Re: Coming Soon to Virgin TV (2012) Vol. 2.
 

Great to hear of your good news regarding your package.:tu:

Re: Coming Soon to Virgin TV (2012) Vol. 2.
 

I would be happy with either 38 or 52 EPL live games on ESPN. ESPN are trying hard to make the FA Cup special again, it would be nice to think that the passion for the FA Cup could return to how it was in the sixties and seventies, however, unlikely that seems.

Re: Coming Soon to Virgin TV (2012) Vol. 2.
 

If they do get 38 games or 52 games l think they might need to rebrand ESPN Classic to ESPN2 ( and launch ESPN2 HD ) in 2013.

Re: Coming Soon to Virgin TV (2012) Vol. 2.
 

Cheers Den! It was a very pleasant surprise. Hopefully more folk will get a similar phone call in the near future.

Re: Coming Soon to Virgin TV (2012) Vol. 2.
 

What area are you in ?

Re: Coming Soon to Virgin TV (2012) Vol. 2.
 

Hi. I am in the Nottingham area. Grantham to be exact.

Re: Coming Soon to Virgin TV (2012) Vol. 2.
 

I think with espn they have even deeper pockets than sky maybe sky has met its match with them being disney owned and another company think its hearst corporation.

Re: Coming Soon to Virgin TV (2012) Vol. 2.
 

The problem is though to outbid a dominant player like BSKYB would mean they would inevitably have to hike the price of their subs , don't forget ESPNs main market is in the US , I could be wrong with this assumption but im pretty sure ESPN will be happy to potentially double their live matches they have under their current deal.

Re: Coming Soon to Virgin TV (2012) Vol. 2.
 

I agree, if ESPN where to say buy rights to Tier 1 and/or Tier 2 Matches i think it would defo have to go subscription to cover their costs, Al Jazeera are almost nailed on to bid for some of the tiers, so we will have 3 broadcasters.

Re: Coming Soon to Virgin TV (2012) Vol. 2.
 

Thanks & good luck with the upgrade - for us the wait goes on :mis:

Re: Coming Soon to Virgin TV (2012) Vol. 2.
 

Big things are sun and moon, small things are stars:rolleyes:

Re: Coming Soon to Virgin TV (2012) Vol. 2.
 

I think this month is make or break for ESPN they need to get a minimum of 4 pack I feel to make the channel worth keeping, I know they have not been able to do anything until now, but this is there time now to show they can challange Sky

If they can get 4 or more packs then they will almost certainly have to launch ESPN 2 / HD

Re: Coming Soon to Virgin TV (2012) Vol. 2.
 

I would not try to get one up on Den over the Universe:erm:

PS The Sun is a Star so not small:rolleyes:

Re: Coming Soon to Virgin TV (2012) Vol. 2.
 

Yes really strange, just had a call from virginmedia american lady offering me upgrade from 20mb to 100mb broadband super hub free install and activation, sky movies added and phone upgraded to talk unlimited for extra £4 a month!!;)

Re: Coming Soon to Virgin TV (2012) Vol. 2.
 

We also don't really know the outfall of the Karen Murphy case, which whilst may not have any direct impact on cable, could potentially have an impact on Sky. (Which may reduce the cost of the rights, which would affect cable customers...)

Re: Coming Soon to Virgin TV (2012) Vol. 2.
 

You sound sceptical...and you are getting me a little concerned.

I have received an email from Virgin Media solely about an upgrade to Talk Unlimited. I have looked at properties and the email address just says virgin media while every other email I have had from Virgin gives a full address.

The caller knew what package I was on and what I was paying.

Re: Coming Soon to Virgin TV (2012) Vol. 2.
 

Hmmm Also the email is from VirginMedia without a gap rather than the normal Virgin Media. Is this some type of scam?

Re: Coming Soon to Virgin TV (2012) Vol. 2.
 

And from an American lady at that. Did you ask her about Sky Atlantic? LOL

Re: Coming Soon to Virgin TV (2012) Vol. 2.
 

I agree, why would a company continue to pump hundreds of millions into the game if it is legal for me to buy my premier league fix from a greek company at a fraction of the cost, if i could get as many if not more games cheaper than sky/espn charge there would be a metre dish up on my house quicker than you could sneeze, would it bother me about foreign commontary, not at all, infact before he got sacked i was looking to patent a "Mute Andy Gray" button on remote controls, but i'm sure i wouldn't miss man city legend Niall Quinn giving his impartial views on The Derby the other night, or Alan 'Arsenal' Smith constantly whining about how hard done too Arsenal are, And has for John Barnes, Kevin Keegan & Steve MacManaman on ESPN... everything just has a Liverpool tint to it.

Re: Coming Soon to Virgin TV (2012) Vol. 2.
 

She knew what package I was on, and I think it was genuine given a install date of 26th May for superhub and going to check the movies upgrade has happened overnight like she said.
Will let you know.

Re: Coming Soon to Virgin TV (2012) Vol. 2.
 

Thanks Mik.

I have just rung Virgin. The offer is genuine, just for a minute there the whole thing seemed too good to be true. Triple broadband, a free superhub and phone XL for less than I was paying before the price rise. The Premier Collection is great! Must have been a different email format from the contact team.

Re: Coming Soon to Virgin TV (2012) Vol. 2.
 

Can you post it here? (Remove personal details of course)


A sales call with an American accent would be from call centre in the Philippines.

Re: Coming Soon to Virgin TV (2012) Vol. 2.
 

I now understand that the email was ok. It was more of a letter explaining XL phone with several links. It finished as below, unlike normal Virgin emails which have privacy, about us and Virgin will never ask for personal information etc. It said please do not reply to this email.

This email and any attachments are or may be confidential and legally privileged
and are sent solely for the attention of the addressee(s). If you have received this
email in error, please delete it from your system: its use, disclosure or copying is
unauthorised. Statements and opinions expressed in this email may not represent
those of Virgin Media. Any representations or commitments in this email are
subject to contract.

Registered office: Media House, Bartley Wood Business Park, Hook, Hampshire, RG27 9UP
Registered in England and Wales with number 2591237

Re: Coming Soon to Virgin TV (2012) Vol. 2.
 

Looks normal to me. That's how my monthly bill emails end.

But of course, that is easily faked. I was more interested in the bit that mentioned "VirginMedia"

Re: Coming Soon to Virgin TV (2012) Vol. 2.
 

Yes, that was what was concerning me. In the "From" box in Outlook Express every email I have ever received from Virgin said "Virgin Media" while this one says "VirginMedia" (both the name and email address in properties say "VirginMedia" - In a bill, for example email address is webteam@virginmedia.com ). It was not giving me any confidence and I refrained from clicking on any of the links. Though I have clicked on them now.

Re: Coming Soon to Virgin TV (2012) Vol. 2.
 

I keep getting calls from a call centre in India claiming to be from Virgin Media Technical Support. They say that they have noticed my internet speed is unusually slow. They then say that they will troubleshoot it and that they need me to enter a number of web addresses into my computer (things like teamviewer.com). I could tell immediately this wasn't a call from Virgin Media and called their bluff and they cut the call.
The worst part is that I called Virgin Media to let them know this kept happening and their response was that they knew this was happening and had many complaints about it. But they obviously didn't think it would be a good idea to warn their customers about it.

Re: Coming Soon to Virgin TV (2012) Vol. 2.
 

Go to the help pages on virginmedia.com and search for "bogus caller".

Also see http://netreport.virginmedia.com/netreport/

Can I ask did they say your broadband technical support or virgin media technical
Support

Re: Coming Soon to Virgin TV (2012) Vol. 2.
 

Hope you are having an nice Bank Holiday.

New Channels to TV XL On Demand this month:

E! Entertainment (Also on TV L) and
PBS (Also on TV M+ and TV L)

Re: Coming Soon to Virgin TV (2012) Vol. 2.
 

Thanks MB for the update, have a nice day.

Re: Coming Soon to Virgin TV (2012) Vol. 2.
 

ITV2 HD will not appear on Virgin Media any time soon - confirmed.

http://forums.digitalspy.co.uk/showp...71&postcount=3

Info thanks to Smallworld Cable via DS Forums.

Re: Coming Soon to Virgin TV (2012) Vol. 2.
 

Again this is typical of Sky's all too pervasive and unhealthy
influence in trying to keep all the content for itself either through its own channels or through exclusive deals with broadcasters.

Re: Coming Soon to Virgin TV (2012) Vol. 2.
 

Actually, it might be to more to do with ITV this time. It was their intention to put their HD channels behind a paywall; which is what they've done.

http://www.techradar.com/news/televi...-on-sky-707299

Re: Coming Soon to Virgin TV (2012) Vol. 2.
 

In general it's ITV4 that's of most interest to me because of the sport it carries, so does Media Boy's update mean that all the missing hd channels are beyond reach, or just ITV2? I can definitely manage without repeats of Jeremy Kyle and Britain's Got Talent in hd!

Re: Coming Soon to Virgin TV (2012) Vol. 2.
 

Thats not good news to VM customers. Is that all the channels or just ITV 2 HD?

Actually Jeremy Kyle is not in HD its just upscaled but BGT is in HD :D

Re: Coming Soon to Virgin TV (2012) Vol. 2.
 

l suspect it means ITV HD 2, 3 and 4 by the look of it.:(:td:

Re: Coming Soon to Virgin TV (2012) Vol. 2.
 

Going back on this, how do you get this offer - Ive tried tweeting @virginmedia (useless), Customer Services (off shore even worse) - we dont answer our virgin media line due to the large number of unsolicited calls we get (and were TPS registered).

Cheers

Re: Coming Soon to Virgin TV (2012) Vol. 2.
 

Shame would of liked the rest of the ITV channels in glorious HD, especially ITV 4. :(

Re: Coming Soon to Virgin TV (2012) Vol. 2.
 

Debate whether it's ITV's fault or Sky's fault, just glad it's not Virgins fault ;)

Re: Coming Soon to Virgin TV (2012) Vol. 2.
 

If ITV want to put their 'other' channels behind a pay tv wall, then what is XL TV, it's not available to every tom is it?

Re: Coming Soon to Virgin TV (2012) Vol. 2.
 

Of the previous thread Over on DS this is the only thing that gets me?

Other operators? I thought that it was only SKY that had the channels?

Re: Coming Soon to Virgin TV (2012) Vol. 2.
 

it is only sky that got them

Re: Coming Soon to Virgin TV (2012) Vol. 2.
 

I have read this http://forums.digitalspy.co.uk/showp...71&postcount=3, but it refers to Smallworld Cable not VM as far as I can see. Are people not jumping the gun a bit.

Re: Coming Soon to Virgin TV (2012) Vol. 2.
 

That is what I thought so the person who posted that on the web should be able to understand (what is one or others)

Re: Coming Soon to Virgin TV (2012) Vol. 2.
 

Sorry I'm a little puzzled. Does this mean Smallworld can't get access to ITV2 HD "due to the lock-out signed into the carriage agreement with the other operators"?

I thought Adam Crozier confirmed about 18 months ago that the deal with SKY for ITV2HD, ITV3HD and ITV4HD was a non-exclusive deal. Adam Crozier also stated:

"Building new revenue streams by exploiting our content across multiple platforms is a key part of the ITV transformation plan."

It seems strange that some lock-out deal would be in place between SKY and ITV unless a deal has recently been agreed with ITV and Virgin, but not yet announced. Similar to the SKY deal with ITV, which made SKY the exclusive satellite broadcaster of the channels, maybe Virgin are the exclusive cable carrier of the channels which locks out Smallworld.

Why would ITV and Virgin delay announcing such a deal? Who knows. But remember it wasn't too long ago that Virgin, Eurosport and the BBC deliberately held back announcing their deal to bring 2012 Olympics to Virgin Media customers by way of linear channels.

Personally I view the post from Smallworld a a positive that the missing ITV HD channels might actually be on their way to Virgin soon.

Re: Coming Soon to Virgin TV (2012) Vol. 2.
 

That is what I was trying to ?

Re: Coming Soon to Virgin TV (2012) Vol. 2.
 

Fair enough, when I started typing your post was not there I got distracted.:D

Re: Coming Soon to Virgin TV (2012) Vol. 2.
 

Need to start typing quicker mate:D:D:D

Re: Coming Soon to Virgin TV (2012) Vol. 2.
 

You must be new here. Welcome to Cable Forum. ;)

Re: Coming Soon to Virgin TV (2012) Vol. 2.
 

Ha ha :D:D

Re: Coming Soon to Virgin TV (2012) Vol. 2.
 

PMSL:D

Re: Coming Soon to Virgin TV (2012) Vol. 2.
 

so let me get this right Sky Paid ITV2 not to let other isp's have there channels ?

Re: Coming Soon to Virgin TV (2012) Vol. 2.
 

Why Sky have to win the Premier League rights again this time!

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/n...MacKenzie.html

Perhaps a nice, cosy Sky/ESPN carve up is in everyone's best interest.

Re: Coming Soon to Virgin TV (2012) Vol. 2.
 

Perhaps they are all in iot as regards a Sky/ESPN carve up,i wonder if it would ever be feasible for the premier league clubs to sell their own games to consumers at some point down the line,thus cutting out a lot of the pantomime.?

Just imagine consumers being able to buy whatever games they wanted on VM.;)

Re: Coming Soon to Virgin TV (2012) Vol. 2.
 

And aliens will arrive on earth before that happens one suspects.:)

Re: Coming Soon to Virgin TV (2012) Vol. 2.
 

Kelvin Mackenzie's TV channel, Sports Tonight, is going to make a formal complaint to Ofcom in relation to Sky's exclusive Football League rights. They are claiming it is illegal under EU competition law. Bearing in mind that Sky are not allowed a monopoly of Premier League coverage they are probably right.

http://www.cityam.com/latest-news/ke...sport-channels

Sounds like Kelvin Mackenzie will have a bit to say about the upcoming Premier League auction at the same time.

Re: Coming Soon to Virgin TV (2012) Vol. 2.
 

Its sounds as though he does have a very good point in regards to the football league rights,if they are being sold to just one broadcaster ie Sky,i would have thought though that the footbasll league would have had to put the games out to tender,and after the European ruling regarding the premier league rights IE one broadcaster cannot have the lot the football league may have split its packages in a similar way.

It seems Kelvin McKenzie wants to start his new venture with some cheapish football rights as i cannot see many people bidding for the early rounds of the Johnsons Paint Trophy !:shocked: or indeed a couple of pakages of "football league" rights.

Be interesting to see how the spat between him and his 39% stakeholder in Sky former boss goes.:D

---------- Post added at 10:06 ---------- Previous post was at 10:04 ----------

Think you are right Den,but i think it was mooted before by some premier league top flight clubs before being quitely put to bed.

I personally would not rule it out but it will be a long way in the future possibly.:)

Re: Coming Soon to Virgin TV (2012) Vol. 2.
 

Quote:

Originally Posted by richard1960 (Post 35425379) Its sounds as though he does have a very good point in regards to the football league rights,if they are being sold to just one broadcaster ie Sky,i would have thought though that the footbasll league would have had to put the games out to tender,and after the European ruling regarding the premier league rights IE one broadcaster cannot have the lot the football league may have split its packages in a similar way. It seems Kelvin McKenzie wants to start his new venture with some cheapish football rights as i cannot see many people bidding for the early rounds of the Johnsons Paint Trophy !:shocked: or indeed a couple of pakages of "football league" rights. Be interesting to see how the spat between him and his 39% stakeholder in Sky former boss goes.:D

Good luck to Kelvin Mackenzie on this but I think the most likely result of his Ofcom complaint is that we will get some Football league matches on ESPN just like we do with the Premier and Scottish Leagues.

Re: Coming Soon to Virgin TV (2012) Vol. 2.
 

Strange I must have dreampt watching the championship (part of 'the football league') on BBC

Re: Coming Soon to Virgin TV (2012) Vol. 2.
 

ESPN could quit UK.

http://www.pocket-lint.com/news/4559...uite-uk-fa-cup

Re: Coming Soon to Virgin TV (2012) Vol. 2.
 

Pretty much as I've been saying for ages , they'll concentrate on their main market which is the US and who can blame them , I hope we don't lose them though I'll miss my ESPN fix.

Re: Coming Soon to Virgin TV (2012) Vol. 2.
 

Yes l cannot say it has come as a surprise to me either but if this happens where will it leave the UK sports rights market.

Re: Coming Soon to Virgin TV (2012) Vol. 2.
 

I am concerned about ESPN America as well, where will that leave us American sports fans.

Re: Coming Soon to Virgin TV (2012) Vol. 2.
 

That is at odds with their recent commitment to increase the q quality and quantity of their Premier League offering.

Re: Coming Soon to Virgin TV (2012) Vol. 2.
 

Words can be cheap sometimes.

Re: Coming Soon to Virgin TV (2012) Vol. 2.
 

That was my main fear :(

Re: Coming Soon to Virgin TV (2012) Vol. 2.
 

Just read a slightly more promising article http://advanced-television.com/index...ional-markets/

Re: Coming Soon to Virgin TV (2012) Vol. 2.
 

The BBC won rights to broadcast live championship football in a three year deal starting in 2009. This deal will now have finished, I can only assume that they are not renewing this contract as part of their general cut backs.

Re: Coming Soon to Virgin TV (2012) Vol. 2.
 

yikes - wish I hadn't read that :(

Re: Coming Soon to Virgin TV (2012) Vol. 2.
 

ESPN have really been annoying me recently with their random programming. I watch Friday Night Fights, ESPN's boxing show, every week. The show used to be live on ESPN HD everyweek. Then they started showing it as a tape delay broadcast on a Saturday afternoon. Then it got bumped over to ESPN America, meaning I could no longer watch the show in HD. Then it started getting taped delayed until Sunday mornings and Sunday nights and finally this week they didn't bother showing it all.

For me personally, ESPN can die on their ar$e for all I care. All they care about is football, football and more football.

Re: Coming Soon to Virgin TV (2012) Vol. 2.
 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MusyO7J2inM LOL :D:D:D

Re: Coming Soon to Virgin TV (2012) Vol. 2.
 

What would happen to the XL TV tier if ESPN dropped out?

Re: Coming Soon to Virgin TV (2012) Vol. 2.
 

Well i can't see virgin giving XL customers a price drop that is for sure LOL :)

Re: Coming Soon to Virgin TV (2012) Vol. 2.
 

We might get Sky Sports HD 3 and 4 and Sky Atlantic in return one hopes.:)

Re: Coming Soon to Virgin TV (2012) Vol. 2.
 

no chance Den sky wont give anyone them we all know that

Re: Coming Soon to Virgin TV (2012) Vol. 2.
 

I have to admit ever since ESPN launched I've always thought it to be half assed in terms of being interested in trying to get rights for sports.
They seem only to be interested mainly in football but even that's just the crumbs that sky don't want which for the most is not really that good anyway.

I am mainly interested in motorsports and have to say ESPN has missed out on lots of sports that they could of picked up for peanuts that would be worth buying like the following :-

NASCAR NEXTEL CUL
NASCAR NATIONWIDE CUP
INDYCAR
WRC
FORMULA 3
WORLD SERIES BY RENAULT
AUTO GP

ESPN have also lost rights to sports that the had in the beginning like NHL and Baseball which is disappointing as ESPN are a US company.

Now it just seems to be ticking on showing sports without any regularity and in what seems to be random air times, they also don't seem to be taking advantage of the agreements they have. Take DTM ESPN have live rights to show qualifying and race but for some reason they haven't showed DTM qualifying since the start of last year, and up now not race this season has been shown live they have been full replays at MIDNIGHT which is pretty crazy for a one of the most popular touring car series currently running.

ESPN need to step up thier game of sell up and give a different channel operator the chance to do a better job than the half assed effort of ESPN.

Re: Coming Soon to Virgin TV (2012) Vol. 2.
 

Well, does the price rise when they add a single channel? No. So why should it drop when they remove one? :rolleyes:

Re: Coming Soon to Virgin TV (2012) Vol. 2.
 

Very true Carl but obviously if the whole bouquet of ESPN channels were withdrawn from the XL pack then Virgin would have to act very quickly as there are quite a few who subscribe to the XL pack because of the simple reason that ESPN is free on there whilst with Sky you have to pay a extra £9 to get the ESPN pack.

Re: Coming Soon to Virgin TV (2012) Vol. 2.
 

A fair point :)

Re: Coming Soon to Virgin TV (2012) Vol. 2.
 

Virgin Media to close TV Email next week.

Virgin Media are to axe TV Email (It old Telewest name) on May 20th.

NOTE: Since about 2008 TV Email was not open to new viewers.

Re: Coming Soon to Virgin TV (2012) Vol. 2.
 

When Setanta Sports went into administration on 22nd June 2009, XL customers lost 7 channels being: Setanta Sports 1, Setanta Sports 2, Setanta Golf, Setanta Sports News, Rangers TV, Celtic TV and Arsenal TV. Customers also lost access to Setanta Sports On Demand.

At the time Virgin confirmed there would be no price reduction in the XL package stating customers didn't see a price hike when the channels were added in the first place. People called threatening to leave unless the price of their package was reduced. Virgin refused to budge.

ESPN then launched on 03rd August 2009, and was added to the XL package. During Setanta collapsing and ESPN launching, XL customers paid exactly the same for their package.

If ESPN goes nothing will happen to the XL package. If a new channel launches picking up the TV rights ESPN leave behind, I would imagine Virgin would try to do a deal to get the new channel on XL.

Re: Coming Soon to Virgin TV (2012) Vol. 2.
 

And rightly so, IMO, for reasons already stated.

Re: Coming Soon to Virgin TV (2012) Vol. 2.
 

Only on the ex-Telewest side of the business. ex-ntl TV Email continues for those that have it (for now)

Re: Coming Soon to Virgin TV (2012) Vol. 2.
 

Thanks for update I was think this was an UK wide (Ex Telewest and ntl areas) thing.

Re: Coming Soon to Virgin TV (2012) Vol. 2.
 

Does anyone still use that? And if so, why? :eek:

Re: Coming Soon to Virgin TV (2012) Vol. 2.
 

l have never used it and l have been a Telewest/ Virgin customer for 12 years.:)

Re: Coming Soon to Virgin TV (2012) Vol. 2.
 

I did use it to until about 2005/2006.

Re: Coming Soon to Virgin TV (2012) Vol. 2.
 

TV e mail:rolleyes: slim times indeed

Re: Coming Soon to Virgin TV (2012) Vol. 2.
 

Come on Henke keep your chin up.:)

Re: Coming Soon to Virgin TV (2012) Vol. 2.
 

Not everyone has internet access.

Re: Coming Soon to Virgin TV (2012) Vol. 2.
 

Thought we were all one happy family now:confused:

Re: Coming Soon to Virgin TV (2012) Vol. 2.
 

They are legacy services so no work was done to combine them

Re: Coming Soon to Virgin TV (2012) Vol. 2.
 

Thanks Ben but I was joking honest

Re: Coming Soon to Virgin TV (2012) Vol. 2.
 

Well, they could spend the money to benefit non sports fans (for a change) and get Sky Atlantic added.

Re: Coming Soon to Virgin TV (2012) Vol. 2.
 

Excellent idea but unlikely to be taken up PB.

Re: Coming Soon to Virgin TV (2012) Vol. 2.
 

Update: Star Plus HD to launch in UK on Sky Digital in July.

Star Plus HD is to launch in July on Astra.

http://www.media247.co.uk/bizasia/st...-in-july-in-uk

and Star News will rebrand as ABP News in June.

With Star TV ending its deal, Media Conteent and Communcations Services (MCCS) has confirmed that its flagship brand ABP will be rolled out across its news channels from Frday 1st June.

http://www.media247.co.uk/bizasia/st...ed-as-abp-news

Re: Coming Soon to Virgin TV (2012) Vol. 2.
 

sky will not let anyone have it for one and it not must have as the crap viewing figures it gets show so so over rated

Re: Coming Soon to Virgin TV (2012) Vol. 2.
 

Maybe the viewing figures are crap Dave but there are many Virgin customers who would love to see for a start the HBO content that is prevalent on the channel.

Re: Coming Soon to Virgin TV (2012) Vol. 2.
 

To be honest mate I wouldn't make too much of the viewing figures , I've watched quite a few of the shows off Atlantic without turning the channel on. Most of my Atlantic viewing has been off Anytime+ boxsets.

Re: Coming Soon to Virgin TV (2012) Vol. 2.
 

yes but sky wont let anyone have it MM nothing VM can do about it sadly

---------- Post added at 18:03 ---------- Previous post was at 18:01 ----------

nothing VM can do Den mate sky wont let anyone have it i would like VM to get it for the people that want it but not going to happen with sky in control