General : Virgin TV (2026)

[OLD BOY]

Originally Posted by RichardCoulter

Those that want to watch it will care, regardless of the number.

While that’s true, if so few watch it, why would the provider wish to continue? Businesses need to be profitable to survive.

[Richardr]

Originally Posted by vincerooney

always wondered why virgin media charge so much for channels to join their service. they dont have the financial power of sky (hence why they never bid for anything) so if its a money thing it clearly isnt working

It is ultimately a question of whether a channel is likely to add or at least retain TV customers, in which case Virgin Media will do a deal, in some cases paying the channel if it is thought to be attractive. On the other hand, if a channel isn't attractive then they will either not add it or will charge it a decent sum.

Don't forget that the free to air channels on Sky satellite, Freesat, or Freeview pay Sky / Freesat / Freeview a relatively small fee to be on their EPG, but also have to pay broadcast costs to the owner of the capacity they broadcast on whether a transponder or a multiplex for terrestrial, and there are additional costs to that, e.g uplink, etc.

[RichardCoulter]

Originally Posted by OLD BOY

While that’s true, if so few watch it, why would the provider wish to continue? Businesses need to be profitable to survive.

Nothing like stating the obvious...

[OLD BOY]

Originally Posted by RichardCoulter

Nothing like stating the obvious...

Yes, it’s obvious. Embrace it.

[gunner45]

Originally Posted by Richardr

It is ultimately a question of whether a channel is likely to add or at least retain TV customers, in which case Virgin Media will do a deal, in some cases paying the channel if it is thought to be attractive. On the other hand, if a channel isn't attractive then they will either not add it or will charge it a decent sum.

Don't forget that the free to air channels on Sky satellite, Freesat, or Freeview pay Sky / Freesat / Freeview a relatively small fee to be on their EPG, but also have to pay broadcast costs to the owner of the capacity they broadcast on whether a transponder or a multiplex for terrestrial, and there are additional costs to that, e.g uplink, etc.

In a small number of cases Virgin Media is compelled to pay carriage fees for mandatory content, e.g. Discovery, Sky Sports. And the content owner insists that these are bundled, so VM must carry Animal Planet even though nobody watches it.

Below this top tier is the mid-tier like Gold and MTV where small payments may be made by either side. And then the lowest tier like the aforementioned Rewind TV must pay VM a lot, including at the central headend encoding, metadata, distribution and QA. When you add in an EPG slot and platform integration, it amounts to an unaffordable price which means the channel either isn't on VM or drops out if it is.

And in case you're wondering why a small channel might be on Freeview and/or Sky, the reason is that only VM does all the heavy processing like encoding I referred to and so charges more.

[TimeLord2018]

Originally Posted by vincerooney

not sure if its been mentioned but it appears the Paramount purchase of WBD has been approved by US officials

https://www.vulture.com/article/doj-...bd-merger.html

Only EU and UK to go it seems

Close to being approved in the EU with certain remedies - exiting the United International Pictures joint venture.
https://variety.com/2026/biz/global/...al-1236789292/

[vincerooney]

Originally Posted by TimeLord2018

Close to being approved in the EU with certain remedies - exiting the United International Pictures joint venture.
https://variety.com/2026/biz/global/...al-1236789292/

has it been confirmed if this would mean a merged paramount plus and hbo max. i have paramount plus but never had hbo max so would be intrigued to have the hbo max stuff added (im sure itll add to the monthly price mind!)

[OLD BOY]

Originally Posted by vincerooney

has it been confirmed if this would mean a merged paramount plus and hbo max. i have paramount plus but never had hbo max so would be intrigued to have the hbo max stuff added (im sure itll add to the monthly price mind!)

Having this all brought together under one owner is one thing, but whether they will all be available in one streamer is another. However, I do hope that comes about, although it will inevitably push up the price of Paramount+.

[TimeLord2018]

The plan is for them to be merged
https://deadline.com/2026/03/david-e...ng-1236741083/

[OLD BOY]

Originally Posted by TimeLord2018

The plan is for them to be merged
https://deadline.com/2026/03/david-e...ng-1236741083/

Thanks, TimeLord. Hopefully the other areas of content they inherit, such as Discovery, will also be included.

[TimeLord2018]

CDiscovery has plenty of free to air content , so either no subscription is needed or free to air content is added to 5, some of Discovery pay channel content is duplicated on HBO Max already.

I wonder what it will be named.

[RichardCoulter]

My TiVo has picked up a load of Asian channel programming as it looks like all the Asian channels have been made available.

Anyone know why and when this ends as it's causing needless recording clashes?

Also the change to 360 nag messages have returned since yesterday.

My contract has now expired and, subject to negotiations, I am in no mans land where they have had to make a manual credit to keep it at the in contract price until a decision has been made that suits us both.

[TimeLord2018]

Virgin do this annually now when it's South Asian Heritage Month.

[newapollo]

My TiVo has picked up a load of Asian channel programming as it looks like all the Asian channels have been made available.

Anyone know why and when this ends as it's causing needless recording clashes?

It's an annual event as indicated by TimeLord2018. Details will probably soon appear on the https://news.virginmediao2.co.uk/ pages, and within the https://www.virginmedia.com/the-edit pages

Last year the South Asian Heritage month ran between 18th July and 17th August.

https://news.virginmediao2.co.uk/vir...no-extra-cost/

Their temporary addition shouldn't be causing "needless" recording clashes unless you have previously set them up (and thus they can be removed by yourself) as those channel numbers are only ever used by channels within the Asian Mela Collection. which add Bollywood blockbusters and Hindi Entertainment to the channel packages.

My contract has now expired and, subject to negotiations, I am in no mans land where they have had to make a manual credit to keep it at the in contract price until a decision has been made that suits us both.

Your contract won't have expired. They don't expire until you either manually give in your minimum 30 days notice or use OTS to switch providers. However it sounds like you have a minimum term discount(s) which has now expired, hence you will be due to pay full price unless you and VM negotiate and accept an agreeable new discounted offer. VM are not forced/legally bound to make you a manual credit until a decision has been made that suits you both.