General : Coming Soon to Virgin TV (2013) Vol. 1.

Originally Posted by OLD BOY

What BT charge VM is one thing, but I would not have thought they would be dictating to VM how they include BT Sports in VM's package.

But they don't need to dictate that, they only need to set the price at a level where it would be uneconomical for VM to consider adding BT Sports to the XL package. Just as it would be uneconomical to add Sky Sports to the XL package.

VM may well decide to provide BT Sports on the same basis as ESPN and reallocate the remaining costs within the business.

Not if BT set the price at a level where it would be uneconomical to do this. It didn't really matter to ESPN, as long as they got the cash it didn't matter which VM package the channels were in. The situation is different for BT, they have their own fledgeling platform to protect. It would be a very bad move to make their sports channels available to a competitor in an attractively priced package when they need to get new subscribers on their own platform.

I believe the recent price hike does have something to do with the increased cost of football rights and that they would have anticipated having to pay rather more as a result (even if ESPN had retained these rights). Whilst they may not have known exactly what the content provider would be charging when they set the price increase, they would have had a pretty good idea.

Yes, that's what you and many sports fans would like to believe.

Why else would they have put prices up by this amount?

They put prices up every year and many subscribers avoid or mitigate the price rise with a retentions deal. The price rise wasn't that large, perhaps it was just to give them extra negotiating power to get the additional channels they have recently added to the platform.

There are also several additional HD channels reported to be joining shortly. It would be interesting to know why they haven't been added at the same time as the SD channels. Could VM possibly be holding these back to sweeten the blow should the XL package lose the ESPN channels???

[passingbat]

Originally Posted by alwaysabear

IMO I do not think you will see Netflix or Love film on the Virgin Network as they are in direct competition with VM products. .

I don't think that they are in Direct competition, though there is a little overlap.

Netflix and Lovefilm do both TV shows and film, and the films are generally older or newer, non premium titles. VM's PPV film service is only for films and it has the advantage over Lovefilm and Netflix in that newer, premium titles are available.

And, of course, Cindy Rose said that they could happily co-exist, and she never says anything that isn't true...

[denphone]

Originally Posted by passingbat

And, of course Cindy Rose said that they could happily co-exist, and she never says anything that isn't true...

Yes the hundreds of apps speech springs to mind.

[Doug P]

Originally Posted by gizuk

Yes we certainly do get STVHD.

It would be great for England and Scotland to both have ITVHD and STVHD.

[passingbat]

Originally Posted by jj20x

It didn't really matter to ESPN, as long as they got the cash it didn't matter which VM package the channels were in. The situation is different for BT, they have their own fledgeling platform to protect. It would be a very bad move to make their sports channel available to a competitor in an attractively priced package when they need to get new subscribers on their own platform.

Exactly, and why I said previously that I think that BT sports will be a stand alone package.

---------- Post added at 14:51 ---------- Previous post was at 14:50 ----------

Originally Posted by denphone

Yes the hundreds of apps speech springs to mind.

Our minds were on the same 'Cindy moment'.

[denphone]

Originally Posted by passingbat

Exactly, and why I said previously that I think that BT sports will be a stand alone package.[COLOR="Silver"]

And if it is to be at a rumoured £15 then thats a no no for many of us.

Originally Posted by passingbat

In my view, the sooner that VM get rid of legacy boxes, such as the V+, the better. The Tivo fee will become part of the overall pricing in the same way that the HD cost is built into the overall pricing. VM have started to do this with the new Collections they launched a while ago.

VM have said that they want to move everyone over to Tivo. They can then move to Mpeg4 which will give us increased recording capacity. For people who don't want a PVR, I believe that the V HD box can handle Mpeg4.

I agree with the move to Mpeg4 but don't want any of that TiVo nonsense (to me). My dream box would be a V+ type affair with an Mpeg4 CoDec and a 500GB drive. Maybe the third tuner recording, but not neccessary. Nothing more.

This sort of offering would allow the network to move forward because I for one, and I suspect there are others too, would never pay an additional subscription for the functionality that TiVo offers, no matter how much they try to hide it.

But I can't see that being offered so I'll continue to use my Sammy V+ until such time as they try to force me into a TiVo and then I'll leave, not to be missed by anyone.

Originally Posted by passingbat

Exactly, and why I said previously that I think that BT sports will be a stand alone package.

Indeed, I also think that would seem to be the most likely outcome.

[devilincarnate]

Originally Posted by denphone

Yes the hundreds of apps speech springs to mind.

She was promoting the App store

Originally Posted by Doug P

It would be great for England and Scotland to both have ITVHD and STVHD.

Unfortunately, the ITV Network sells advertising regionally so they don't like making other regions readily available.

[denphone]

Originally Posted by devilincarnate

She was promoting the App store

Now devil promoting something is one thing but talking a load of bull is another.

Come on now, we've got BBC iPlayer, an Ariel advert, an ESPN America advert, a music streaming service where you can't actually search and some of the worst games ever seen.

She obviously just missed off the prefix lumps of cr when talking about these app(s).

[Derekb108]

Originally Posted by Jameseh

Come on now, we've got BBC iPlayer, an Ariel advert, an ESPN America advert, a music streaming service where you can't actually search and some of the worst games ever seen.

She obviously just missed off the prefix lumps of cr when talking about these app(s).

There MOD Search is on V+ Menu systems whereas tivo has the Music on demand Search app. You can find it in the Home > Search or in Home > Apps > All > Music on demand.

[alwaysabear]

Originally Posted by passingbat

I don't think that they are in Direct competition, though there is a little overlap.

Netflix and Lovefilm do both TV shows and film, and the films are generally older or newer, non premium titles. VM's PPV film service is only for films and it has the advantage over Lovefilm and Netflix in that newer, premium titles are available.

And, of course, Cindy Rose said that they could happily co-exist, and she never says anything that isn't true...

Ah that Cindy moment again , I bet she regrets ever saying that and lot else besides.
I also think that VM would require a carriage fee, which I cannot see why either Love Film or Netflix would want to pay, when they have so many avenues to get the product to the consumer. I have access to it through, Tablet, laptop, Xbox 360, Smart bluray player. I rest my case.
The VHD box is supposed to be TiVo and mpeg 4 compliant.

Originally Posted by Derekb108

There MOD Search is on V+ Menu systems whereas tivo has the Music on demand Search app. You can find it in the Home > Search or in Home > Apps > All > Music on demand.

I was referring to Spotify, as VMoD is very limited.