Digital TV Base Pack

[Captain]

I would think that NTL would be very wary of price increases to any of it's packages as they must be aware that a lot of people are borderline whether they would stay or switch to Sky or Freeview, so even a couple of quid onto your package could make all the difference.
Only thing holding a lot of folk is the hassle factor.

[MovedGoalPosts]

In practice, cost comparisons with Telewest have little relevance as NTL and Telewest franchises do not compete.

Overall NTL's concept of TV packages groupings does baffle me. It seems to be designed to ensure maximum customer payment for the one or two channels that are actually used. Why else at the mo have I had to subscribe to virtually everything NTL has to offer simply to get the essentials, IMO, of Sky one, E4, Movie Channels, UK Gold, ITV2, etc all which have all been scattered amongst different packages. Even finding out what channel is in what package is not exactly easy, when they change all the time and the "interactive digital TV support" (read go to sleep while it thinks about doing something), and even ntlhome pages does not clearly show this.

E4 was always supposed by Channel 4 to be a free to view type channel, much like BBCs digital TV offerrings, and indeed many other channels. Why then for these non subscripriont channels were they ever not in the base pack?

[ian@huth]

Originally Posted by MovedGoalPosts

In practice, cost comparisons with Telewest have little relevance as NTL and Telewest franchises do not compete.

Even though they do not compete people compare what they get and at what price against the other cable player. If you are a NTL customer and see that Telewest give you more channels at a cheaper price you may feel cheated and more likely to jump ship and go to Sky. The same logic applies to Broadband and telephone services. People look at what Telewest charge and what tiers are available on Broadband and if they see a noticeable difference may take a closer look at ADSL packages.

[asdf]

Originally Posted by MovedGoalPosts

Why else at the mo have I had to subscribe to virtually everything NTL has to offer simply to get the essentials, IMO, of Sky one, E4, Movie Channels, UK Gold, ITV2, etc all which have all been scattered amongst different packages.

Surely you just need the family pack and movie pack for that, the same as you would with Sky?

[bob_builder]

Originally Posted by MovedGoalPosts

E4 was always supposed by Channel 4 to be a free to view type channel, much like BBCs digital TV offerrings, and indeed many other channels. Why then for these non subscripriont channels were they ever not in the base pack?

E4 was never a free channel. When it was launched on OnDigital you had to pay extra than the base package to receive it. It was intended to be like Sky1, airing shows before they were seen on analogue terrestrial TV and that was its main incentive to pay for it. The fact that you now only have to wait a day to see Friends on Channel 4 and that E4 is used for BB:live like BBC3 and ITV2 is a more recent trend that lowers the channel's value. It probably should now be a free channel like BBC3 and ITV2 but AFAIK only NTL offer it in their base pack (you still have to pay extra on Sky and terrestrial digital).

[toots66]

I've just phoned up CS and was told E4 is not in the Base Pack. I've currently got the Family Pack so would like to downgrade, not that I told CS this at that point. Are they wrong and acting off old info?

I'm in Stockport, ex-CWC, if that makes any difference.

[bob_builder]

Originally Posted by toots66

I've just phoned up CS and was told E4 is not in the Base Pack. I've currently got the Family Pack so would like to downgrade, not that I told CS this at that point. Are they wrong and acting off old info?

I would imagine it is old info, see:
http://www.nthellworld.co.uk/index.p...ype=news&id=32

Originally Posted by toots66

I've just phoned up CS and was told E4 is not in the Base Pack. I've currently got the Family Pack so would like to downgrade, not that I told CS this at that point. Are they wrong and acting off old info?

I'm in Stockport, ex-CWC, if that makes any difference.

I have the base pack, I have E4 and E4+1 as of the beginning of this week. I'm original NTL but I don't believe the packs differ between the two digital platforms. The CS agent is either acting on old info or using subterfuge to get you to stay on the family pack.

[toots66]

Just phoned again and the CS agent knew his stuff. Total call time incl. menu navigation to get onto the Base Pack - 1 min 43 secs. Is this a record?