NTL should switch to a digital only service!

[ian@huth]

Originally Posted by garyparson

As I said, get these neanderthals off our service and let's go forward with the system instead of being held back.

Many of your so called neanderthals could switch to digital but why should they if analogue gives them the channels that they want at the price that they are happy with.

Other neanderthals live in areas that cannot receive digital and won't be able to do so for quite a while. Could be two years or more. The problem is that the current number of channels and use of broadband was not envisaged when some of the early areas were cabled and they need extensive and costly work to bring them up to scratch. The other problem is that the work has to be done at times that minimise the disruption to services, mostly during the night. There is still a very large number of customers on analogue and NTL could not afford to lose them by stopping the analogue service.

[Womble]

There is a couple of points I wish to make after reading all the posts, so hear goes. They are in no paticular order (much like my thought patterns!)

1, The turning off of Terrestrial Analogue has no bearing on ntl. We could, and do recieve Digital broadcasts, and re-broadcast them as Analogue.
2, There is going to be a change in the programs on Analogue, so as to make room for VOD.
3, As was said by ianathuth, the areas that are not able to get the Digital service at the mo, will be waiting a long time, all the money and resorces are being flushed down the drain, sorry, spent in London (The ex-Videotron areas are a shambles)
4, browneggsandham said "Don't forget that until the analogue service is turned off nationwide, no bandwidth will be saved by turning off some areas". Well that isn't strictly true!, But it would cause NTL a marketing headache because differant services could/would be available in areas


My questions are......

1, Why don't NTL either up the price of Ano, or drop the price of digital so there isn't a price differance.
2, Why don't NTL force the issue in franchises that are completely Digitaly ready?. They have in Kent, (Ashford/Dover/Folkston) why not insitagate a program accross the country?

Enough from me...sorry if my post is hard to follow

[ian@huth]

A couple of points to bear in mind is the cost of all those STBs that have to be swapped for digital ones and the engineering time to install those digital boxes in customers homes. If NTL have a significant number of analogue customers in an area it will take quite a while to install all the digital boxes and if they are only just coping with engineer visits as it is, where does all that time come from?

Additionaly there may be a significant number of customers who may not want to switch to digital and they could risk losing some of these to Sky and maybe taking telephone with them.

It is probably in NTLs interest to get interactive and other problems fully sorted before moving customers fully to digital as less than a perfect digital experience for them could lead to churn.

[Chrysalis]

Womble I see your point on the price difference but I would expect customers in analogue only areas would be very annoyed if digital was the same price yet has more channels.

[russellelly]

The day NTL can offer me a digital service for £4/month then I'll be on the phone. Until then I'll be sticking with analogue - the only channels I generally watch are News 24, Sky One and E4. If ntl analogue was switched off then I'd go to Freeview, although if VOD turns out any good then that might cause me to switch.

Also in 6+ years my box has crashed a grand total of ZERO times - how many digital customers could say the same?

[garyparson]

Do you ride your bike up and down motorways? They don't break down and are much cheaper..

Technophobe.

[MytchettMan]

Analogue boxes do breakdown. I had two before I switched to digital and I have had 4 digital boxes so far. But the digital picture IS far better than analogue, especially when projected on to an 83" screen. Then you can really tell the difference.
But an interesting point is that no one is manufacturing analogue boxes anymore, so NTL are using up there existing stock. At some point they will run out of them. And as a digital customer I will be dissapointed when they turn off the analogue as I get the 5 terrestrial channels through my digital box as analogue signals which I push around the house to 4 TVs. If they turn off the analogue then I have to get more digital boxes or reconnect the arial on the roof....if its still there...so I'm in no rush for NTL to turn off analogue !!

[Chrysalis]

my analogue is spotty this time of the year and at least once a week dies for an hour or so.

[bigitup_j]

Originally Posted by MytchettMan

But an interesting point is that no one is manufacturing analogue boxes anymore, so NTL are using up there existing stock. At some point they will run out of them. And as a digital customer I will be dissapointed when they turn off the analogue as I get the 5 terrestrial channels through my digital box as analogue signals which I push around the house to 4 TVs. If they turn off the analogue then I have to get more digital boxes or reconnect the arial on the roof....if its still there...so I'm in no rush for NTL to turn off analogue !!

i think ntl have to carry the 5 terrestrial channels on their network, it's the law - so when ntl switch off analogue, those channels should remain (well, until the government want to get rid of analogue tv completely)

[MytchettMan]

I'm afraid there is no law requiring them to carry the anologue terretrial signals if the same channels are available as digital signals. Otherwise Sky would have to as well....

[spiderplant]

Originally Posted by MytchettMan

I'm afraid there is no law requiring them to carry the anologue terretrial signals if the same channels are available as digital signals. Otherwise Sky would have to as well....

Cable is subject to its own set of regulations, defined in the Broadcasting Act 1984. Sky don't have to follow these.

[altis]

...now replaced by the 2003 Communtications Act which has it's very own website:
http://www.communicationsbill.gov.uk/

[ntl customer]

I wish ntl would sort their bloody boxes and software first before forcing everyone onto digital. Also they need to up the bit-rate they broadcast at as well and stop re-encoding DTT and Sky streams.

If my evening's experience of ntl's STB software is anything to go by, I feel sorry for those who have it as their main source of television - just think of it, all that crawling behind the TV to reboot the STB.

[spiderplant]

Originally Posted by ntl customer

Also they need to up the bit-rate they broadcast at as well and stop re-encoding DTT and Sky streams.

ntl don't re-encode anything. A few premium channels (Sky One, Sky Movies, Disney and a few others) are encoded by ntl from uncompressed video. This is done to give a higher bitrate than is available off satellite.
The rest of the channels are taken directly from DTT or satellite.

[daxx]

Originally Posted by garyparson

Do you ride your bike up and down motorways? They don't break down and are much cheaper..

Technophobe.

and you can get more bikes (channels) on a motorway (digital) than you can on an 'A' road (analogue)