Premier Sports on Virgin Media (2013 thread)
 

MP's have written to the CEO of VM calling for the company to carry Premier Sports as a matter of urgency (before the end of this month) in time for the rugby world cup.

VM have a large customer base in the north where this sport is popular and the members of parliament think that VM should carry the channel as 3 years of negotiations have come to nothing.

http://www.cableforum.co.uk/board/35627962-post130.html

DO YOU CARE IF PREMIER SPORTS LAUNCH ON VIRIGN MEDIA?

Re: Premier Sports on Virgin Media (2013 thread)
 

l am happy with what we have already got and to be perfectly honest l could not give two hoots about Premier Sports.

Re: Premier Sports on Virgin Media (2013 thread)
 

I would like it solely to to watch the NHL but being honest I can understand why VM aren't interested in taking on PS. IMO It's a tinpot channel and I still don't understand what the NHL were doing going with them for 5 years.

I signed up to their online service last June to watch the NHL playoffs but the quality of the streams were a joke so I cancelled within a few days and got my money back. Won't be going near their online service again.

Re: Premier Sports on Virgin Media (2013 thread)
 

Yes please. Premier sports is a must.

Rugby League fans are suffering massively from this channel not being available. As well as the NRL and world cup - The State of Origin was not available for me this year on Virgin Media despite paying £300 a year for the sports channels.

Re: Premier Sports on Virgin Media (2013 thread)
 

Maybe it due to one of the PS bosses!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Premier_Sports

Anyway Premier Sports is just Setanta Sports under an other name.

Re: Premier Sports on Virgin Media (2013 thread)
 

Just what I was thinking MB, you can't blame VM for being cautious with PS.

I do wonder how much longer they will last though, I can't imagine the NHL brings them that many subscribers, don't know about the Rugby. I think the fact they can't afford to launch a HD channel says it all.

Re: Premier Sports on Virgin Media (2013 thread)
 

Excellent news

Re: Premier Sports on Virgin Media (2013 thread)
 

Looking at their schedule I can't get excited about this channel at all. That being said I'm not a fan of the sports they have rights for and I can understand why Rugby League and NHL fans might feel left out.

Not for me unless it was bundled into XL and even then I'd doubt if it would get much attention from me.

Re: Premier Sports on Virgin Media (2013 thread)
 

I have had to stream this from the online sites, to have it on Virgin would be such a bonus as not all of us are football fans and some of us do support other sports.

Re: Premier Sports on Virgin Media (2013 thread)
 

Is it just me or are two of the possible answers the same? The question is DO YOU CARE IF PREMIER SPORTS LAUNCH ON VIRIGN MEDIA? Aren't the responses "No" and "Don't care" not the same? Sorry if I'm being thick, but I can't see any difference between them!

Re: Premier Sports on Virgin Media (2013 thread)
 

I could not give a toss! I would much rather have F1HD!

Re: Premier Sports on Virgin Media (2013 thread)
 

Voted no and don't care. No because I wouldn't watch the Rugby League so wouldn't interest me for that side of the channel. Don't care because I have no idea as to what sports they show so probably some will appeal and others won't appeal to me.

Re: Premier Sports on Virgin Media (2013 thread)
 

The ball is most definately in Premier's court on this one. They were offered premium slot & turned their noses up.

Virgin can get away with milking £2 a month from customers on XL who have no interest in Sport due to the popularity of Prem football. They fully well know if they did the same with Premier Sports, a lot of these people would jump ship to where they can get packs not loaded with sports channels, particularly if adding Premier results in a price hike.

Re: Premier Sports on Virgin Media (2013 thread)
 

Same here , I would prefer premier to be taken over by BT.

Re: Premier Sports on Virgin Media (2013 thread)
 

If you believe what VM stated they were offered a standalone position but refused, so more fool them why should they get any preferential treatment than say MUTV and Boxnation

Re: Premier Sports on Virgin Media (2013 thread)
 

I also looked at the schedules and really cannot get even slightly excited about it.

Best RL World Cup games are on the BBC.

Re: Premier Sports on Virgin Media (2013 thread)
 

I honestly don't think the failure of Setanta Sports is connected in any way to Premier Sports not being on VM. It's more likely to be solely commercial factors.

By inference, i'd take it to mean that "no" means that one doesn't want Premier Sports on VM and "don't care" means that a person doesn't care one way or another.

Just to add that I've been informed that all the matches relevant to most people will be available FTA on the BBC.

Re: Premier Sports on Virgin Media (2013 thread)
 

It annoys me that Premier Sports is not available on Virgin We should at least have the option to pay extra for it! That said the RFL have made rod for their own back with this one selling the rights to channel only available on sky!

Re: Premier Sports on Virgin Media (2013 thread)
 

i voted yes but under certain conditions.

I would primarily watch NHL-that would be the main attraction would probably watch some GAA.

I think they show argentine football- hmmm not that fussed - that s about it for stuff i would be remotely interested in

So while i would welcome it being available on VM :

1) i would certainly not pay £10pm for it- it would have to be say part of XL or certainly a much lower cost than that. We get BT/ESPN in 3 HD channels and even if we had to pay for it would not be that much more expensive than Premier Sports with only 1 (SD) channel.
Premier Sports is overpriced for what it has compared to its rivals imo.

2) Got to have a HD channel- i hear the picture quality isnt the greatest on the Sky channel- i can only imagine how bad NHL looks on that. Ice Hockey needs to be shown in HD.

Re: Premier Sports on Virgin Media (2013 thread)
 

Indeed

Re: Premier Sports on Virgin Media (2013 thread)
 

Premier Sports is like Screensport used to be to me.

We don't know what VM think about it but I am assuming their price or demands are too high and they won't back down.

They'll be gone within a year or two and their rights divided up elsewhere.

Re: Premier Sports on Virgin Media (2013 thread)
 

Spot on Richard....

Re: Premier Sports on Virgin Media (2013 thread)
 

I said no even though I am a sports nut, for me any potential interest went when BT sports snapped up the football Conference premier rights!

Re: Premier Sports on Virgin Media (2013 thread)
 

Can I ask why the percentages don't add up?

Currently, as I post:

Yes. 13 25.49%
No. 26 50.98%
Don't care. 20 39.22%
Multiple Choice Poll. Voters: 51. You have already voted on this poll

Re: Premier Sports on Virgin Media (2013 thread)
 

I suspect you can vote for more than one option is spewing results %

Re: Premier Sports on Virgin Media (2013 thread)
 

A percentage is a percentage. The values have simply been mis-calculated. The total should be 100.

Re: Premier Sports on Virgin Media (2013 thread)
 

I agree, should be on total votes rather total individual voters

Re: Premier Sports on Virgin Media (2013 thread)
 

Have amended the poll question to make it fit better with the response options

Re: Premier Sports on Virgin Media (2013 thread)
 

I'm desperate to see the NRL on TV. I'd be more than happy to pay for Premier Sports as a premium package a la Sky. I can see why it won't be in the XL package though. I certainly wouldn't be unhappy if it did become part of the XL package

Re: Premier Sports on Virgin Media (2013 thread)
 

Somebody isn't telling the whole story

http://www.loverugbyleague.com/news_...umbles-on.html

Re: Premier Sports on Virgin Media (2013 thread)
 

What a shock. Two companies pointing the finger of blame elsewhere. Personally, having looked at what Premier actually broadcast, I would rather it launched as a pay monthly service rather than included in XL package.

Re: Premier Sports on Virgin Media (2013 thread)
 

Still convinced that BT Sports going into XL has scuppered any version of Premier on VM....

Re: Premier Sports on Virgin Media (2013 thread)
 

As said it is one word against the other - but l do blame VM on this, as soon as BT was arranged, that was the end of Premier Sports.

Sadly again it the viewers that lose and and VM trying to dictate. They are known for being stubborn.

I think that as BT sport has got conference football, VM will think 'where can we make any money' this is what its all about.

VM customers are always the losers in this. The directors at VM should look at two points - shall we make it a stand alone channel where we can make some money, or put it on the XL package and try and make money.

I don't know what other sports in on PS. but l think that VM should give customers 'that choice' at the moment, they don't.

Re: Premier Sports on Virgin Media (2013 thread)
 

Theres alot I can blame Virgin, but I really dont think this was one of them.

Premier Sports demise is down to emergence of BT Sports and their power to do business deals.

I see Premier sports operating in same area as Eurosport picking up the niche items that the major ones are not totally interested in and although Eurosport is in XL premier sport does not have enough "mainstream" content to warrant inclusion (queue angry fans of NRL, NHL etc I apologise but thats how I see it). Its life could depend on its ability to hold on to these niche sports but their future is in the balance if BT continue to chip away at these rights.

Re: Premier Sports on Virgin Media (2013 thread)
 

They've offered to do that by offering to add it as a Premium channel, which is what it is. PS have said no to that.

Adding BT sports to XL made sense as it is a high profile sports channel and will bring in extra customers.

Adding PS to XL will just mean that XL customers are subsidising sports fans with no upside. If you want more Premium sport on XL, you should be prepared to pay extra for it. VM did the right thing in this instance.

Re: Premier Sports on Virgin Media (2013 thread)
 

Spot on Passingbat....

Re: Premier Sports on Virgin Media (2013 thread)
 

No problem with paying for the channel. I accept that it covers relatively niche sports. I would pay purely to watch the NRL coverage. You can see why PS are a bit peeved if they thought they were in with a shot for a space in XL but then got dropped like a stone when BT came through. I wonder what the different terms are that Sky offer compared to VM for hosting premium channels.

Incidentally, I tried the online PS streaming service. I know others have had success going down this route, but it was unwatchable for me.

Re: Premier Sports on Virgin Media (2013 thread)
 

Yes, I signed up for their online service last year for the NHL playoffs (which I was happy to do) as they blackout all games they show on NHL's own online player but the quality was awful. I didn't mind the SD despite their claims of HD which were way off the mark but the main issue was the picture was choppy and would stutter a lot which makes watching ice hockey near impossible. I don't get this issue with other streaming services I use.

If you look at their facebook page you will see a number of comments not just about online player being poor but also their overall coverage of the NHL being poor also.

The only good thing I would say for them is they gave me a refund very quickly but I won't be going near their online player again.

Re: Premier Sports on Virgin Media (2013 thread)
 

Premier Sports sell their satellite subscriptions directly, totally bypassing Sky, so they get 100% of the revenue. This isn't possible on VM. VM would have to resell it, and would expect to take a share.

Re: Premier Sports on Virgin Media (2013 thread)
 

I asked Virgin about PS on Sunday when I was on the phone cancelling Sky Sports and the guy told me they was in negotiations and that I should call them! I did this via email and got this response
" Hello Paul,

Thank you for contacting Premiersports – Channel 428.

To be noted that we Premier Sports is currently not available to view on Virgin. We are endeavouring to change this situation at the moment and hopefully we can get the channel available on Virgin platform shortly"


All I want is the choice to pay for it at least! Its not on, I feel Virgin have really let me and other Rugby League/NHL fans down with this!

Re: Premier Sports on Virgin Media (2013 thread)
 

No they haven't! It's Premier Sports that won't allow the channel to be made available as a premium channel! Don't blame VM for the decisions of others!

---------- Post added at 12:49 ---------- Previous post was at 12:47 ----------

They have, and they concluded they could offer it as a stand alone premium channel. It's Premier Sports that have decided not to go there, it's not VM's fault.

Re: Premier Sports on Virgin Media (2013 thread)
 

What cut do VM take? If it was 20% PS could just charge an extra £2 per month - it covers sports that people would probably pay that for. What exactly do they have to lose by not becoming a premium package?

Re: Premier Sports on Virgin Media (2013 thread)
 

The only thing I can think of is that demand for this programming (and therefore the channel) is so low, Premier Sports think it's worth holding out for a place on XL. From VM's perspective, why pay good money on XL for a channel that only a small minority of viewers will ever tune into?

You can see the dilemma!

Re: Premier Sports on Virgin Media (2013 thread)
 

I believe that VM should give its customers the choice of having it.
But there again VM are a law onto themself. Whateve happened to 'we endeavour to give our customers the best choice of channels'.

Re: Premier Sports on Virgin Media (2013 thread)
 

Do you actually read any posts or articles Arthur? You obviously don't or you would know that PS were given the opportunity to have PS on VM if they were added as a pay for Premium Channel, which is what they are; a pay for Premium channel.

PS refused to do this. So why not bombard PS with complaints instead of VM?

Re: Premier Sports on Virgin Media (2013 thread)
 

Arthur, I just can't see how you lay the blame squarely a Virgin Media's door. Virgin have negotiated a fabulous yet expensive wholesale deal with BT to put BT Sports into their premium packages (estimated at £75M per year) for 6 channels (3 x SD & 3 x HD). Premier Sports want an equally expensive wholesale deal but for 1 SD channel and it is them that have turned down a stand alone deal.

What is it you want Virgin to do? Personally, before August the 16th the camels back was under extreme stress. Now thanks to LG there seems to be a much more powerful negotiating team and the future is bright!

Re: Premier Sports on Virgin Media (2013 thread)
 

Im pretty sure PS are not asking for the same money as BT ! And I'm not solely blaming virgin for what's going on either but if around 25% of people who have voted want it surely the channel has some worth!

Re: Premier Sports on Virgin Media (2013 thread)
 

Not sure that is so Wire Man. The internet is not representative at all which was proved by the overwhelming online support for the AV system of voting before the 2011 referendum which saw nearly 70 per cent vote No.

Am sure many do want PS but VM have to gain something out of it and it has to be at a price that works for all...

Re: Premier Sports on Virgin Media (2013 thread)
 

I completely agree that any/all deals have to be mutually beneficial to all sides! However as things stand Virgin get nothing, Premier get nothing and the viewers get nothing too . I find the whole situation very frustrating !
Has anyone subscribed to Premier Sports via the premier player, if so what's the picture quality like?

Re: Premier Sports on Virgin Media (2013 thread)
 

I've heard positive comments from some people, but it was unwatchable for me and from your details it looks like you have the same deal that I have.

Re: Premier Sports on Virgin Media (2013 thread)
 

You can check the picture quality here:

http://www.premierplayer.tv/

Re: Premier Sports on Virgin Media (2013 thread)
 

That's not too bad, if the live quality is as good as that I will give it a go for the Rugby League World Cup. I will wait until the last moment though because you never know when Virgin will surprise us with a last minute deal.

Re: Premier Sports on Virgin Media (2013 thread)
 

Virgin have been delivering plenty of surprises in recent months so you never know.

Re: Premier Sports on Virgin Media (2013 thread)
 

Premier Sports' first coverage of the RL World Cup (a warm up game for NZ) lost the signal for most of the first half. They have been offering refunds on Twitter

Re: Premier Sports on Virgin Media (2013 thread)
 

I was going to subscribe to the web feed next week but i might hold off now and see how they do on there next broadcast.

Re: Premier Sports on Virgin Media (2013 thread)
 

I'm holding off until Friday just in case Virgin Media can do a last minute deal. If not I will have to give Premier Player ago

Re: Premier Sports on Virgin Media (2013 thread)
 

I don't think they will carry this that's why i am also looking at the streaming option for the next 2 months

Re: Premier Sports on Virgin Media (2013 thread)
 

Just a message come up on my V+ about Premier sports soon being available..What's that all about?:erm:

Re: Premier Sports on Virgin Media (2013 thread)
 

Its free until the end of the year at which time Virgin and Premier Sports will probably put it as a standalone subscription channel.

Re: Premier Sports on Virgin Media (2013 thread)
 

Thank you.I'll let Him indoors know.:)

Re: Premier Sports on Virgin Media (2013 thread)
 

Had a quick look at the New Zealand v Samoa match, in fact just caught the 2 doing the haka, and have to say the picture quality even though SD was not bad. Haven't actually watched anything completely on there.

Re: Premier Sports on Virgin Media (2013 thread)
 

You should have watched the rest of the game it was a stunning game.