Acquisition by Sky of Virgin Media Television

[BenMcr]

Originally Posted by r94yan

Thanks, is there any plans to take it to HD

Does it show enough new content that is in HD to make it worth it?

[Digital Fanatic]

Originally Posted by r94yan

Thanks, is there any plans to take it to HD

It's has a HD channel in the states, so I'd say it was on the way at some stage, but no actual news on that yet.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comedy_...edy_Central_HD

[howardmicks]

Nobody knows what is going to happen yet,Its all speculation and i can understand peoples concerns.I personally am worried by the deal,Dont and never will trust SKY,The deal has been on the go for the last year so surely vm when they spent thousands on new adverts stating no extra charge for HD they had planned for this day.Personally think all HD Channels will be included with XL apart from movies and sports,If you already recieve them you will get HD versions included as long as you are on XL.All sky have done as bought some channels not VM,They will have no say in what is chargeable and what isnt that is down to vm and i dont think they would risk hiking prices otherwise the sceptics will be right.

This is good news particularly for people such as myself with no access to sky, i will now hopefully on sky sports be able to access cricket matches that start on the normal sky sports channels then switch to red button interactive which has made me mad in the past.

I have given up on the number of posters some here others on D/S that stated sky will never give vm access to red button interactive on sky sports what did they know,others have said skys interactive service was not compatible with vm,that also looks to be cr-p as vm in their press release mention getting sky sports interactive why would they do that if their tv system was incompatible!

I am one happy person now with sky sports vm customers may actually recieve all they pay for in their sub and about time too.

[HDFootyMan]

Originally Posted by mertle

good for you but many dont trust sky trogan horse bearing gifts for the sale of these channels.

I agree with joff81 this is a useless deal for likely majority not everybody wants to give that company money or premier***** more greedy money.

With the likelyhood Sky force virgin to drop HD from XL and make new HD subscription service.

I have not watched sky pap for along time 24 was good at first but became like a soap opera churn rubbish.

However the likelyhood bravo , living and virgin will become pap hybrid sky channels with the worst garbage. They well make sure Sky will take the best and put it on sky one.

There no way they will keep the best shows like sparton on bravo or chuck.

Sky will ruin them with stupid rubbish like another simpsons garbage channel. Dare I say even remove them all together.

'useless deal for likely majority'???

Says who? Asked them all have you?

For years, numerous posters and VM customers have been banging on about the absence of Sky One HD; Sky Sports HD; Sky Movies HD; Red button. Now we've got them, finally.

As for 'stupid rubbish', the VMTV channels were filled with that, IMO. They won't be missed in my house and as part of the deal, well get them anyway for the next 9 years at least.

Each VM customer will need to ask themselves 'is this deal better for me?', regardless of what they think of Sky and its owner. Worrying for the next 9 years about what Sky may or may not do is pointless, I'd rather enjoy the services I'm paying for and the HD extra channels which I now have the option of watching on Digital Cable.

[r94yan]

Well, Comedy central has two and a half men, the office, 30 Rock, king of queens, Everybody loves raymond, Scrubs and stand up comedy, which i am sure has HD, esepcially the newer programs

[Digital Fanatic]

Originally Posted by howardmicks

Nobody knows what is going to happen yet,Its all speculation and i can understand peoples concerns.I personally am worried by the deal,Dont and never will trust SKY,The deal has been on the go for the last year so surely vm when they spent thousands on new adverts stating no extra charge for HD they had planned for this day.Personally think all HD Channels will be included with XL apart from movies and sports,If you already recieve them you will get HD versions included as long as you are on XL.All sky have done as bought some channels not VM,They will have no say in what is chargeable and what isnt that is down to vm and i dont think they would risk hiking prices otherwise the sceptics will be right.

VM are certainly positive about this deal and are well aware of Sky's ways

[mersey70]

Originally Posted by BenMcr

I really wish people would stop saying this.

The majority of people on the current board joined after either after the merger or the rebrand so cannot be classed as 'NTL' because by that time that company no longer existed

There have also been enough restructures and technical changes within Virgin Media to make the 'but it's just NTL' argument sound stupid

Sorry if I was wrong about the current board, I should have said that the majority of the stock of NTL Incorporated (the 'merged' NTL & Telewest) was held by previous NTL shareholders but the original board of NTL inc was certainly dominated by ex-NTL board members (9 to 2 in NTL's favour). Besides it's only a licensed brand, I might be wrong but I think Virgin Group only owns a tiny share of VM.

VM is NTL under the slap!

[howardmicks]

Originally Posted by Digital Fanatic

VM are certainly positive about this deal and are well aware of Sky's ways

I trust VM last time when Sky pulled the plug and will trust(with eyes wide open)them again for the moment,I really do hope it works out for all

[BenMcr]

Originally Posted by mersey70

VM is NTL under the slap!

Again, no it's not. If anything it has more to do with Telewest as more of the current technology that runs the business has come from them or has been brought in after the name change

[HDFootyMan]

Another thing worth pointing out here:

VM's TV customer base will surely grow. Tivo; the 'free' HD channels we've received upto now; the V HD box; Now this deal.

VM will surely break that 5 million TV customer barrier within the next 9 years.

Last time Sky dicked VMTV around, Sky One lost 23% of its audience overnight.

Another carriage dispute would hurt Virgin. But it would also hurt Sky as well. Their ratings for 17 HD channels would be hit, along with the Sky Basic channels.

I don't think their advertisers would be pleased, they certainly weren't last time. There was even talk back then of Sky moving some football to Sky 1 just to bump up that channel's ratings to the pre-Sky Basic Wars level.

This deal is good for both Sky and VM because it makes them both stronger and it helps to weaken their common enemy: Freeview.

[mersey70]

Originally Posted by BenMcr

Again, no it's not. If anything it has more to do with Telewest as more of the current technology that runs the business has come from them or has been brought in after the name change

I am not talking about the technology I am talking about who owns and controls VM and you can say what you like but it's NTL.

[Sirius]

Originally Posted by BenMcr

Again, no it's not. If anything it has more to do with Telewest as more of the current technology that runs the business has come from them or has been brought in after the name change

Forget it Ben he has a chip the size of Everest on his shoulder

[Arthurgray50@blu]

A big question l would like to ask is, As Sky have bought VMTV, will they have control over the channels that we watch ?

[Sirius]

Originally Posted by mersey70

I am not talking about the technology I am talking about who owns and controls VM and you can say what you like but it's NTL.

I just love someone who thinks he knows it all. Do you work for them, I doubt it. If you did you would know who's name is on the pay slips, Who's name are on the invoices we pay to contractors, whose name is on the deliveries of spares from our suppliers. I answer the phone as Virgin Media, When i visit a customers site i tell them i am from Virgin Media. Oh and the insurance for my company car is in the name of virginmedia, My tax form says i work for Virgin media, I could go on all day. As for you keep saying we are NTL all you want but your the one that look stupid nearly everyone i talk to says do you work for Virginmedia.

---------- Post added at 14:12 ---------- Previous post was at 14:11 ----------

Originally Posted by Arthurgray50@blu

A big question l would like to ask is, As Sky have bought VMTV, will they have control over the channels that we watch ?

No why would they. They don't have access to the network. They don't have access to the headends and they don't have access to the computer systems. Bit of a strange question.