Sky Atlantic on Virgin Media

[Tezcatlipoca]

Originally Posted by the_pidgeon

TBH from what I have seen, i looks like the old Channel One content till 8pm then a couple of HBO repeats from last year.

Originally Posted by sebastion

I had a look at the 7 day-guide for Sky Atlantic, and i have to say that they must be holding back the good TV schedule.

As mentioned earlier in the thread, the daytime stuff is just padding. They have to show the Channel 1 stuff somewhere, may as well be during the day on Atlantic. The *real* stuff is during the evening/night, i.e. Prime Time. Atlantic's raison d'être is to provide somewhere for Sky to show its newly acquired HBO content & other quality US drama ("Sky Atlantic - the home of HBO" etc.), content which is far better suited for Prime Time (& not just because some of it is unsuitable for the day due to language/sex/violence!).

Starting this week:

Boardwalk Empire: New. Critically acclaimed. 2011 Golden Globes for Best Drama & Best Actor. Screen Actors Guild awards for Best Emsemble & for Oustanding Performance by a Male Actor. Directors Guild Award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement

Entourage: New. Very well received by critics. Large number of nominations for Emmys, Golden Globes, SAGs, DGAs, etc.

Blue Bloods: New. Fairly well received by critics.


Coming later:

Mad Men: New. Critically acclaimed. Won the 2008, 2009, 2010 Golden Globes & Emmys for Best Drama, along with a whole host of other awards.

Big Love: New. Extremely well received by critics. Large number of nominations for Emmys, Golden Globes, etc.

Game of Thrones: New (1st season, not aired anywhere yet so no critical response).

Treme: New. Very well received by critics. Emmy & Grammy nominations.

Six Feet Under, The Sopranos, Generation Kill: Repeats. Critically acclaimed. Whole host of award wins and nominations.

The Wire: Repeat. Critically uber-acclaimed (e.g. regularly claimed to be "The Best TV Series Ever"). Whole host of award nominations & some wins.

---------- Post added at 20:08 ---------- Previous post was at 19:58 ----------

Originally Posted by Felim_Doyle

I have previously posed questions about whether or not there is an SD version of Sky Atlantic and, apart from an explanation of how HD subscribers will automatically get it on channel 108, I have not had any reliable confirmation of there being an SD version at all.

I can categorically state that there is indeed an SD version of Sky Atlantic. I've just flicked it on now.

For customers without the HD pack -

Sky Atlantic: 108
[Sky Atlantic HD: 173]


For customers with the HD pack -

Sky Atlantic HD: 108
Sky Atlantic: 173



Sky are promoting Sky Atlantic HD, but that does not mean that there is no SD version (as there is one!).

It reminds me of when they were trailing the new season of Lost or some other big US drama. All the ads said it was going to be on Sky 1 HD, which caused many people to worry that it wouldn't be on the SD version of Sky 1 (even though, of course, it was).

Promoting an HD channel over an SD one doesn't mean that there is no SD equivalent.

[sebastion]

Thanks for that Matt.

[Felim_Doyle]

Thanks Matt! Much as expected but nice to have it confirmed.

This Sky SD/HD switcheroo is a tricky business!

For those with HD it would be nice if the same could be done for all of the available HD simulcast channels although I appreciate that there are issues with BBC and ITV due to regional variations of the SD channels not yet being available in HD.

[Digital Fanatic]

Originally Posted by Felim_Doyle

Thanks Matt! Much as expected but nice to have it confirmed.

This Sky SD/HD switcheroo is a tricky business!

For those with HD it would be nice if the same could be done for all of the available HD simulcast channels although I appreciate that there are issues with BBC and ITV due to regional variations of the SD channels not yet being available in HD.

I heard BBC/ITV etc said "no" to allowing the swaps. Think it was on DS?

[kellymj]

Well what can I say? I have been thinking to myself for the last while "where have the channels I used to watch gone" never quite been able to list the channels, just aware something is happening. So I search around the internet and find this forum...

I have been a VM customer for as long as I can remember, Telewest before that, first adopter for the V+ service many years ago now. Anyway the amount of channels that I would regard as quality viewing are on the decline, I don't page down much now till I am at the shopping channels, also as far as I'm concerned when we have a channel and then the same channel +1 and then the same channel in HD that is one channel and not three, convenient yes but still one channel.

I also think we are a few years into this and we still have limited HD channels so that I can't regularly utilise my 1080P TV and projector. As a previous poster said TiVo might be great but not so if we can only watch "Freeview" channels and Terrestrial. I personally would love to see... Boardwalk Empire, Blue Bloods, Mad Men, Game of Thrones. Also where can I see Sons Of Anarchy, Leverage, Spartacus? that’s all I can remember but sure I used to watch more.

Anyway, a VM letter drops through the door today telling me about price rises to my services. Cheek if you ask me.

To try and finish on a positive, loyalty is high on my personality profile. I think the V+ service is great. Some of the VOD content and catch up etc is good. I want to stay with VM but I’m finding it difficult to justify at the moment.

[muppetman11]

Must agree with you pay TV is getting very expensive now , both Sky and VM.

[mersey70]

Originally Posted by muppetman11

Must agree with you pay TV is getting very expensive now , both Sky and VM.

Agreed but as staff have said we must pay more for content, I totally agree with that and await April with excitement.

---------- Post added at 02:55 ---------- Previous post was at 02:53 ----------

Originally Posted by kellymj

Well what can I say? I have been thinking to myself for the last while "where have the channels I used to watch gone" never quite been able to list the channels, just aware something is happening. So I search around the internet and find this forum...

I have been a VM customer for as long as I can remember, Telewest before that, first adopter for the V+ service many years ago now. Anyway the amount of channels that I would regard as quality viewing are on the decline, I don't page down much now till I am at the shopping channels, also as far as I'm concerned when we have a channel and then the same channel +1 and then the same channel in HD that is one channel and not three, convenient yes but still one channel.

I also think we are a few years into this and we still have limited HD channels so that I can't regularly utilise my 1080P TV and projector. As a previous poster said TiVo might be great but not so if we can only watch "Freeview" channels and Terrestrial. I personally would love to see... Boardwalk Empire, Blue Bloods, Mad Men, Game of Thrones. Also where can I see Sons Of Anarchy, Leverage, Spartacus? that’s all I can remember but sure I used to watch more.

Anyway, a VM letter drops through the door today telling me about price rises to my services. Cheek if you ask me.

To try and finish on a positive, loyalty is high on my personality profile. I think the V+ service is great. Some of the VOD content and catch up etc is good. I want to stay with VM but I’m finding it difficult to justify at the moment.

Let's wait and see what we get for the extra money in April, not months later.

---------- Post added at 02:58 ---------- Previous post was at 02:55 ----------

Originally Posted by Digital Fanatic

I heard BBC/ITV etc said "no" to allowing the swaps. Think it was on DS?

It would be impossible for ITV/BBC to do it just now until both are fully regionalised. A new satellite is coming online that should help with that problem but whether they wish to go to the expense of extra transponder space is anyones guess.

[colin25]

If Virgin got Sky Atlantic, I would happily come back to Virgin.

I watch a lot of shows on that channel

Since Sky advertise it as "Exclusive to Sky", it might be a while.......

[HD Boy]

Originally Posted by Hugh

Since Sky advertise it as "Exclusive to Sky", it might be a while.......

Not on tv they don't

[muppetman11]

Originally Posted by HD Boy

Not on tv they don't

No just in a booklet they sent to all 10 million customers.

[DaMac]

I sat on the toilet yesterday reading the tv listings in the sun for $ky atlantic.. wtf?? It was old virgin 1 and $ky 1 stuff virtually all day long, i wouldn't wipe me arse on it, never mind pay extra to watch it.

[HD Boy]

Originally Posted by muppetman11

No just in a booklet they sent to all 10 million customers.

Yes

Originally Posted by HD Boy

Yes

Congratulations.

You have won this month's "Most pointless reply to being proved wrong" award.....

[muppetman11]

Originally Posted by DaMac

I sat on the toilet yesterday reading the tv listings in the sun for $ky atlantic.. wtf?? It was old virgin 1 and $ky 1 stuff virtually all day long, i wouldn't wipe me arse on it, never mind pay extra to watch it.

Thanks for giving us that mental image