General : Changes to Virgin TV (2020)

[vincerooney]

Originally Posted by RichardCoulter

ITV2, ITV3 & ITV4 rumoured to eventually be closing:

https://variety.com/2020/tv/global/i...on-1234809348/

i could imagine them downsizing for sure. ITV2 doesnt do very good ratings compared to ITV3 so i can see them possibly merging. Especially as ITV2 had spin offs for shows which have been discontinued now. change the name of ITV4 to something else

[nomadking]

Originally Posted by RichardCoulter

ITV2, ITV3 & ITV4 rumoured to eventually be closing:

https://variety.com/2020/tv/global/i...on-1234809348/

Does that include shutting down ITV HD(channel 113). It's suddenly disappeared, along with all the "Planned Recordings" for 113.
Temporary fault?

[mot12]

Err. ITVHD has disappeared from my V6. Channel 113. Has that happened to anyone else?

---------- Post added at 00:50 ---------- Previous post was at 00:49 ----------

Originally Posted by nomadking

Does that include shutting down ITV HD(channel 113). It's suddenly disappeared, along with all the "Planned Recordings" for 113.
Temporary fault?

Yes happened here. Bit of a shock.

I was about to turn off the TV as well when I noticed. Now I've got to try and sleep..

[nomadking]

Looks like planned changes.
Link

ITV is making some changes to increase their HD offering.
On 20 October, ITV HD launches in Yorkshire East, Central East, Anglia West, Meridian North and Meridian South.
Also on 20 October 2020, ITV SD closes in Border England, Anglia West, Meridian North and Yorkshire East. ITV+1 closes in Anglia, West, Tyne Tees, Westcountry, Wales and Yorkshire. These closing ITV SD and ITV+1 services will be replaced by larger regions.

Channel 103 is still set up as SD. My TV says it's 576p.

But don’t worry – after the changes, you’ll still be able to record all your favourite programmes on ITV following these few simple steps.

• Just go to your Sky planner from 20 October 2020, and delete any planned recordings you have set on ITV SD, ITV+1 or ITV HD.
• Then, re-select what you want to record from in the TV Guide (including any series links). Programmes recorded before 20 October 2020 will not be affected and these changes will not affect ITV2, ITV3, ITV4, ITVbe or any other channel.

That assumes we'd been given advance notice. If there had been a message in the EPG for channel 113, that might've helped.
Normally with channel number changes, there's no problem. It's handled automatically.
Seems odd that Anglia East will have 103 SD and 113 HD, but Anglia West will only have 103 HD. Can VM systems cope with that?


I should imagine that programmes recorded using 113, will no longer be available to play back. Now that is definitely going to cause complaints.

[ScottishSteve]

Originally Posted by mot12

Err. ITVHD has disappeared from my V6. Channel 113. Has that happened to anyone else?[COLOR="Silver"]

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The same happened when STV HD made the switch it was gone for about an hour IIRC

[nomadking]

In Anglia West region, ITV HD(113) local news was for Meridan area(South East), so I don't know how Anglia East and Anglia West are going to come into it.

An article for the Central ITV region, doesn't mention cable or Freeview, only Sky and Freesat. Additionally the article is only from last Wednesday. The Anglia region version is only from last Friday.

IIRC there has been a issue before about switching between SD and HD, and correct flagging of the channels and EPG.

---------- Post added at 01:45 ---------- Previous post was at 01:34 ----------

Channel 113 ITV HD is back.

[cheekyangus]

Originally Posted by nomadking

In Anglia West region, ITV HD(113) local news was for Meridan area(South East), so I don't know how Anglia East and Anglia West are going to come into it.

An article for the Central ITV region, doesn't mention cable or Freeview, only Sky and Freesat. Additionally the article is only from last Wednesday. The Anglia region version is only from last Friday.

IIRC there has been a issue before about switching between SD and HD, and correct flagging of the channels and EPG.

---------- Post added at 01:45 ---------- Previous post was at 01:34 ----------

Channel 113 ITV HD is back.

There has been happenings with ITV HD and ITV+1 on the network over the last few weeks which suggests VM are preparing for something. I'm sure JJ20X on Forum Box will notice something more soon enough and post there about it.

---------- Post added at 09:36 ---------- Previous post was at 09:21 ----------

Originally Posted by vincerooney

i could imagine them downsizing for sure. ITV2 doesnt do very good ratings compared to ITV3 so i can see them possibly merging. Especially as ITV2 had spin offs for shows which have been discontinued now. change the name of ITV4 to something else

ITV2 and ITV3 couldn't appeal to more different demographics. They wouldn't risk sabotaging ITV3's ratings in my opinion. They used to show the sort of content found on ITVBe on ITV2 before ITVBe was launched, so reversing that would be the most obvious thing for ITV to do. ITVBe doesn't have as wide geographical signal coverage on Freeview, and since ITV own the multiplex it's on they'd make money reselling the vacated space to another channel.

[nomadking]

Originally Posted by cheekyangus

There has been happenings with ITV HD and ITV+1 on the network over the last few weeks which suggests VM are preparing for something. I'm sure JJ20X on Forum Box will notice something more soon enough and post there about it.

---------- Post added at 09:36 ---------- Previous post was at 09:21 ----------



ITV2 and ITV3 couldn't appeal to more different demographics. They wouldn't risk sabotaging ITV3's ratings in my opinion. They used to show the sort of content found on ITVBe on ITV2 before ITVBe was launched, so reversing that would be the most obvious thing for ITV to do. ITVBe doesn't have as wide geographical signal coverage on Freeview, and since ITV own the multiplex it's on they'd make money reselling the vacated space to another channel.

With VM, ITV HD and ITV+1 don't seem to be affected in any way, other than the HD channel has the correct regional news. It is only Sky and Freesat that have lost the SD versions of ITV and ITV+1.

Was the temporary loss of channel 113, because VM had to source ITV HD from the new channel sources?
I don't know whether people might have lost any recordings from 113, but the planned programmes did disappear.

[oxfordmark]

113 still showing on EPG in Oxfordshire.

[nomadking]

Originally Posted by oxfordmark

113 still showing on EPG in Oxfordshire.

It came back with the regional news changes in the EPG.

Did planned programmes on ITV 113 disappear and then return?
The planned recordings did disappear, but I'd changed mine to ITV SD before 113 returned.
Found an ITV HD programme in the deleted recordings folder and it does play back.
It may well have been that nobody would've noticed anything, unless like me they manually selected channel 113 and found it missing.


Subtitles are missing from 103 and 113, but not 114(+1) and 853(Audio described). Until it's all sorted out, I'm going to have to change everything to using 114 or 853.

[cheekyangus]

I wouldn't be surprised if VM introduce the new regional variations of ITV (HD and +1) to their network, ensure they are happy they are working properly, and any move to 113 comes later. I'd be surprised if any 103/113 swap happened today.

I can't remember what happened with STV HD here, though I think it was already correct region HD before the swap.

[heavyside]

ITV HD on 113 went AWOL overnight in London and had to be re-added to my favourites manually.

[cheekyangus]

Originally Posted by heavyside

ITV HD on 113 went AWOL overnight in London and had to be re-added to my favourites manually.

A whole set of HD channels got moved on the network over the last few days. I had to re-add a few non-ITV channels to my Favourites.

[nomadking]

Originally Posted by cheekyangus

I wouldn't be surprised if VM introduce the new regional variations of ITV (HD and +1) to their network, ensure they are happy they are working properly, and any move to 113 comes later. I'd be surprised if any 103/113 swap happened today.

I can't remember what happened with STV HD here, though I think it was already correct region HD before the swap.

ITV HD is showing correct regional news in EPG, ITV+1 and ITV AD(audio described) are not.
STV isn't further regionalised other than whole of Scotland, so no change was required.

As mentioned subtitles are currently missing from ITV Anglia SD and HD.

[ncfc1902]

Press blue to watch in HD is now showing on 103 (Anglia East SD)