Virgin Media lack of tv investment

[nodrogd]

In fact ITV are probably gaining by their agreement with sky, as ITV 2,3 & 4 HD are subscription channels.

Thought ITV had signed a deal with VM. We'll have to wait and see what tier VM adds them to

Originally Posted by Stuart

Do you not think it at least possible that Sky is delaying the introduction of these facilities?

As for not investing in TV. Well, in the last couple of years, VM have totally rebuilt their backend infrastructure for TV. This has made little difference yet, but enables VM to offer a lot more channels in future.

This would have cost VM hundreds of millions of pounds.

I will say i believe virgin have invested in the tv product no doubt about it,infrastruture more hd ect ect.

Where i have my difference is when vm sold their tv buisiness to sky the deal involved sky arts HD 1 and HD 2 no sign of either appearing some 6 months later. and for a cummunications company no word from vm to customers.

I understand sky sports red button is on its way hopefully. IF sky are holding any of these up they should not be as virgins side of the channels sale has been handed over to sky, lock stock and barrell,and they are now in the buisiness of closing some of the said channels.

For all their good work the thing that lets vm down is their communication with the people who pay the wages sadly.

We don't have Sky Sports Red Button or 3 HD channels that output about half a minute of HD a year so VM are negating TV? What a heap.

Originally Posted by richard1960

I will say i believe virgin have invested in the tv product no doubt about it,infrastruture more hd ect ect.

Where i have my difference is when vm sold their tv buisiness to sky the deal involved sky arts HD 1 and HD 2 no sign of either appearing some 6 months later. and for a cummunications company no word from vm to customers.

I understand sky sports red button is on its way hopefully. IF sky are holding any of these up they should not be as virgins side of the channels sale has been handed over to sky, lock stock and barrell,and they are now in the buisiness of closing some of the said channels.

For all their good work the thing that lets vm down is their communication with the people who pay the wages sadly.

Who - payroll???

[zantarous]

What?

They have spent loads of money on unifying the network and clearing up the mess of having lots of legacy kit in jumbled network. They are doing things the correct way, they are getting their house in order first and making sure that the foundations they have are stable to build upon.

It may not mean much to the end customer but the network we have now means everyone is on a level playing field and all parts of the network can get the same services.

They have added a whole load of HD channels, there simply are not many SD channels launching now as SKY has closed the SD launch queue and unless a channel can launch on Sky it won't be able to launch anywhere else.

The Tivo investment would have been quite substantial especially with a bespoke box being made for it.

The sale of VMtv will be for the greater good, they have secured a longterm carriage deal with for the Sky Basics, have given customers access to Sky Movies HD and Sports HD and what might turn out to be a master stroke access to Sky VOD, that is really going to rock with the 7 look back function on Tivo.

All the money they have spent might not be obvious but the TV platform is now in a much better shape then it has ever been and hopefully they can build to deliver more content.

[Toto]

Originally Posted by denphone

A lot of the hd channels which are Sky owned were decided by ofcoms intervention and not by Virgin investing in their in their own tv platform and on Tivo we were supposed to get that in December and we are highly unlikely to get it before the second quarter and we have to pay a substantional amount to get it plus a monthly charge as well, l will never go to Sky but they have invested massively in content and channels and Virgin are selling theirs to the the enemy.

Lets look at this bit-by-bit.

A lot of the hd channels which are Sky owned were decided by ofcoms intervention and not by Virgin investing in their in their own tv platform

Really? Ofcom have had very little to do with VM's HD channels. Some minor platform improvements has resulted in more HD, much of which has come about by Virgin upgrading their network to allow more channel bandwidth, turning off old analogue segments, and getting deals with other broadcasters such as Channel 4.

Ofcom have intervened in Sky's premium TV situation yes, but getting Sky 1 HD for example was through Virgin's deal with Sky over Virgin's selling them their Living TV franchise.

Tivo we were supposed to get that in December and we are highly unlikely to get it before the second quarter

Virgin said it would start to launch in December 2010, they never said it would be available to everyone by then.

and we have to pay a substantional amount to get it plus a monthly charge as well,

OK, depends what you call substantial, but from what I have seen, what VM are asking people to pay for the box, plus the monthly sub charge, it would appear that VM are subsidising this new package.

will never go to Sky but they have invested massively in content and channels and Virgin are selling theirs to the the enemy.

Sky the enemy? Hmmmm, I understand some people's gripe with the behemoth of a company they are, but Sky has always been about TV. You've got some Sky content thanks to VM selling off its TV channels.

You are entitled to your opinion, but I think a few here, including myself think your opinion is wrong.

Originally Posted by Hugh

Who - payroll???

Er yes as if unless that is the new name for customers.lol

[nialli]

Ridiculous original post on this thread. I don't claim to have any insight into the amount of money VM invests in the difference services it provides, but it must be apparent to most that they've invested significant amounts in the TV side this year.
If the OP is talking specifically about channel content, then VM said some time back that they did not plan to compete with Sky in that game and was concentrating on sorting out the operational side of TV and class-leading broadband. This is a company supporting considerable debt that has to make investments where it can secure the best return. I think Berkett and co had a strong 2010 and this year looks just as good. Some folk seem to just want more and more and more, never appreciating what they have (best in class broadband and VoD for a start).

[Henkesghost]

Originally Posted by nialli

Ridiculous original post on this thread. I don't claim to have any insight into the amount of money VM invests in the difference services it provides, but it must be apparent to most that they've invested significant amounts in the TV side this year.
If the OP is talking specifically about channel content, then VM said some time back that they did not plan to compete with Sky in that game and was concentrating on sorting out the operational side of TV and class-leading broadband. This is a company supporting considerable debt that has to make investments where it can secure the best return. I think Berkett and co had a strong 2010 and this year looks just as good. Some folk seem to just want more and more and more, never appreciating what they have (best in class broadband and VoD for a start).

This thread is about lack of tv investment and has sod all to do with broadband. Vod is well over hyped. Lots of Gok Wan repeats and how clean is your attic nonsense

[vanman]

Originally Posted by denphone

In the last year we have seen a total lack of investment on Virgins tv platform, first of all they sold their channels to Sky this deal just gets worse and worse with each passing day and we are still waiting for further Sky hd channels and the Sky red button, to be still waiting 7 months on is nothing short of staggering incompetence and shambolicness, this and a total reluctance to add other new channels suggest to me that Virgin does not give a damn about its tv customers.

i thought i had seen this thread before http://www.cableforum.co.uk/board/11...nvestment.html

[mersey70]

Like most, if not all people on here I have no idea how much money VM have invested in their TV offer recently, if ever.

But I think I am right in saying that VM's (unlike Sky's) core business isn't television, it is broadband and telecommunications so any investment in television surely must be balanced against any potential return.

I think the Tivo product indicates this, it isn't connected to a broadcaster like launching a whole load of channels would be so (I assume) will not drastically increase their payments to the likes of Sky or any other broadcaster for that matter. How much of a draw it will be remains to be seen, probably not as much as lots more channels but not as expensive either.

Maybe it's a way of differentiating it's offer without the burden of increasing their wholesale payments, but as like most people on here I don't really know.

[nialli]

One company, one investment budget. If VM has elected to invest more in broadband then something has to give.

Incidentally, does anyone else find it odd that some of the folk complaining about Sky Atlantic not being on VM have been dismissive in the past of VM's VoD content, which featured the majority of that Sky Atlantic HBO archive drama and comedy in HD for years?

[zantarous]

But they only had a handfull of shows in the HBO hub and sometimes they just played the same season over and over. With Atlantic they will actually be showing new shows as well.

[nialli]

Depends on the size of your hands I guess. HBO series formerly on VM VoD (from memory):
Angels in America
Big Love
Carnivale
Curb Your Enthusiasm
Eastbound & Down
Entourage
Flight of the Conchords
Generation Kill
Hung
In Treatment
Sex in the City
Six Feet Under
Tell Me You Love Me
The Sopranos
The Wire
True Blood
When the Levee Breaks

[mersey70]

Originally Posted by nialli

One company, one investment budget. If VM has elected to invest more in broadband then something has to give.

Incidentally, does anyone else find it odd that some of the folk complaining about Sky Atlantic not being on VM have been dismissive in the past of VM's VoD content, which featured all that Sky Atlantic HBO drama and comedy in HD for years?

VM VOD didn't contain all of SKY Atlantic's HBO content.

Far from it.