Re: Coming soon to Virgin TV 2014
 

It has to be accepted that much that is on Sky Sports, and indeed BT would not be shown at all on terrestrial if the pay channels did not exist.....

Re: Coming soon to Virgin TV 2014
 

If Pay TV providers did not exist then the rights would be much cheaper and would be seen much more widely on the terrestrial channels and thus we would not have this relentless arms race where the price for the sports rights and other content goes higher and higher and thus in the end its the customer who pays the price and even those who don't subscribe to the premium channels end up paying the price as well.

Re: Coming soon to Virgin TV 2014
 

What do you mean? I distinctly remember top league football being screened on terrestrial TV long before Mr Murdoch came along.

Re: Coming soon to Virgin TV 2014
 

I said much that is on Sky Sports. Rugby League coverage would be minimal. Cricket is too long for terrestrial channels nowadays. Sadly much ladies' sport would be ignored.

The alleged cream such as top soccer would of course be shown but I doubt in such quantity.

Re: Coming soon to Virgin TV 2014
 

Yes, the problem is the legislative environment in which the entertainment industry works.

Programmes should be freely available in the same way that music is, it's not rocket science. I have no problems with channels being exclusive but programmes should be available to any channel that wants to get the rights to show them.

It's simply annoying that if I do not want to be denied HBO programming I have to subscribe to Sky (when I want VM for Netflix and everything else I like about TIVO, etc) as well as VM, and most of the content is duplicated.

I want everything on the one box and I'm not interested in the Now Box or any of the other devices that I'd have to buy in order to receive the missing content. It's a ridiculous system that encourages piracy and is overdue for change.

Re: Coming soon to Virgin TV 2014
 

Not true.

The deal that was eventually thrashed out was revenue neutral for both companies, valuing the Sky Basics and the Flextech channels via a convoluted, face-saving formula that effectively made them worth the same.

VM's decision to sell Flextech to Sky came some time later. There are threads on both topics in this forum somewhere. If I have a few minutes to spare I'll see if I can dig them out.

Edit

Here you go:

Sky Basics return to Virgin Media, November 2008:
http://www.cableforum.co.uk/board/11...tchet-sky.html

Virgin announced it was beginning the sale process in February 2009, but everybody had known for quite some time that their strategic intention was to offload those channels. They didn't announce the sale to Sky until over a year later, in June 2010, after much speculation that the asking price was too high:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Living_....E2.80.9309.29

Re: Coming soon to Virgin TV 2014
 

We're really not all that far from agreement. Sky bundle channels just as VM does, just as BT does. In order to get the HD I want in XL I have to pay for a load of +1s and lifestyle channels I'll never watch. VM don't do this to me out of nastiness, they do it because if some channels were exposed to your 'pick any channel' model, would close to the detriment of their viewers. So we all cross-subsidise channels on Sky, VM, and YouView.

I think perhaps we're heading down a blind alley with the supermarket analogy but I do have the option of going to another supermarket to buy the special pack of Weetabix just as we all (well, most of us do) have the option of getting SA from Sky or Now TV, but I don't, I weigh up what I want and do my shopping in one place forgoing the delights of the 50 free offer. I don't then moan that Weetybangs limited or Tesco have been nasty to me, I just put it down to the normal way of things in all aspects of business. That's life.

Re: Coming soon to Virgin TV 2014
 

This, Sky Atlantic is def coming to Virgin/well err might be coming soon/wont ever be here/could now be year 2020, must be one of the most boring posts ever on Cable Forum, I know its all speculation and people like to think that maybe one day all will be rosy in the Virgin TV garden, but it's not looking like Atlantic will be in that garden!

Re: Coming soon to Virgin TV 2014
 

more chance of it snowing in hell forever than VM getting SA

Re: Coming soon to Virgin TV 2014
 

I think forever is maybe taking it a wee bit too far Dave...:D

Re: Coming soon to Virgin TV 2014
 

Let's be more realistic with the comparison. Tesco signs an exclusive deal to sell petrol but won't sell it to anyone unless they buy all their groceries from them too. Surely nobody would complain about that...

Re: Coming soon to Virgin TV 2014
 

ok 100 years non stop then is that better :D:D:D

Re: Coming soon to Virgin TV 2014
 

Those terrible twins of pessimism you and Dave strike again.:D

Re: Coming soon to Virgin TV 2014
 

Not particular good news tbh. All ppvs are now going to sky box office. I think there used to be 4 a year free.

Re: Coming soon to Virgin TV 2014
 

realist Den SA is on all that it going to be on don't kid yourself

---------- Post added at 13:47 ---------- Previous post was at 13:46 ----------

sky believe in getting ripped off better

Re: Coming soon to Virgin TV 2014
 

It was said with a hint of sarcasm. It was what entered my head after reading those 'Sky Television ate my gerbil' posts. :D

---------- Post added at 14:07 ---------- Previous post was at 13:59 ----------

It's not something I follow closely, but didn't I read in here that there was an expectation that WWE were going to move to IPTV?

If that were the case, wouldn't these have been PPV anyway?

But no matter, If you don't want to pay, don't, if enpugh people agree, It'll soon be back on regular Sky Sports. Ask Amir Khan. :D

Re: Coming soon to Virgin TV 2014
 

Definition of Hell - worst nightmare/fears coming true.
So technically if someone has a fear of snow then it would snow in their Hell :p:

However Sky Atlantic is not on any lists i've seen so it's very unlikely it'll be on VM anytime soon.

Re: Coming soon to Virgin TV 2014
 

from the guardian http://www.theguardian.com/media/201...er-league-deal

Mark Sweney
theguardian.com, Thursday 30 January 2014 07.54 GMT

Premier League: Tottenham Hotspur v Manchester City
BSkyB's profits have been dented by the cost of its three-year £2.3bn Premier League deal. Photograph: Joe Toth/BPI/Rex Features
BSkyB has reported an 18% fall in pre-tax profits to £527m in the six months to the end of December, as investment in new services and Premier League rights costs incurred in its battle with BT Sport hit the broadcaster.

The company's adjusted operating profits, the measure of profit most closely watched by analysts and investors, fell by 8% year on-year to £595m.

Total revenues grew by 6.3% to £3.75bn as the company hailed a strong performance in the runup to Christmas.

Jeremy Darroch, the chief executive of BSkyB, indicated that BT's push in to Premier League football had not hurt the company, with viewing of Sky Sports at a six-year high.

"It has been a noisy period in terms of competition but you can see across the board our business is continuing to power ahead," he said.

"Our financial performance was strong in the first half and we remain on track for the full year. We are moving through a year of investment in which we are absorbing the one-off step up in Premier League costs well."

BSkyB, which on Wednesday unveiled a five-year deal with HBO to secure the future of hit shows such as Boardwalk Empire, reported strong customer growth across the board.

The company added 77,000 TV subscribers in the quarter to the end of December – the broadcaster includes sign-ups to its Now TV online service in this figure – taking its total TV customer base to 10.5 million. This was the strongest quarter in three years.

Broadband subscribers, the focus of its battle with BT Sport, grew by 110,000 to 5.1 million in the last three months of the year.

Investors are keeping a keen eye on the company's churn rate, the proportion of customers that leave Sky, to gauge the impact of BT's deep-pocketed spending on building its TV service.

Churn was 10.8% across the six months to the end of December, up 0.5% over the same period last year, but actually down 0.2% in the final three months of the year.

There has been speculation that BSkyB might need to add a mobile offering to boost its range of products to customers, either by launching its own service from scratch or doing a deal with an existing operator.

When asked about a potential deal with Vodafone, Darroch did not explicitly deny that talks had taken place, but said that speculation of a merger or acquisition were "wide of the mark".

"We talk to lots of different companies about lots of things, it is part of the ecosystem of the market," he said. "I'm not going to provide a running commentary [on our plans]. The speculation I've seen in the press is wide of the mark, I'll leave it at that."

Darroch admitted that the prospect of a move into mobile has been something BSkyB has looked at, and he hinted the company may make a move into the sector, but that it was not "imperative" to its plans.

"Mobile has been something that we have looked at from time to time and over the sweep of time I wouldn't rule it out," he said. "We stay focused on portability of content. If we see an opportunity at some point we would be open to that. But it is not an imperative for the business."

Darroch also addressed the issue of bidding for the next three-year Premier League TV rights deal, which is expected to kick off later this year.

BSkyB was forced to pay £2.3bn to stop BT from securing the lion's share of matches in the existing deal, a 40% increase, and with further inflation a certainty in the next auction Darroch warned that there is a limit to how much rights are worth.

"Of course the Premier League is an important set of rights, we get that, we will go in with a clear view of what we seek to achieve. Whenever [the auction] arrives we will be ready and in good shape for the process. With any set of rights there is a price beyond which we don't think it provides value. That was the case with the Champions League [which BT secured]. It accounted for just 3% of viewing and there were better ways [to invest]."

The company saw huge growth in its premium paid-for service Sky Go Extra, which allows customers to register up to four devices and download TV and movies to watch offline for £5 a month, with 258,000 new subscribers in the final quarter. Total subscriber numbers hit 643,000.

"We had a very good first six months of the year as we reaped the benefits of our broader-based approach to growth," said Darroch. "In a consumer environment that remains challenging, customers continued to choose to take Sky products in ever greater numbers in the runup to Christmas."

The company said that usage of its on-demand services has trebled and the number of movie rentals through its Sky Store service doubled.

Average revenue per user, a key statistic watched by analysts, grew by £11 in the final quarter to £570.

The proportion of subscribers taking three products from Sky remained flat quarter on quarter at 36%.

Sky also said that it has reached six long-term sports rights deals including the 2017 British & Irish Lions tour to New Zealand; Super League rugby for five years from 2017; a five-year deal with wrestling giant WWE from 2015; a seven-year deal for live cricket from New Zealand, including two England winter tours; and a four-year deal with the SFA starting next year for the Scottish Cup and international friendlies.

BSkyB's share price fell 2.6%, 22.5p, in early trading to 844p

Re: Coming soon to Virgin TV 2014
 

Using a vpn you'll get around that by subscribing to WWE Network for about £7p/m + £3p/m for vpn :D this is the way i'll be watching the ppvs etc.

Re: Coming soon to Virgin TV 2014
 

I read today that WWE network will be available online in the UK later this year , not sure how true this is.

Re: Coming soon to Virgin TV 2014
 

Was hoping the WWE network would come the UK, but with sky a deal with the WWE for all raw Smackdown and all THE PPV. Can't see the network being much valued. might have to get a VPN and do what you do theone2k10

Re: Coming soon to Virgin TV 2014
 

One of the ironies of Sky Atlantic is that it missed out on many of the most popular US imports - True Blood (HBO but carriage with Fox), Breaking Bad, Walking Dead, Homeland, House of Cards, Sons of Anarchy. Also, many of its original shows are now drawing to a close (Mad Men, Boardwalk Empire both ending with the next season) whilst the new shows have proven to have little appeal (with the notable exception of Game of Thrones). I still wonder how it makes money for Sky. I once considered jumping to Sky for it, now I would rather have Netflix. Truth is, I have access to Atlantic via my NowTV box but I rarely look at it.

Re: Coming soon to Virgin TV 2014
 

The problem with Atlantic on Now TV is that they don't have previous seasons, so there is little incentive to watch shows that are at least one season old. MM has said that back seasons do appear over time, but who wants to have to keep checking periodically?

I think Sky did a good thing launching Now TV, because streaming is the way of the future. But particularly with HBO, they should have got the back catalogue rights, because if they had done so, I think a lot more people would be interested in subscribing to Now TV just for the HBO shows.

Re: Coming soon to Virgin TV 2014
 

It's coming at the end of 2014, i use unblock-us mate.

Re: Coming soon to Virgin TV 2014
 

They do however I fully agree its a ridiculous situation , the other month 6 seasons of The Sopranos were on Sky OD and Now TV with an expiry date a month from them first arriving.

The box set side of the HBO deal has been brought up many times on numerous Sky forums/consumer feedback hopefully someone's been listening. Girls (HBO) Seasons 1&2 are now available with an expiry date in mid April so hopefully this will continue , most need a few months to digest boxsets.

Re: Coming soon to Virgin TV 2014
 

Yes, of course, but the point I was making was that if Tesco entered into such an agreement with the fuel companies it would be a cartel operating in restraint of trade and the courts would swiftly bring that arrangement to an end. Why is the tv market so different?

Re: Coming soon to Virgin TV 2014
 

Nah i still see it coming pal. WWE are doing deals with companies in USA to continue with the pay per view sales over there. The network is separate though they do imagine ppv sales in USA to plummet as a result. The deal between sky and wwe probably has taken into consideration the fact that sky imagine a hit on ppv sales over here too as a result.

Its probably the reason why sky are now offering all the PPV's via sky box office only (to try and get some money back) now and no longer offer any freebies (though we pay for sky sports its hardly free!).

I hope the wwe network is a reasonable price in the uk too. US is 10 dollars so should be 7 quid here. No doubt we'll be charged ten pounds too.

I'll be asking for your help on this when it launches as i'll want to do it this way too!

Re: Coming soon to Virgin TV 2014
 

Sky say they are not bothered by the WWE network, but it will be a lot cheaper than sky box office, $10 a month and you get all PPV. So when it comes to the UK even if its £10 still dam cheaper than box office.

Re: Coming soon to Virgin TV 2014
 

TLC was on Sports in December.

Elimination Chamber is on Sky Sports 1 on 23 Feb.

So some are still not on SBO.

Re: Coming soon to Virgin TV 2014
 

It's not. There is no restraint of trade here. Sky hasn't bought up all the TV channels, there are hundreds available elsewhere. On VM, Freeview, BT, Talk Talk et al.

If (say) Shell decided to close it's UK forecourts and sell its petrol exclusively at Tesco, there'd be sadness at any redundancies but the arrangement would go ahead without question.

That's all Sky are doing. They're not denying us all TV, they're simply denying us a flavour (for want of a better word) of it to encourage us to use their platform rather than VMs.

Re: Coming soon to Virgin TV 2014
 

Nice to see that Spotify on Tivo has at last had a long overdue update with a search function added.

Re: Coming soon to Virgin TV 2014
 

They are operating a cartel with HBO to control supply of HBO programmes within the UK market. The equivalent comparison with fuel supply would be to say electric cars are also available.

Re: Coming soon to Virgin TV 2014
 

aye exactly. i know a lot of people who will just dump sky sports now as a result as you can watch raw/smackdown a few days after anyway. i think the ppv prices are a huge rip off both in usa and uk. 20 odd quid for a ppv to watch at 1am-4am in the morning on a sunday night....quite outrageous! if it was a saturday or sunday at a reasonable time that'd be fine.

aye i knew a few had been free. it seems this new contract will make all the monthly ppvs on box office from 2015 and no more freebies?

Re: Coming soon to Virgin TV 2014
 

Anyone for free channels. You could always move to Switzerland, where UPC are throwing them at you:

http://advanced-television.com/2013/...hannels-in-hd/

Can't ses VM doing this in the near future can you?

Re: Coming soon to Virgin TV 2014
 

Not in a month of Sunday's.

Re: Coming soon to Virgin TV 2014
 

No it wouldn't. Your example isn't similar at all. Other dramas are available, other gangster programmes are available, other fantasy programmes are available etc. Once again, HBO programmes are only one brand. Other brands are available. Just like other petrol brands are available.

Re: Coming soon to Virgin TV 2014
 

The problem here is that all these comparisons with supermarkets are nonsense. I can take my grocery list to Sainsbury's, Asda, Tesco's or wherever, and I would be able to buy the products I wanted in any of them.

The thing about Sky Atlantic is that Sky have bought all these exclusive rights and nobody else gets a look in. As I've said before, I am happy with VM, Sky, BT or whoever putting on their own exclusive channels, but the programmes and films should not be exclusive (except maybe for a maximum of 6 months).

Sky Atlantic shows Game of Thrones. What other channel provider can do this? The answer is none, of course, and that is wrong.

Re: Coming soon to Virgin TV 2014
 

So...

Only VM has 120Mb broadband. Is that wrong?
Only VM has 3 tuners. Is that wrong?
Only VM has TiVo. Is that wrong?
Only VM has integrated Netflix. Is that wrong?

You want it all, but like everyone else in every marketplace, you have to decide what's best for you, and sacrifice some things. And then stop moaning about the things that you haven't chosen.

Re: Coming soon to Virgin TV 2014
 

Don't be so ridiculous, you know the point I am making. All those examples above may be peculiar to Virgin Media but nobody is stopping BT or Sky from offering it are they?

You are arguing for the sake of it and I'm not participating in this nonsense any longer.

Re: Coming soon to Virgin TV 2014
 

The whole point of the free market is that there are no restrictions on supply. If supply is restricted, the market isn't free and the government should step in to ensure a free market is restored. The restraint to trade is the exclusivity clause in the contract, effectively forming a cartel to control supply, availability and price of the product. Prior to the exclusive agreement with Sky, HBO content was available "on-demand" on Virgin Media.

Your argument that other channels are available and other drama etc is available doesn't apply to the example I gave, it didn't state that channels or drama programmes were being restricted but cited a specific product. The specific product having its supply restricted is HBO content. Clearly other petrol brands are available but the example I gave was of a cartel being formed by the fuel companies (plural) and Tesco, so the specific example there was petrol as a whole.

Obviously the size of the markets are different and the example I gave is obviously a situation that wouldn't actually happen but was clearly intended to show cartels working in restraint of trade.

---------- Post added at 20:10 ---------- Previous post was at 20:03 ----------

Yep, which is why my example was of one supermarket totally controlling the supply of fuel. You wouldn't be able to go elsewhere, just as you can't go elsewhere for Sky Atlantic.

I don't have a massive problem with them obtaining exclusive rights but if they do operate in this way to restrict supply and distort the market, they shouldn't also be allowed to make the channel exclusive. If they are acting as a monopoly supplier, an independent third party should set a fair price at which the channel should be made available to other platform operators.

Re: Coming soon to Virgin TV 2014
 

Nice try. As usual a paper-thin argument. http://investor.tivo.com/phoenix.zht...073&highlight=

Jolly good, you won't be missed. The standard of debate is far higher (and FAR more creditable) without you.

Re: Coming soon to Virgin TV 2014
 

Very wrong, UPC Ireland has 200Mb broadband, VM should up their game.

Re: Coming soon to Virgin TV 2014
 

Actually Tivo is exclusive to VM, so no one else can offer it as a set top box option.

I share your frustration and annoyance over Sky Atlantic, but sadly that is the current way that content deals are done.

The online services deals are no different; Lovefilm got exclusive rights to Vikings, so no TV channel or Netflix etc.can show it.

What I find a little frustrating and strange over HBO only being available on Atlantic is that I think, in the US, HBO is available as a Premium service on most cable and satellite services, not just one. But I do stand to be corrected on that.

Re: Coming soon to Virgin TV 2014
 

Later tonight I'm planning to relax with a nice (to me) Jack Daniels over ice. This is one of many foreign products that are imported to the UK by British companies (in this case Diageo) who then do what they will with it so long as they have JDs permission. They reduce it's ABV to suit individual markets, they inject it into alcopops like Slate 20 etc.

Now, whilst I agree it wouldn't be in their best interests in the booze market for them to do this, there's absolutely no reason why Diageo couldn't withdraw JD from wholesale and sign an exclusive supply agreement with (say) Wetherspoons pubs.

Other bourbons would still remain available. But if you wanted JD, go to Wetherspoons.

Sky merely do the same thing, they import HBO content, repackage it as SA and flog it exclusively in their pub. Want it really, really badly? Go get it from their pub, it's available to you.

Re: Coming soon to Virgin TV 2014
 

Which is exactly the point, it is available through one supplier only. Monopolistic behaviour preventing a free market being available for the product.

Re: Coming soon to Virgin TV 2014
 

I'm sorry mate. What point?

The Whopper is available from BK only - other burgers are available.
JD is available from Diageo only - Other bourbons are available.
The Astra is available from Vauxhall only - There are loads of other crap cars available.*

There is no monopoly. broadcast platforms are offered by VM, BT, TT, Freesat & Freeview in the UK. Programme production is carried out by the BBC, ITV, C4, C5 and countless independents in the UK and importation of programmes is too.

So no free market is being prevented. We're all absolutely free to join any provider we want. :)

*OK. Opel too, if anyone wants to split hairs.

Re: Coming soon to Virgin TV 2014
 

You are speaking of brand names used by individual companies, a totally different situation. Sure, Sky Atlantic is a brand name of Sky and they can do with that as they please. Once again, the supply being restricted is HBO content. HBO is not a Sky brand name, it is a third party product.

Obviously there isn't a free market for HBO content when Sky's exclusivity deal prevents the supply of HBO content to other platforms.

In my original example of Tesco exclusively controlling the supply of fuel, the public would be free to shop at Tesco but similarly there wouldn't be a free market for fuel.

Re: Coming soon to Virgin TV 2014
 

You're quite right. It is a totally different situation from what you seem to be proposing. Good thing too.

The free market doesn't seek to restrict businesses from differentiating themselves in order to gain commercial advantage. The free market welcomes and embraces such activities.

I'm at a loss to respond to your inexplicable desire to go back to your fuel example as it has no relationship to this conversation. Petrol is a fuel, a necessity to individuals and to our country's economy more generally. HBO programming isn't. Which is why the authorities are perhaps a little less keen to reap nuclear armageddon on Sky than you are. :D

Re: Coming soon to Virgin TV 2014
 

I'm glad somebody has finally drawn the distinction between necessary fuels and luxury TV channels!

Re: Coming soon to Virgin TV 2014
 

Again, nothing to do with the discussion. Such activities should indeed be embraced and Sky's unique mixture of HBO content and other miscellaneous content would be a good way of doing that. They could have done that without preventing HBO from supplying their content to other platforms.

It's merely a more extreme example of a company forming a cartel to control supply and distort the market. As for being essential to individuals, I'm sure that back in the day, Norman Tebbit would have pointed out that bicycles are also available. ;)

---------- Post added at 22:17 ---------- Previous post was at 22:09 ----------

The fuel example was only used as it was a better illustration a company attempting to control supply of a product than the previous supermarket based analogies.

Re: Coming soon to Virgin TV 2014
 

They didn't. HBO entered into an agreement of their own free will. That's how the free market works.

A single company can't form a cartel. Google it.

But it wasn't, was it? :D

Re: Coming soon to Virgin TV 2014
 

Generally all parties forming a cartel do so of their own free will. The market is distorted for other suppliers locked out of the agreement.

The example was of a cartel being formed by a supermarket chain and fuel suppliers, where do you see a single company?

Not if you assume that they were signing an agreement with themselves to exclusively supply fuel to the public, but that would be a ridiculous assumption wouldn't it?

It seems you were right about JustaBloke. :D

Re: Coming soon to Virgin TV 2014
 

Calm down, calm down...............:D:D

Re: Coming soon to Virgin TV 2014
 

Confirmed: Made in Bristol TV coming to Virgin Media.

Made in Bristol has confirmed tonight via twitter that they will launch on Virgin Media (Bristol area) sometime in 2014 on Virgin Channel 159.

https://twitter.com/madeinbristoltv/...18157118812160

Re: Coming soon to Virgin TV 2014
 

Odd...the local station for London said that they could not go onto Freesat as the channel had to be encrypted!

Re: Coming soon to Virgin TV 2014
 

Sky. I think we should drop the analogies. I must admit, I'm confusing myself now. I raised McDonalds but you trumped that with Norman Tebbit. I know when I'm beat! :D

That'd be a first. :D

Re: Coming soon to Virgin TV 2014
 

That may be because it is effectively impossible to focus a TV satellite beam on one city, which is what they would have to be able to do in order to broadcast it in the clear. Their licence may forbid broadcast outside their own area or they may be concerned about rights issues over some of the material they broadcast.

Re: Coming soon to Virgin TV 2014
 

This is probably not the best place for it, but could someone tell me if there is way to block certain people's posts so that I don't have to wade through one bloke wasting his own life and everyone else's time, please?

Re: Coming soon to Virgin TV 2014
 

Go to your CP ( control panel ) then see settings and options and then edit ignore list.

Re: Coming soon to Virgin TV 2014
 

Thanks Den. Very helpful.

Re: Coming soon to Virgin TV 2014
 

Trouble is this doesn't stop you seeing other people's responses to said irksome individual(s).

Best way to deal with trolls is probably to ignore them, and/or report them if breaking T&C of the group.

Re: Coming soon to Virgin TV 2014
 

Thanks Den, that totally works! That's going to make reading this forum a lot easier and more pleasurable now I don't have to wade through that bloke's incessant cries for attention & validation of his existence.

Although, as Gunslinger says, it doesn't stop you seeing other people's quoted responses. But it will help. Maybe if everyone puts him on the ignore list he might go away and bother people on Mumsnet or something which might be more suited to him.

Re: Coming soon to Virgin TV 2014
 

Agreed. I've already done it. :)

Re: Coming soon to Virgin TV 2014
 

They didn't say why. Maybe they only meant geographically restricted to London postcodes on the EPG, being encrypted on Freesat wouldn't really work.

Re: Coming soon to Virgin TV 2014
 

CityTV (Birminghams local tv) to launch on all platforms in April 2014.

Re: Coming soon to Virgin TV 2014
 

Any news about Notts tv coming to Virgin?

http://www.nottstv.uk.com/

Re: Coming soon to Virgin TV 2014
 

Will this just be in Brum itself, or across the West Midlands?

Edit: Found my answer http://recombu.com/digital/news/loca...tv_M11066.html

Looks like we won't be able to get it in Coventry. Shame - looks like they want to broadcast live ice basketball!

Re: Coming soon to Virgin TV 2014
 

Birmingham only, i believe Coventry will get it's own service and other areas such as Wolverhampton. Dudley, Walsall etc will be getting a Black Country service.

Re: Coming soon to Virgin TV 2014
 

Hmm. Coventry's "local" service will probably be located 35 miles away in Northampton...

Re: Coming soon to Virgin TV 2014
 

:D very good Sir.

Re: Coming soon to Virgin TV 2014
 

Just got a tweet back from Notts TV, just saying they are in talks with VM to launch!.

Re: Coming soon to Virgin TV 2014
 

Great news,thanks for the heads up Nick!

Re: Coming soon to Virgin TV 2014
 

Do these local channels have any right to distribution? I understand their lack of provision on satellite, but are they guaranteed a space on platforms that can limit locality like Freeview and VM?

Re: Coming soon to Virgin TV 2014
 

They are guaranteed carriage on Freeview, but not VM.

http://www.culture.gov.uk/images/con...k_July2011.pdf

Re: Coming soon to Virgin TV 2014
 

Ahh. many thanks. I wonder if VM might feel an opportunity (though only a minor one) to differentiate here?

Re: Coming soon to Virgin TV 2014
 

Has the capacity on DTT been gifted?

VM said that they intend to carry local TV, but have yet to decide on a IPTV*, VOD or TiVo app format.

*Since the introduction of NGTV, are all VM channels in effect now IPTV? Has this freed up the former space used by digital TV?

After doing some more research, it looks like the member of staff who posted the remark on facebook doesn't appear to be able to differentiate beteen FTA and FTV!

It doesn't look like it's been confirmed as FTA, but the general opinion is that it will be so, even if not put on the Freesat EPG or obtainable on the Sky EPG outside London.

Re: Coming soon to Virgin TV 2014
 

That makes sense, as Comux will be dealing with the DTT distribution and providing support where needed, the local channel staff may not be too knowledgeable about the technical details.

Re: Coming soon to Virgin TV 2014
 

Wouldn't they be able to get round this by encrypting the signal and then updating viewing cards on a regional basis?

Re: Coming soon to Virgin TV 2014
 

Yes, they could do that, its what the BBC used to do before going FTA. Satellite people are hoping that they won't do this as it would rule out a launch on Freesat and prevent people outside of London like myself being able to manually tune in the broadcasts.

Re: Coming soon to Virgin TV 2014
 

Only if they give exclusive satellite carriage to Sky. There is no encryption, and no viewing card, for Freesat.

Re: Coming soon to Virgin TV 2014
 

Local TV the brainchild of Mr Hunt , yet more public money wasted.

Re: Coming soon to Virgin TV 2014
 

Which is exactly the case with the largest Local TV station, London Live. (Virgin 159, Sky 117, Free/Youview 8).

Re: Coming soon to Virgin TV 2014
 

Ah ok.

---------- Post added at 15:30 ---------- Previous post was at 15:29 ----------

Bizarre isn't it. Almost like the main coalition party wants an alternative to the local output from the BBC.

Re: Coming soon to Virgin TV 2014
 

But the BBC only puts out short regional programmes on its main channel, as does ITV. The idea is that the new local channels will be full time, along the lines of local US channels.

I'm not sure how much public money is going into this - I thought they were going to be commercial channels. I'll have to read up on that.

Re: Coming soon to Virgin TV 2014
 

I believe they are going to fail, there isn't enough local news and events to fill a daily newspaper let alone a whole channel

I'm expecting the output to be dire and with viewing figures to match

Re: Coming soon to Virgin TV 2014
 

Possibly, depends I suppose on where you live, there's always something happening in Nottingham, I would imagine they could quite easily fill an evening channel!.

Re: Coming soon to Virgin TV 2014
 

Yup, all this money wasted for Hunts vanity project at a time of austerity :mad:

Yes, it's London Live that I was talking about. FTV would make it more difficult to receive outside London as I would need a London registered card.

Local TV channels are to be run on a commecial basis, but the start up costs have come from grants and by forcing the BBC to give them part of their income from the licence fee.

Expect to see a LOT of Teleshopping.

Re: Coming soon to Virgin TV 2014
 

This is NOT license fee money. It was money collected along side the license fee (not for the bbc) which was intended for digital switchover. There was a considerable amount of money left over and parliament decided to spend it on this.

Btw we have perfectly good regional news on bbc 1 and ITV as part of the licenses to broadcast. One poster suggested there wasn't enough news, on these channels. Audience research says there's the right balance.

These local licenses are about the micro city level news and information based. Anything else like repeats of entertainment programs is a bonus, but causes license issues on DSAT. Really London's station should have dealt with their freesat/DSAT licensing issue sooner.

Re: Coming soon to Virgin TV 2014
 

I was going by this document, but after what you said about the funding arrangements, I have found other articles about the top slicing of the licence fee.

Perhaps it's a mix of both :confused:

The BBC will also be indirectly funding local TV by agreeing to buy news coverage from them, according to these other articles.

Re: Coming soon to Virgin TV 2014
 

To be clear, the BBC license fee is protected for the time being. Top slicing (of the license fee) hasn't been agreed to (money from the BBC to outside broadcasters).I t is up to Parliament and the public, what happens to the license fee not the Government!

This money (from digital switchover) was collected and held by the bbc on behalf of parliament (it wasn't the bbc's money!) So this isn't top slicing the BBC's money.

Initial startup: These funds (from digital switchover) are covering startup only.

Ongoing: There will be sharing, as you say, of technical resources, news stories, borrow camera etc where there is agreement with the BBC in that locality. No money is crossing hands.

It is thought this will actually save resources for both broadcasters. How viewers will react to say an STV news story on BBC Scotland's Report Scotland I don't know.

I do welcome more "good" news, and news sources. But the local TV proposition needs to be self sustaining and that means finding its own revenue. The public can't afford to pay for it out of taxation. At the moment it isn't viable, hence these residual funds from digital switchover.

As a side note the BBC did enter into micro tv news in the west midlands and other pilots in the UK. The audiences did not warm to it and ultimately it failed.

Re: Coming soon to Virgin TV 2014
 

Whether it's licence fee money or not, Muppetman suggested it was public money being spent to start these channels. And it is. Money collected to excess by parliament for one reason and spent on another.

Re: Coming soon to Virgin TV 2014
 

When do these local tv channels launch??? i'd be interested to see them and see how tacky and cheap they look. i'd imagine i'll be getting "baytv liverpool".

Re: Coming soon to Virgin TV 2014
 

Over the past weekend I have seen information about an Channel that broadcast on Virgin Media right now is set to close.

Cant say anymore right now due to an 'Do Not Post' order.

Re: Coming soon to Virgin TV 2014
 

What's the point of mentioning it then? Publish and be damned, or else give the information to someone else to publish, if you don't want them coming after you. ;)

Re: Coming soon to Virgin TV 2014
 

Local TV ventures in this country have been dire, but it works in the US. There is no reason why they can't work here if they get the programming right, provided that the geographical areas are big enough to generate sufficient income.

However, these are two big 'ifs', so I hope the people running these channels have the vision to make them different, appealing and successful.

The local channel we had going in the Thames Valley for a few years some time ago was truly painful and boring to watch.

---------- Post added at 12:45 ---------- Previous post was at 12:44 ----------

Trouble is, Chris, that this could mean they cut him out of information in the future. Mind you, if he can't publish it when they give it to him, it makes you wonder about the value of this arrangement.

Re: Coming soon to Virgin TV 2014
 

Is this channel only closing on VM or both VM and Sky?

Re: Coming soon to Virgin TV 2014
 

Both.

Re: Coming soon to Virgin TV 2014
 

Is it a shopping channel old bean?.:)

Re: Coming soon to Virgin TV 2014
 

Less of the 'old' thank you:D

Re: Coming soon to Virgin TV 2014
 

'Old Bean' is an affectionate term usually spoken by one male to another and meaning 'old friend', 'good fellow', 'good chap'. The expression comes from England and has been around simce the nineteen twenties, perhaps before.:D