sky Atlantic won't be on Virgin Media soon, says BSkyB boss"
 

Its going to be SLOW and very costly to provide.

Re: Guardian: "Sky Atlantic won't be on Virgin Media soon, says BSkyB boss"
 

Who is arguing VM BB is the best I was merely stating 40mb is ample for probably 75 % of people. If VM channel lineup is enough for most how come Sky have over 10 million subscribers.

Re: Guardian: "Sky Atlantic won't be on Virgin Media soon, says BSkyB boss"
 

Ah, so we're measuring how good broadband is by speed, but we're measuring how good TV is by number of subscribers. Makes sense. Well, makes sense on the muppet show, perhaps.

We can have a sensible discussion about the pros and cons of sat and cable distribution, or we can have a rant laced with selective use of context-free statistics. Which do you prefer?

Re: Guardian: "Sky Atlantic won't be on Virgin Media soon, says BSkyB boss"
 

It will happen though that's my point.

Re: Guardian: "Sky Atlantic won't be on Virgin Media soon, says BSkyB boss"
 

Sky will have to pay for it though unless they absorb the cost BT are making the investment sky are just piggy backing. My guess is it will not pay sky to provide the service wide and afar simply because BT will not.

Re: Guardian: "Sky Atlantic won't be on Virgin Media soon, says BSkyB boss"
 

They will provide it , how many will subscribe to 8mb when BT can provide 40mb.

Re: Guardian: "Sky Atlantic won't be on Virgin Media soon, says BSkyB boss"
 

Ha ha BT can only provide 2MB maximum where i live on ADSL 2 normal broadband through a phoneline is 1 Mb,and i live in a large town, BT should be able to do better but do not supply enough ommph to even allow BT vision to operate sadly,virgin media is the only game in town regarding broadband.

Re: Guardian: "Sky Atlantic won't be on Virgin Media soon, says BSkyB boss"
 

Agreed VM are great for BB but BT's Infinity product is upto 40mb, what percent of VM BB subscribers take faster than this . It will be a very low percent.

Re: Guardian: "Sky Atlantic won't be on Virgin Media soon, says BSkyB boss"
 

We are heading for a situation where we will have Sky offering market-leading linear TV and adequate broadband, and VM offering adequate TV and market-leading broadband. And because VM has known for some time that this would be the case, it has been developing ways to capitalise on the market-leading broadband side of its business rather than the linear TV side.

To that end it has sold its own TV channels and it continues to refuse to pay whatever price Sky demands just to get the latest line-up of over-hyped American imports. It knows that its VOD and broadband products are better than Sky's and will continue to be so even after Sky is able to start offering up to 40meg. That is why it's now advertising itself as providing unbeatable connectivity rather than bragging about the channels you can watch on its service.

---------- Post added at 17:13 ---------- Previous post was at 17:11 ----------

Are you serious? Since when were we comparing available speed on one network with the speed subscribers choose on another network? Is there any chance of you making up your mind which statistic you want to choose to back up your point?

I'm beginning to think you don't actually have a clue what we're talking about here.

Re: Guardian: "Sky Atlantic won't be on Virgin Media soon, says BSkyB boss"
 

Can i just throw in to the pot that if SKY start offering 40MBPS ( due to BT ) and VIRGIN already have 50/100MBPS. Would you not think that VIRGIN then maybe start to looking to FTTH ( what speeds are ? ) .

Maybe out the ball park but just to add to the debate?

Re: Guardian: "Sky Atlantic won't be on Virgin Media soon, says BSkyB boss"
 

2 big problems with this are..............


Firstly BT FTTC is only going to 66% of the country by 2015 and those areas are mostly covered by Virgin anyway




Secondly Sky will not be able to undercut BT etc as unlike LLU its not subsidized and they will have to either take a loss on it or the price will be comparable to Virgin (Virgin 50 Meg £25 a month + £12.99 phone or £35 a month standalone) (BT Infinity 40 Meg unlimited (300 gig a month limit then 2 meg speed for a month in the evenings) £25.60 a month + £10 phone)

This will mean that Virgin have the advantage for VOD etc where its available.....

Re: Guardian: "Sky Atlantic won't be on Virgin Media soon, says BSkyB boss"
 

The question is though where is the investment in BT infinity going to be made? also sky will have to pay much more for access to this product then they currently pay BT for access so they either pass this on to subs or absorb the cost,its alright saying skys product will benefit from infinity and sky will be able to offer better VOD and internet access which may well be true in certain areas,but will sky stump up the cash as BT are making the investment not sky, and only have to offer access on a set basis (through open reach) sky wil have to pass costs on surely which could push up their cost to subs making vm more competitive in certain areas.

Re: Guardian: "Sky Atlantic won't be on Virgin Media soon, says BSkyB boss"
 

Re: Guardian: "Sky Atlantic won't be on Virgin Media soon, says BSkyB boss"
 

Re: Guardian: "Sky Atlantic won't be on Virgin Media soon, says BSkyB boss"
 

VM VOD with the likes of Lovefilms/Amazon and Google is the way I see VM breaking the strangle hold on Sky Movie Premier and gain access to Sky Atlantic programmes?

One other factor not mentioned. To get VM Vod/apps via Tivo you have to subscribe to a TV pack only as already includes the 10Mb BB so you don't habe to be a VM BB customer. For Sky do you have to be a subscriber to TV + a Broadband package to get Sky Anytime?

So VM will have a big price advantage moving forward unless Sky bundle in free BB?

Re: Guardian: "Sky Atlantic won't be on Virgin Media soon, says BSkyB boss"
 

Not remotely concerned about not having Sky Atlantic, good shows decimated by adverts. Also the majority of them are shows you'd want to watch in batches rather than one a week anyway. I don't really think the 'Sky is better for Tv' argument still stands up these days.

Re: Guardian: "Sky Atlantic won't be on Virgin Media soon, says BSkyB boss"
 

Depends how you view that theory for linear channels Sky is lightyears ahead of VM , and don't forget you can watch Sky Atlantic content on Anytime and Sky Player. When it comes to catchup its simple VM wins hands down as Sky don't provide this.

Re: Guardian: "Sky Atlantic won't be on Virgin Media soon, says BSkyB boss"
 

You have to subscribe to the XL pack for Tivo don't you, not any old pack as you suggest?

That seems to me to potentially rule out an awful lot of punters, to upgrade from L to XL is around £140 a year extra, to upgrade from M+ to XL is well over £200 a year more isn't it? And that assumes you take a phone line too, XL is £30.50 without one.

Quite big numbers when you add the cost of the kit.

And the monthly Tivo sub too.

Re: Guardian: "Sky Atlantic won't be on Virgin Media soon, says BSkyB boss"
 

Initially yes, however if Virgin plan to move all customers over to TiVo, as has been said, then it will be rolled out to lower tiers.

Re: Guardian: "Sky Atlantic won't be on Virgin Media soon, says BSkyB boss"
 

They already do bundle free BB if you take phoneline all be it with a rather poor 2gb usage limit.

Re: Guardian: "Sky Atlantic won't be on Virgin Media soon, says BSkyB boss"
 

Of which Anytime+ is not excluded because 'it would confuse customers'

Re: Guardian: "Sky Atlantic won't be on Virgin Media soon, says BSkyB boss"
 

Agreed , like I said 2gb is poor in today's world.

Re: Guardian: "Sky Atlantic won't be on Virgin Media soon, says BSkyB boss"
 

I have read that too but I think it would be safe to say that is probably some way away.

For a non XL customer there are currently some pretty big numbers involved to get Tivo, hardware costs aside.

Re: Guardian: "Sky Atlantic won't be on Virgin Media soon, says BSkyB boss"
 

The sky unlimited BB is a better deal than VM 10mb for those customers whose line will run ADSL 2 at quicker than 10mb as it's 7.50 compared to VM 13.50 however people with lower speeds are better with VM if speed is what they want. The Sky free BB wouldn't let you watch to many Sky Atlantic shows on sky player.

Re: Guardian: "Sky Atlantic won't be on Virgin Media soon, says BSkyB boss"
 

Suppose it depends what you are comparing it against - it's still cheaper monthly for TV costs than getting the comparable Sky+HD box with Anytime+

Re: Guardian: "Sky Atlantic won't be on Virgin Media soon, says BSkyB boss"
 

No that's not where I was coming from, Sky's products didn't enter my mind.

What I mean is there is a quite a big upgrade path for an existing non XL customer to get Tivo.

I might be wrong but a M+ customer would be shelling out around £400 extra in the first year with the higher XL sub, Tivo sub and kit cost. It's a big ask.

Then again maybe M+ customers are not natural Tivo customers anyway, dunno really.

Re: Guardian: "Sky Atlantic won't be on Virgin Media soon, says BSkyB boss"
 

Considering TiVo is currently designed to be a premium service? No they aren't. As TiVo becomes mainstream, then options will become available to the lower tiers

Though to be honest, TiVo will be a difference experience on lower services. It's designed to offer content you might not have seen but would want to watch. It can't do that as well with less channels to suggest content from

Re: Guardian: "Sky Atlantic won't be on Virgin Media soon, says BSkyB boss"
 

That's what I have always thought too, it's only a certain group of customers who will want it.

It won't be mainstream for quite some time yet similar to the other markets it operates in.

Re: Guardian: "Sky Atlantic won't be on Virgin Media soon, says BSkyB boss"
 

I read somewhere on the net that people were saying its to geeky and only appeals to TV addicted tech freaks.

Re: Guardian: "Sky Atlantic won't be on Virgin Media soon, says BSkyB boss"
 

I think someone from Sky said something along those lines, but of course they would. I bet they never said it when they had it though!

I would diplomatically say to me it certainly seems a product that would appeal to the let's say more technically savvy. Maybe some of those people who read publications like What Video and of that ilk.

Re: Guardian: "Sky Atlantic won't be on Virgin Media soon, says BSkyB boss"