Re: Changes to Virgin TV (2022)
 

I honestly can't see Paramount closing any of their '5' branded channels as they are doing well as a portfolio and each of them has a defined audience. ITV have 6 channels and Channel 4 have 6 channels, so Channel 5 won't want to have any fewer than 5.

Re: Changes to Virgin TV (2022)
 

A very sensible idea angus! Probably so sensible that the BBC won't even think about doing that!

Re: Changes to Virgin TV (2022)
 

LaLiga TV will be remove from Prime Video from June 30th.

https://forums.digitalspy.com/discus...ment_101022769

I have seen rumour that Premier Sports has lost a UK and Northern Ireland rights to LaLiga to a yet to be name broadcaster.

Re: Changes to Virgin TV (2022)
 

epsilon has posted on Digital Spy Forum that the following channels has been added to "Mix" package:

182. Comedy Central Extra
250. Discovery Channel HD
251. Animal Planet HD
252. Discovery Science
256. Discovery Turbo
257. Discovery History
258. Discovery Channel +1
259. Animal Planet +1
260. Discovery Science +1
261. Discovery History +1
265. Nat Geo WILD HD
266. National Geographic
272. Sky History 2 HD
335. The Box
342. Kerrang

https://forums.digitalspy.com/discus...ment_101033579

Re: Changes to Virgin TV (2022)
 

So VM are basically upgrading Mix customers to Fun and simplifying the legacy tiers.

Re: Changes to Virgin TV (2022)
 

More like upgrading the Mix tier to include the same channels as the Fun tier, otherwise they could have simply migrated Mix customers to Fun. There are still differences to "app" access codes - at a guess just Virgin's own kids on demand content.

Re: Changes to Virgin TV (2022)
 

That's why I used the word "basically", I didn't know the details and there was no mention of a letter being sent to customers like when M+ TV customers were moved to Fun.

I didn't know Fun gets Virgin's Kids On-Demand content, I've never checked.

---------- Post added at 08:52 ---------- Previous post was at 08:47 ----------

Actually I wouldn't be surprised if it's easier for VM to add services to a tier rather than migrate people to a tier in these types of circumstances i.e. large numbers of customers. That's probably why M+ is still on their systems, despite customers being "moved" onto Fun, they just matched the channels.

Re: Changes to Virgin TV (2022)
 

I think it only on offer for June.

Re: Changes to Virgin TV (2022)
 

Shame if it is. It seemed like the right timing to simplify their legacy tiers too i.e. ages since they last did it. It certainly read that way.

Re: Changes to Virgin TV (2022)
 

It is a simplification to retire 'Fun' as a specific TV tier.

But it is a little different at the moment to those active package changes where customers get moved to Mixit or Maxit.

Re: Changes to Virgin TV (2022)
 

Thanks for clarification BenMcr. :)

Re: Changes to Virgin TV (2022)
 

They were actually moved onto a different tier, the original M+ (& More) tier code(s) were unchanged with the redundant tier codes still added to new channels as they were added. M+ codes haven't been added to channels recently added to the Mix pack, so a departure from the norm.

The recent changes preserve the "Mix" pack but with "Fun" pack channel parity. I would think the best plan would be to migrate everyone to the Mixit (Player) + personal picks model and retire all of the old codes but that may be some way off.

Re: Changes to Virgin TV (2022)
 

I wasn't referring to tier codes when I said M+ customers were "moved" to Fun, I was referring to the wording on the letters they sent to us as customers.
I think moving legacy customers to Mixit and Personal Picks would be be a nightmare until numbers are pretty small. Best to wait until the numbers are small from natural customer churn. Writing to large numbers and getting them to understand and then pick Personal Picks, I can't imagine going well, either from a customer relations point of view, or administration-wise.

Re: Changes to Virgin TV (2022)
 

I wasn't really focussing on the tier codes either, just stating what had happened to them with each change. I think Ben summed up the current changes quite well as a "simplification". There is now channel parity, so a future migration to "Fun" wouldn't be too difficult. In the meantime, there is a marketing opportunity for customer services to inform customers of the extra channels and to offer them an update to a current package with even more channels. Virgin have already been seen to be rolling over legacy Full House customers to Maxit + Kids.

Probably better to offer them a newer package now and get as many customers onto the current packs ASAP. Depending on how the change is "sold" it may even reduce churn. Prices could be held at the current level with any increase built into the annual price increase. It doesn't make sense to hang onto legacy packages when Virgin are moving into new areas such as IPTV, with entirely new subscription tiers. "Mix" users determined to keep their existing bundle can be rolled over to "Fun" with channel parity, kicking the migration of "Fun" down the road. As I said, retiring all of the old codes may still be some way off.


I posted the current differences between Mix and Fun on DS Forum, if anyone wants to follow Media Boy's earlier link to that thread.

Re: Changes to Virgin TV (2022)
 

As far my Sources know - Virgin Media UK has still to start talks with Warner Bros Discovery after a merger over a new deal.

So Virgin has to pay out two times per month to Warner Bros Discovery as far as I know.