VirginMedia Channel One
 

At the end of Supernatural on VirginMedia Channel One last night I could swear that there was some sort of announcement about Channel One disappearing next January. Unfortunately I wasn't really paying attention, so, was I imagining things?

Re: VirginMedia Channel One
 

No - Sky bought it, and is closing it down.

Re: VirginMedia Channel One
 

Yep, $ky bought it, gutted it (taking Chuck away from freeview, among other things), killed it.
Rumour has it that the precious freeview slot may get Challenge on freeview.
Bravo is also set to be closed.

Re: VirginMedia Channel One
 

Bravo Channels (Bravo, Bravo +1 and Bravo 2) to close on January 1st.
Challenge Jackpot to also close on January 1st,
Channel One Channels (Channel One and Channel One +1) to close 'at end of January'.

Re: VirginMedia Channel One
 

But the good news is that Sky Atlantic is launching and will air first run American series, and a chunk of the savings on closing down Channel One and Bravo will go to bolster the programming of Living (which will change its name to Sky Living).

I'm guessing that we might also see an improvement in Sky One, with more British programming (hopefully not reality shows, though, but new dramas). Not long to wait and we shall see.

The real losers, though, are the terrestrial viewers, who lose all their general entertainment viewing from all but the traditional TV channels and Sky 3. If Sky were looking to increase their audience share, they should now start putting onto Sky 3 those programmes that were being shown on Sky 1 over 5 years ago. That would improve the quality of Sky 3 and start getting people to think that they might want to go into pay TV to see Sky 1 and the other Sky channels. Can't see them doing that though, but I think it would generate new customers for Sky.

Re: VirginMedia Channel One
 

The latest I have is talks are ''ongoing'' with BSkyB for Sky Atlantic to launch on Virgin TV. But due to Sky Living being just an rebrand Virgin has the right to broadcast it.

Re: VirginMedia Channel One
 

Maybe they will use the Channel One slot to get their "Picnic" service back on the agenda (Ofcom gave it approval as a sweetener when they forced the wholesale Sky Sports deal) - with this they now have 3 full-time DTT channels. Not sure on the technology, but considering any potential customers would need to buy a "Picnic-STB" then they could perhaps experiment with the concerned technology to squeeze a little more capacity.