OFCOM forcing some EPG changes for PSB channels on all platforms
The full story is linked below, but on Virgin Media OFCOM are requiring by 2021:
- Welsh language broadcaster S4C will have to be given a higher slot on Virgin Media's UK-wide channel list by January 2021, so that it appears among the first 24 slots on the channel list. - Gaelic service BBC Alba will need to be found a higher slot on both Sky and Virgin by 2021, so that it can be seen in the top 24 slots across the UK. RXTVLog story with details of all the requirements on all platforms. https://www.rxtvlog.com/2019/07/how-...-you-find.html |
Re: OFCOM forcing some EPG changes for PSB channels on all platforms
Ridiculous.
Welsh and Scots Gaelic are only spoken by a minority in Wales and Scotland and next to zero speakers in England, so these valuable slots will be wasted. Next, Ofcom will insist that minority PSB services be given priority on streaming services too. |
Re: OFCOM forcing some EPG changes for PSB channels on all platforms
I agree it’s ridiculous and I’m Scottish. I’ve never watched BBC Alba, although some football fans will as there are some football games shown on the channel (with Gaelic commentary).
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Re: OFCOM forcing some EPG changes for PSB channels on all platforms
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And though it wasn't said in the article, if the priciple is universal, as it appears to be, it would also mean BBC Scotland channel on VM being moved up for those outside Scotland. An interesting aside is that when the BBC promote The Nine every night they only use the HD channel number on Freeview. They clearly are fine promoting only Ch115 rather than Ch9. Given all these forced changes have until early 2021 to be implemented I wouldn't be surprised if many of the platforms left it late in the hope that changes in the TV market in the meantime will help make it as painless as possible. E.g. if Sky Basics decided to go HD-only on VM during this time period that would free up two slots in the specified Top 24 range. |
Re: OFCOM forcing some EPG changes for PSB channels on all platforms
I do have to confess to one program on the BBC Scotland channel, River City, which is broadcast first on Monday then repeated Tuesday on BBC1 Scotland.
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Re: OFCOM forcing some EPG changes for PSB channels on all platforms
In fairness if the Netflix Nostradamus is finally right there will only be about 24 linear channels on the EPG anyway by 2021, so they will be virtually last.
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Re: OFCOM forcing some EPG changes for PSB channels on all platforms
Normally I only look at favourites so it will make no difference . There again wish I could put Netflix at the top ! Have a Amazon sub but can not recall when I last looked at it .Really should cancel I guess.!
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Re: OFCOM forcing some EPG changes for PSB channels on all platforms
RXTVlog have posted a follow-up tweet with a photo of the table OFCOM made.
https://twitter.com/RXTVlog/status/1148500499261509632 In this context I think this will not be as disruptive to the VM EPG as I first thought. Seeing it like this I think it's easy to misinterpret, I don't think it is actually saying regional channels need better numbers on UK wide EPG everywhere, just in the regions they are aimed at. Which is of course more sensible. BBC1 Wales HD is on Ch101 rather than 108 I believe, so is 108 empty in Wales? If so, surely VM could put S4C on 108 much like BBC Scotland channel is on 108 in Scotland and 162 elsewhere. The omission of BBC Scotland being mentioned on VM in this table I would interpret as OFCOM being happy with this type of arrangement. Which means the only change OFCOM want that will be a problem on VM is BBC Alba. Making space for one channel rather than two is obviously much easier to do in the 1 and half years they have to implement it though. |
Re: OFCOM forcing some EPG changes for PSB channels on all platforms
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000. Live Events Channel 100. Virgin Media Showcase HD 101. BBC ONE (England only) 101. BBC ONE Scotland HD (Scotland only) 101. BBC ONE Northern Ireland HD (Northern Ireland only) 101. BBC ONE Wales HD (Wales only) 102. BBC TWO England HD (England and Scotland only) 102. BBC TWO Scotland (Scotland only) 102. BBC TWO Northern Ireland HD (Northern Ireland only) 102. BBC TWO Wales HD (Wales only) 103. ITV (England and Wales only) 103. STV HD (Scotland only) 103. UTV (Northern Ireland only) 104. Channel 4 (Outside London) 104. Channel 4 HD (London only) 105. Channel 5 106. E4 107. BBC FOUR HD 108. BBC ONE London HD (England only) 108. BBC Scotland HD (Scotland only) 109. Sky One HD 110. Sky One 111. Sky Witness HD 112. Sky Witness 113. ITV HD (England and Wales only) 113. UTV HD (Northern Ireland only) 114. ITV +1 (England and Wales only) 114. STV +1 (Dundee areas only) 114. STV +1 (STV Central - Edinburgh and Glasgow areas only) 114. UTV +1 (Northern Ireland only) 115. ITV2 116. ITV2 +1 117. ITV3 118. ITV4 119. ITVBe 120. ITVBe +1 121. Sky Two 122. Sky Arts 123. Pick 124. GOLD HD 125. W 126. Alibi 127. Dave 128. Really 129. YESTERDAY 130. Drama 131. Dave ja vu 132. Comedy Central 133. Comedy Central +1 134. MTV 135. SYFY 136. SYFY +1 137. Universal TV 138. Universal TV +1 139. Challenge 140. Sky Witness +1 141. Channel 4 HD (Outside London) 142. Channel 4 +1 143. 4Seven 145. E4 HD 146. E4 +1 147. More4 148. CBS Reality 149. horror channel 150. Channel 5 HD 151. 5STAR 152. 5SELECT 153. 5 USA 154. 5Spike 155. Channel 5+1 156. E! 157. FOX 158. FOX+1 159. For full list of Local channels on Virgin Media see - Local TV: 160. Real Lives 161. BBC ALBA (Red Button for English audio on Live Sports) 162. BBC Scotland HD (England, Wales and Northern Ireland only) 164. Universal TV HD 165. SYFY HD 166. S4C HD (Red Button for English and Welsh audio) 167. TLC 168. TLC HD 169. TLC+1 170. I.D. 171. I.D.+1 172. Quest 173. Quest +1 174. ITV3 +1 175. ITV4 +1 176. ITV2 HD 177. ITV3 HD 178. ITV4 HD 179. ITVBe HD 180. Challenge +1 181. Comedy Central HD 182. Comedy Central Extra 183. MTV HD 184. BET 185. 5 USA +1 186. 5STAR +1 187. Paramount Network HD 188. Paramount Network 189. True Entertainment 190. W +1. 191. Alibi +1 192. CBS Justice 193. Sony Crime Channel 194. GOLD +1 195. More 4 HD 196. More 4 +1 197. CBS Drama 198. YouTube 199. FOX HD 200. YESTERDAY +1 201. CBS Reality +1 202. horror channel +1 203. 4Seven HD 204. Netfilx 205. Virgin TV Ultra HD (Only on V6 Boxes). 206. Sky Arts HD 207. Real Lives+1 208. Lifetime HD 209. Crime + Investigation HD 210. hayu 211. W HD 213. DMAX 214. DMAX +1 215. Quest Red 216. Blaze 217. Quest HD 218. Your TV 219. Vice 220. True Entertainment +1 222. Crime + Investigation +1 226. Alibi HD 227. Dave HD By January 2021?: Entertainment: 000. Live Events Channel 100. Virgin Media Showcase HD 101. BBC ONE (England only) 101. BBC ONE Scotland HD (Scotland only) 101. BBC ONE Northern Ireland HD (Northern Ireland only) 101. BBC ONE Wales HD (Wales only) 102. BBC TWO England HD (England and Scotland only) 102. BBC TWO Scotland (Scotland only) 102. BBC TWO Northern Ireland HD (Northern Ireland only) 102. BBC TWO Wales HD (Wales only) 103. ITV (England and Wales only) 103. STV HD (Scotland only) 103. UTV (Northern Ireland only) 104. Channel 4 (Outside London) 104. Channel 4 HD (London only) 105. Channel 5 106. BBC ONE London HD (England only) 106. BBC Scotland HD (Scotland only) 107. BBC FOUR HD 108. BBC Scotland HD (England, Wales and Northern Ireland only) 109. BBC ALBA 110. S4C HD 111. Sky One 112. Sky Witness 113. ITV HD (England and Wales only) 113. UTV HD (Northern Ireland only) 114. ITV +1 (England and Wales only) 114. STV +1 (Dundee areas only) 114. STV +1 (STV Central - Edinburgh and Glasgow areas only) 114. UTV +1 (Northern Ireland only) 115. ITV2 116. ITV2 +1 117. ITV3 118. ITV4 119. ITVBe 120. ITVBe +1 121. Sky One HD 122. Sky Witness HD 123. Sky Two 124. GOLD HD 125. W 126. Alibi 127. Dave 128. Really 129. YESTERDAY 130. Drama 131. Dave ja vu 132. Comedy Central 133. Comedy Central +1 134. MTV 135. SYFY 136. SYFY +1 137. Universal TV 138. Universal TV +1 139. Sky Arts 140. Pick 141. Channel 4 HD (Outside London) 142. Channel 4 +1 143. 4Seven 144. E4 145. E4 HD 146. E4 +1 147. More4 148. CBS Reality 149. horror channel 150. Channel 5 HD 151. 5STAR 152. 5SELECT 153. 5 USA 154. 5Spike 155. Channel 5+1 156. E! 157. FOX 158. FOX+1 159. For full list of Local channels on Virgin Media see - Local TV: 160. Challenge 161. Sky Witness +1 162. Real Lives 164. Universal TV HD 165. SYFY HD 167. TLC 168. TLC HD 169. TLC+1 170. I.D. 171. I.D.+1 172. Quest 173. Quest +1 174. ITV3 +1 175. ITV4 +1 176. ITV2 HD 177. ITV3 HD 178. ITV4 HD 179. ITVBe HD 180. Challenge +1 181. Comedy Central HD 182. Comedy Central Extra 183. MTV HD 184. BET 185. 5 USA +1 186. 5STAR +1 187. Paramount Network HD 188. Paramount Network 189. True Entertainment 190. W +1. 191. Alibi +1 192. CBS Justice 193. Sony Crime Channel 194. GOLD +1 195. More 4 HD 196. More 4 +1 197. CBS Drama 198. YouTube 199. FOX HD 200. YESTERDAY +1 201. CBS Reality +1 202. horror channel +1 203. 4Seven HD 204. Netfilx 205. Virgin TV Ultra HD (Only on V6 Boxes). 206. Sky Arts HD 207. Real Lives+1 208. Lifetime HD 209. Crime + Investigation HD 210. hayu 211. W HD 213. DMAX 214. DMAX +1 215. Quest Red 216. Blaze 217. Quest HD 218. Your TV 219. Vice 220. True Entertainment +1 222. Crime + Investigation +1 226. Alibi HD 227. Dave HD ©copyright 2019 Media Boy 2006 - 2019. An ''Keep it real and free'' Production. |
Re: OFCOM forcing some EPG changes for PSB channels on all platforms
Media Boy, that suggested layout was what I thought they meant when I made my first post in this thread, but as I said in my last post I think I was wrong in my interpretation based on them not mentioning BBC Scotland channel on VM, this suggests they are happy with how VM have implemented the dual positioning of that channel on 108/162.
If OFCOM, as it seems, are OK with that then S4C only has to move in Wales, and I believe 108 in Wales is empty after the big BBC HD switch, so it would be a fairly obvious to have similar 108/166 strategy for it. BBC Alba isn't as obvious, but again it only needs to change Scotland, it can remain on 161 for rest of UK. Maybe it's more clear in the full documentation, but the wording and layout by OFCOM in that table are pretty ambiguous and open to various interpretations. With a year and half to go I don't think any platform will implement these changes until 6 months to go at the earliest, unless opportunities arise where it would be done in conjunction with other changes. |
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