Quote:
Originally Posted by OLD BOY
I think Virgin Media have scored a double whammey success with the UKTV and ITV situations, despite upsetting a few viewers.
UKTV was pretty poor value for money overall and ITV content has been enhanced without them having to succumb to the retransmission fees. Now, hopefully, they can concentrate on improving their TV offer.
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I'm not entirely sure I'd call the UKTV situation a success by any stretch of the imagination. Yes, financially it seems Virgin are being hit less than UKTV are - but reputationally they don't exactly come out smelling of roses. And the platform is undoubtedly weaker for being the only UK TV provider not having those channels.
Perhaps the quietness is a good sign, that it's the first time UKTV have stopped stirring on Twitter etc and finally realised such things are best resolved behind closed doors. I can't help but wonder if Virgin were rather unimpressed by UKTV's Twitter post last Friday night.
I was looking through some of the UKTV reports and suchlike this past week - in one glossy they're boasting about how they increased the reach of one channel just by making it FTA. Well no sugar sherlock. And in the next breath, that's a great thing because of increased advertising income and program budget. Errr.....
On Companies House I found their 2016 accounts, admittedly these are now 18months+ old, but I think it was something like £68m profit. Trying to square maybe a mid-£70m figure now with a reported £1m a week loss, well it's hard to argue why they really do need to get back on Virgin before too much long term damage is done.