The Virgin Media Milton Keynes Cable is an oddball in the VM empire. Originally a showpiece of technology, it belonged to BT, who were required by legislation to dispose of it. They priced it so high nobody wanted it. Eventually NTL agreed to lease it, and VM acqyuired it on the 'merger' with NTL.
The MK cable is a hybrid, copper, aluminium and some fibre optic. Oh and it carries and unscrambled UHF signal which does not require a STB for the basic relay. The relay includes: BBC1, BBC2, ITV Anglia, ITV Central, Channel 4 (in two positions), Five, QVC, BBC News 24, and Hallmark (in place of Sky1) as well as several national radio channels and a cable only station (CRMK - see
www.crmk.co.uk) which are received on a standard radio connected to a separate FM socket.
VM are responsible for repairs to the metal, with BT repairing (and supposedly upgrading) the fibre optic. Where the two meet, there is always disagreement over who is responsible for the repair. Also VM's customer service don't understand the network, and if you call them to report a fault, they ask you to reset the STB which you don't have, or say you should get the channel through your rooftop aerial, which you don't have either.
You'll notice, no digital channels. Apparently the cable cannot carry them, which is a surprise as you can subscribe to additional channels with an STB.
The basic relay as above costs about £35 per year.
Our area is due for analogue turn off in 2012, a little under 4 years away.
Enquiries to VM & BT about the future viability of the cable are met with stoney silence.
We regularly receive mailshots telling us about the wonders of the VM cable packages, but when applying we are told as we are in thier analogue only area, we can't have the service. Seems like the marketing department could save a few quid by blocking our post-codes then!
So the question is, what future for Milton Keynes. The options are:
Sky
Sky Freesat (Currently on offer at ASDA for a one off payment of £75 incl installation)
BBC/ITV Freesat - Around £120-£150
Freeview - Around £120 for the aerial.
Where I live the Freeview signal is not bad, I get all the channels on a set top aerial, with only occaisional freezes, so I guess a roof mounted aerial will get a good signal.
Looks to me the best bet is to go for the Sky Freesat, hook in a BBC/ITV Freesat STB and get the best of both, switching between them as required and keep my Freeview as it is.
Anybody see any problems with that?