Good Food HD?

[Zain]

Hi,

Does anyone know if Virgin is planning on adding Good Food HD anytime soon? If so when? My mum is into those sort of stuff so to see Food in HD...well who can complain

Cheers!

[zantarous]

That will be a long one as they need to discuss it with the BBC who are 50% owners of UKTV. It would certainly be the easiest to do in HD of all the UKTV channels.

[Stephen]

The channel has been mentioned by VM a few times and its currently in talks to carry the channel.

[medic boy]

Those talks should be pretty quick, they will be talking to themselves, just hope they don't use someone with multiple personalities, as that could be tricky

[devilincarnate]

Originally Posted by medic boy

Those talks should be pretty quick, they will be talking to themselves, just hope they don't use someone with multiple personalities, as that could be tricky

No that is wrong as VIRGIN MEDIA are the so called silent partners in this ( please correct me if i am wrong )

[mersey70]

I'm guessing that Sky must have offered a tasty deal on costs to get the UKTV HD channels exclusively on Sky, just a guess though.

I know a lot of posters bang on about Sky not providing all their HD channels to VM, at least Sky provide all their own or part owned channels to their own customers, unlike VM!

VM and BBC Worldwide both own 50% of UKTV, I have never read anywhere that VM are junior or even silent partners. It has been rumoured that VM would like to sell their share though.

[medic boy]

Even if they are silent partners, they should have all the channels they either own or part own on their own cable network. otherwise you are advertising for your main competition every time the channel says "exclusively on sky in HD". I think they should stop being silent and start saying something.

---------- Post added at 17:53 ---------- Previous post was at 17:48 ----------

I would think VM are reconsidering trying to sell their stake, after the mess up they had when they sold VMTV to Sky. Bravo and Channel 1 getting shut down, Living TV HD straight away on Sky, and the delay with getting Sky 1 HD on cable.

[mersey70]

I honestly think that one of the reasons there are delays with the availability of HD channels on VM is their pricing structure. It is great that they are included for XL customers but I just can't see them being able to keep on adding lots of channels when they don't charge extra for them (if you are on XL which is the highest tier anyway).

Maybe that's why the UKTV channels are not on VM, who knows but there must be a good reason but I suppose we'll never know. A lot of the HD programmes on Good Food and Eden are BBC shows so maybe they want the best price for the channels and VM's pricing structure cannot afford it.

[nashmills]

Originally Posted by mersey70

I honestly think that one of the reasons there are delays with the availability of HD channels on VM is their pricing structure. It is great that they are included for XL customers but I just can't see them being able to keep on adding lots of channels when they don't charge extra for them (if you are on XL which is the highest tier anyway).

Maybe that's why the UKTV channels are not on VM, who knows but there must be a good reason but I suppose we'll never know. A lot of the HD programmes on Good Food and Eden are BBC shows so maybe they want the best price for the channels and VM's pricing structure cannot afford it.

I don't see how they could get away with charging any more for the XL pack. It's already over priced compared to Sky.

I pay £66 a month for XL +Sky Sports + Movies in HD.

A similar packing on Sky is £70 (including ESPN) but this includes so much more including all 5 sports channels in HD and many more other channels in both HD and SD and 3D!

As I never watch the old on demand stuff, it looks like I'm stuck with a second class TV service unless I move from my current flat where I'm not allowed a dish.

[mersey70]

Originally Posted by nashmills

I don't see how they could get away with charging any more for the XL pack. It's already over priced compared to Sky.

I pay £66 a month for XL +Sky Sports + Movies in HD.

A similar packing on Sky is £70 (including ESPN) but this includes so much more including all 5 sports channels in HD and many more other channels in both HD and SD and 3D!

As I never watch the old on demand stuff, it looks like I'm stuck with a second class TV service unless I move from my current flat where I'm not allowed a dish.

If I subscribed to all the Sky channels in HD I might be tempted to leave VM too. However the £70 you quote for Sky dosen't include any phoneline or unlimited broadband though, it's just for the limited 2GB download cap service which would be eaten up by using their on demand and only includes evening and weekend calls not an actual phone line although I don't know whether you currently have BB and phone with VM, probably not if you are currently paying £66 including all Sky premiums in HD or perhaps you are just quoting the TV charges.

Top tier Sky with ESPN in HD, unlimited broadband and a phone line is a whopping £88.50 per month but as you say you would get all available HD too.

[nashmills]

Originally Posted by mersey70

If I subscribed to all the Sky channels in HD I might be tempted to leave VM too. However the £70 you quote for Sky dosen't include any phoneline or unlimited broadband though, it's just for the limited 2GB download cap service which would be eaten up by using their on demand and only includes evening and weekend calls not an actual phone line although I don't know whether you currently have BB and phone with VM, probably not if you are currently paying £66 including all Sky premiums in HD or perhaps you are just quoting the TV charges.

Top tier Sky with ESPN in HD, unlimited broadband and a phone line is a whopping £88.50 per month but as you say you would get all available HD too.

So the £70 Sky package includes broadband and calls too? That makes my VM package seem even worse value!

[mersey70]

Originally Posted by nashmills

So the £70 Sky package includes broadband and calls too? That makes my VM package seem even worse value!

It does but it only includes a 2gb a month download limit but if you only browse it's ok, you wouldn't be able to use their Anytime+ service much though as unlike BT Vision and VM it does count towards your broadband download allowance, I should add that you must have Sky Broadband to use their Anytime+ on demand service. The calls are free for evening and weekends which isn't bad but it dosen't include line rental so you would either have to get a line off Sky or get one from someone else.

As I mentioned earlier to also get a phone line and an unlimited broadband package it's around £88 and if I'm honest if I was looking to get all the premium channels I'd probably go with Sky too. As it is my VM package is better value than a comparable one from Sky.