General : Coming Soon to Virgin Media TV (2016)

[devilincarnate]

Originally Posted by denphone

l think this is what you are thinking of.

http://www.theguardian.com/media/201...ty-global-deal

Malone, the chairman of Virgin Media's parent company Liberty Global, is one of the largest shareholders in Discovery Communications. Malone, chief executive of Discovery from 2005 until 2008 when the company was taken public in the US, holds a stake which gives him almost 30% of the voting power.

[steveh]

John Malone is the biggest individual shareholder in Discovery Communications and its previous holding company was spun off from his Liberty Media company. Liberty Global and Discovery also jointly own All3Media. So while independent businesses they probably do align on things when it makes commercial sense.

[OLD BOY]

Originally Posted by steveh

John Malone is the biggest individual shareholder in Discovery Communications and its previous holding company was spun off from his Liberty Media company. Liberty Global and Discovery also jointly own All3Media. So while independent businesses they probably do align on things when it makes commercial sense.

It's a pity he can't provide us with additional versions of Discovery programmes on channels made specially for the Virgin Media audience.

There are a lot of channels out there as well that are not on Sky and which VM could tap into to provide a different feel to our TV offerings. I cannot understand why they don't do this.

[nodrogd]

Cable seems now to not be able to push the advantage it has always had over Sky. The ability to pick up signals from any satellite cluster they want & distribute it to their customers. Intelsat & Eutelsat used to provide many additional analogue services to cable customers in the past. Now all we see is what is already carried by Sky.

[vincerooney]

Originally Posted by nodrogd

Cable seems now to not be able to push the advantage it has always had over Sky. The ability to pick up signals from any satellite cluster they want & distribute it to their customers. Intelsat & Eutelsat used to provide many additional analogue services to cable customers in the past. Now all we see is what is already carried by Sky.

Absolutely agree. Cable is so much superior than sky. How did sky win? Corrupt Murdoch money? Probably

Advantages of cable. Faster internet. Weather proof tv. Why didn't cable cable a lot of money on getting those facts out constantly. Why did Virgin sell their only channels therefore losing their only card in negotiations ?

Who knows. Possible incompetence. But then again I'm incompetent in life so who am I to talk

[BenMcr]

Originally Posted by vincerooney

Why did Virgin sell their only channels therefore losing their only card in negotiations ?

Who knows. Possible incompetence. But then again I'm incompetent in life so who am I to talk

I would not call it incompetence and we do know why it was done.

The channels were sold to Sky in return to enable a long term agreement to carry Sky channels and get Sky HD channels for the first time.

http://www.theguardian.com/media/201...media-channels

As part of the deal, Virgin Media has secured new long-term carriage agreements for its cable TV network for wholesale distribution of Sky's basic subscription channels, including Sky1, Sky News and Sky Arts, and the services it is selling.

The new carriage deals are understood to be for up to nine years. Previously the carriage deals tended to be struck every three years.

For an incremental wholesale fee, Virgin Media will also for the first time have the option of carrying any of Sky's basic HD channels, Sky Sports HD 1 and Sky Sports HD 2, and all Sky Movies HD channels.

If the timescale is correct then in return for selling the channels, we still have 3 years left to run on the agreement. Which seems to be a good deal to me.

[denphone]

And then Sky introduced a new channel and thus Virgin were caught with their pants down yet again...

[BenMcr]

Originally Posted by denphone

And then Sky introduced a new channel and thus Virgin were caught with their pants down yet again...

Have no say again no.

Any channel agreement is exactly that. Sky are not obligated to offer most of their channels (except the regulated Premiums), and are also under no obligation to tell a competitor about their future channel plans.

Virgin Media could only get the agreement for which Sky were prepared to agree to. If Sky did the deal know that they had plans to launch Sky Atlantic, then fair play to them.

But if Virgin Media hadn't done the deal and 'held out' then this forum would have been full of complaints that VM didn't have Sky HD channels, which was happening in 2010. No matter what VM do, the argument will always be about 'why didn't VM do something else'.

Since the launch of Sky Atlantic, it's not Virgin Media's decision as to whether the terms that Sky may be offering the channel are at a level that Virgin Media see to be of value to their customers. Currently, if Sky are offering it to VM, then it's not see as worth it.

[harry_hitch]

Originally Posted by BenMcr

I would not call it incompetence and we do know why it was done.

The channels were sold to Sky in return to enable a long term agreement to carry Sky channels and get Sky HD channels for the first time.

http://www.theguardian.com/media/201...media-channels



If the timescale is correct then in return for selling the channels, we still have 3 years left to run on the agreement. Which seems to be a good deal to me.

What happens after the 9 years though? Seems like sky still hold all the cards, what have VM left to offer if Sky play hardball again?

In this day and age if you are NOT a content provider you have no hand to play.

We all know Sky & BT would prefer to get the extra revenues from their channels being on VM.

However when sat round the negotiating table these providers absolutely have the upper hand as they know full well many, many VM customers would walk away and find alternatives if BT/SKY channels were no longer on the VM platform.

VM had a good chance of gaining ground with TIVO. But this clunky, slow piece of kit never set the world alight like it had the potential to. It made the once superior VM On Demand content a pain in the backside to watch.

And now SKY have just as much (if not more) OD content with a better, quicker box with exclusive content and linear channels. VM are sadly lagging behind once again.

I'm very interested to see the new TIVO box when it (eventually) comes out.

Maybe that will change things. But for now VM are a company losing customers and beholden to others for content.... it's not a great situation to be in.

Originally Posted by BenMcr

Have no say again no.

Any channel agreement is exactly that. Sky are not obligated to offer most of their channels (except the regulated Premiums), and are also under no obligation to tell a competitor about their future channel plans.

Virgin Media could only get the agreement for which Sky were prepared to agree to. If Sky did the deal know that they had plans to launch Sky Atlantic, then fair play to them.

But if Virgin Media hadn't done the deal and 'held out' then this forum would have been full of complaints that VM didn't have Sky HD channels, which was happening in 2010

http://www.cableforum.co.uk/board/35...-post1119.html

Since the launch of Sky Atlantic, it's not Virgin Media's decision as to whether the terms that Sky may be offering the channel are at a level that Virgin Media see to be of value to their customers. Currently, if Sky are offering it to VM, then it's not see as worth it.

[BenMcr]

Originally Posted by harry_hitch

What happens after the 9 years though? Seems like sky still hold all the cards, what have VM left to offer if Sky play hardball again?

I don't know.

But the alternative could have been not having any of the Sky HD channels for the last 6 years, or paying significantly more for the last 6 years in order for Virgin Media to have them and keep their own channels.

It's great looking back over the last 6 years and going 'oh if only VM had done this that or the other' but channel deals aren't done with a time machine.

Virgin Media customers were telling Virgin Media they wanting the Sky HD channels so Virgin Media did a deal that got their customers the Sky HD channels.

[steveh]

Originally Posted by BenMcr

Have no say again no.
Any channel agreement is exactly that. Sky are not obligated to offer most of their channels (except the regulated Premiums), and are also under no obligation to tell a competitor about their future channel plans.

I thought none of the premiums were regulated now? Sky Sports 1 + 2 were removed from the "wholesale must offer" requirement last November and the Competition Commission decided in 2012 that Sky did not have a monopoly on first-run movies with the arrival of new services so they are not regulated either.

http://stakeholders.ofcom.org.uk/bin...sStatement.pdf
http://webarchive.nationalarchives.g...ain_report.pdf

[BenMcr]

Good point. I had forgotten about OFCOM making that change.

So to amend my previous statement, Sky are not obligated to offer any of their channels.

[Media Boy UK]

Media Boy EXCLUSIVE: Two new channels start tests on Virgin Media UK.

Media Boy Sources has confirmed that Virgin Media UK has today started to test the following QVC Channels:

-QVC Style
-QVC Beauty

©copyright 2016 Media Boy 2006 - 2016. An ''Keep it real and free'' Production.

[denphone]

Originally Posted by BenMcr

I don't know.

But the alternative could have been not having any of the Sky HD channels for the last 6 years, or paying significantly more for the last 6 years in order for Virgin Media to have them and keep their own channels.

It's great looking back over the last 6 years and going 'oh if only VM had done this that or the other' but channel deals aren't done with a time machine.

Virgin Media customers were telling Virgin Media they wanting the Sky HD channels so Virgin Media did a deal that got their customers the Sky HD channels.

And now Virgin Media customers are now telling Virgin Media they want several other things so lets hope they start listening again soon instead of being overly obsessed with their broadband speeds and not much else it seems.

---------- Post added at 11:39 ---------- Previous post was at 11:36 ----------

Originally Posted by Media Boy

Media Boy EXCLUSIVE: Two new channels start tests on Virgin Media UK.

Media Boy Sources has confirmed that Virgin Media UK has today started to test the following QVC Channels:

-QVC Style
-QVC Beauty

©copyright 2016 Media Boy 2006 - 2016. An ''Keep it real and free'' Production.

Well if they did their research surveys l would be very surprised if these two would be the must have two channels that customers wanted.