General : Virgin Media & UKTV+ITV Channels

[denphone]

Originally Posted by Media Boy

What in hell are liberty global doing?

Discovery (who part own UKTV) and liberty global BOTH own All3Media.

liberty global own 9.9% of ITV.

Heads are likely to roll one suspects as watch this space..

[Media Boy UK]

Originally Posted by denphone

Heads are likely to roll one suspects as watch this space..

Or takeovers.

[denphone]

Originally Posted by Media Boy

Or takeovers.

l would not rule that out as consolidation is the in word currently.

[Gavin78]

wouldn't suprise me if VM pulled the TV altogether in the future and just provided BB.

[Mad Max]

Originally Posted by Gavin78

wouldn't suprise me if VM pulled the TV altogether in the future and just provided BB.

Then we could all subscribe to Sky's dish free service...….

[Mr K]

Originally Posted by denphone

Heads are likely to roll one suspects as watch this space..

Things haven't been going well for Liberty Global shares lately....

[denphone]

Originally Posted by Mr K

Things haven't been going well for Liberty Global shares lately....

Remember with stocks and shares what goes up must come down and vice versa Mr K.

[japitts]

Originally Posted by Dingbat

Can’t be bothered waiting for them to sort this UKTV (and now ITV) business out, so I’m ditching VM TV and going back to Sky.

While talking to the VM Retention’s agent, it seems that there’s lots and lots of others doing the same.

This debacle is gong to bite VM where it hurts.

I'm in the "not bothered about UKTV too much" camp, I barely watch them but do think Virgin have - as far as customer service goes - handled this whole debacle just about as badly as they could. We've just "renewed" our Full House package, but the whole thing just leaves us feeling quite cheesed off!

As far as VM being hit in the pockets, well if that's what it takes to make either them or UKTV see sense then so be it.

[RichardCoulter]

Originally Posted by OLD BOY

I know. They are indeed the vocal minority. It's not the numbers so much as the proportion of subscribers out of the 4 million or so.

As per the BBC Radio 4 programme 'The Media Show', a poll shows that 43% of VM customers say that they will be at least considering leaving VM because of this. Not the majority of customers no, but enough to ruin the TV side. As many people find it better value to obtain telephony and broadband from the same supplier in a triple play offering, this may well have a detrimental affect on their other services too.

[Dave42]

https://dtw.co.uk/twitter-when-brands-break-up/

[RichardCoulter]

Originally Posted by OLD BOY

Which would be stupid, right?

Let's not over-react. Carriage disputes like this go on all the time in the US.

It has happened before between Sky and Virgin. Sky almost had its Discovery channels dropped barely a few months ago.

The TV industry is now under threat from the global streamers, and whether we like it or not, the telcos have to respond. They cannot afford to keep paying channels sky high prices for their content when all the content on providers like Netflix can be had for under a tenner.

I am afraid it is UKTV who are in denial.

The difference being that the Discovery channels were never actually removed from Sky as a deal was thrashed out.

I've never known such a backlash from customers and widespread media attention over any cable issue, let alone channel removal.

It's not a matter of if, but when at least some of the UKTV channels return. The situation for VM is becoming more untenable by the day and the current stance by management of digging their heels in to appear robust is only serving to protract and worsen the negative fallout. Threatening to auction off the former UKTV EPG slots is downright inflammatory and not something i'd expect from so called professionals at such a delicate and sensitive time, particularly when Ofcom are about to start mediating between the two parties. I'm sure that Ofcom will take a very dim view of this latest move by VM management.

I'm afraid it's now got to the stage where damage limitation is the best that they can hope for. Whether VM (or anyone else) believes that they are in the right will eventually have to be put to one side to safeguard the whole future of the business. I do genuinely think that it's now that serious.

People are complaining to Ofcom about not being able to cancel after being kept on hold for excessive lengths of time, that live chat appears to have been suspended and the other day the telephone system stopped working because it simply could not cope.

[denphone]

Originally Posted by RichardCoulter

As per the BBC Radio 4 programme 'The Media Show', a poll shows that 43% of VM customers say that they will be at least considering leaving VM because of this. Not the majority of customers no, but enough to ruin the TV side. As many people find it better value to obtain telephony and broadband from the same supplier in a triple play offering, this may well have a detrimental affect on their other services too.

Did the Sky Basics dispute ruin the TV side Richard?.

[cheekyangus]

Originally Posted by Mr K

Things haven't been going well for Liberty Global shares lately....

The bottom of the Y axis is 26 not zero so that's a deceptive graph.

[RichardCoulter]

Originally Posted by Dave42

https://dtw.co.uk/twitter-when-brands-break-up/

I totally agree with the author of this. Whether you agree with either, both or neither party, UKTV have engaged with the public in a much better way. VM on the other hand have used the parrot fashion technique to try to appear corporate and steadfast.

It's just coming across as arrogant, robotic and totally lacking in customer care.

---------- Post added at 18:40 ---------- Previous post was at 18:32 ----------

Originally Posted by denphone

Did the Sky Basics dispute ruin the TV side Richard?.

No, they managed to keep a reasonable customer base by throwing out discounts left, right and centre.

This situation has exploded more than I think anybody could ever have imagined though, it's a totally different ball game (particularly as many more people now take their TV service from VM).

Instead of the carrot of discounts and allowing people to leave whilst in contract (long term thinking) to keep people that NTL used, VM are using the stick of legalities, contracts and fees to try to force people to stay.

Even if this works for a short time, if won't be a very harmonious relationship and people will eventually leave at the end of their contract feeling very resentful. They are unlikely to ever use VM again and it's well known that people who have something good to say about a business usually tell one or two. For something bad, you can multiply this many times over.

[OLD BOY]

Originally Posted by RichardCoulter

The difference being that the Discovery channels were never actually removed from Sky as a deal was thrashed out.

I've never known such a backlash from customers and widespread media attention over any cable issue, let alone channel removal.

It's not a matter of if, but when at least some of the UKTV channels return. The situation for VM is becoming more untenable by the day and the current stance by management of digging their heels in to appear robust is only serving to protract and worsen the negative fallout. Threatening to auction off the former UKTV EPG slots is downright inflammatory and not something i'd expect from so called professionals at such a delicate and sensitive time, particularly when Ofcom are about to start mediating between the two parties. I'm sure that Ofcom will take a very dim view of this latest move by VM management.

I'm afraid it's now got to the stage where damage limitation is the best that they can hope for. Whether VM (or anyone else) believes that they are in the right will eventually have to be put to one side to safeguard the whole future of the business. I do genuinely think that it's now that serious.

People are complaining to Ofcom about not being able to cancel after being kept on hold for excessive lengths of time, that live chat appears to have been suspended and the other day the telephone system stopped working because it simply could not cope.

Oh, come on, Richard, so fatalistic of you! Did you really expect Virgin to tolerate any longer being charged to carry free UKTV channels and not getting the on demand programming they expected to be provided from the previous contract?

Customers are demanding fewer price rises but some of them do not appreciate that a bit of hard bargaining is required to keep those rises to a minimum.

You really do have a short memory if you do not recollect the aggro resulting from the withdrawal of the Sky channels some years back. All those people who were denied the opportunity to follow that 'trending' series called 'Lost'!

The fact is, sometimes you have to stand up for what is right, despite the pain. That's what VM is doing, and I would not expect any less.

---------- Post added at 19:22 ---------- Previous post was at 19:18 ----------

Originally Posted by RichardCoulter

I totally agree with the author of this. Whether you agree with either, both or neither party, UKTV have engaged with the public in a much better way. VM on the other hand have used the parrot fashion technique to try to appear corporate and steadfast.

It's just coming across as arrogant, robotic and totally lacking in customer care.

---------- Post added at 18:40 ---------- Previous post was at 18:32 ----------



No, they managed to keep a reasonable customer base by throwing out discounts left, right and centre.

This situation has exploded more than I think anybody could ever have imagined though, it's a totally different ball game (particularly as many more people now take their TV service from VM).

Instead of the carrot of discounts and allowing people to leave whilst in contract (long term thinking) to keep people that NTL used, VM are using the stick of legalities, contracts and fees to try to force people to stay.

Even if this works for a short time, if won't be a very harmonious relationship and people will eventually leave at the end of their contract feeling very resentful. They are unlikely to ever use VM again and it's well known that people who have something good to say about a business usually tell one or two. For something bad, you can multiply this many times over.

Or maybe you could describe VM's behaviour as trying not to rock the boat as far as their negotiations with UKTV and future scrutiny by Ofcom is concerned.

UKTV is actively trying to cajole VM viewers over to other platforms rather than continue negotiating. I think that smacks of bad faith and bullying behaviour.

I hope Ofcom come down hard on UKTV. They will, if they have any backbone. VM is right to hold its head up above this and just re-state its position.