[Merged] PVR for NTL

[Stuart]

Can we get this thread back on topic please? If you wish to argue, do so in PM.

[quadplay]

Originally Posted by Tristan

That's great. Now could you tell me when I'm going to get it?

Sometime in 2006 - probably Q2. I can't be more specific than that.

It you live in a Telewest area, they're more than willing to give you a projected four-week window. Why can't NTL do the same?

Probably because whenever dates are supplied and they change (which they are very likely to do given the nature of the VoD project), there are massive moans on here and calls to Customer Service.

Why haven't there been any Bromley areas done yet?

Because, like with Langley, a software upgrade (amongst other things) is required to get it working. VoD kit was installed in Langley regions first for a variety of reasons.

And who has rolled out more, as a percentage of their network? Who is likely to finish first?

Don't know, sorry. Telewest are likely to complete rollout first, as their network is smaller and the structure is less complex.

[Tristan]

Originally Posted by quadplay

Probably because whenever dates are supplied and they change (which they are very likely to do given the nature of the VoD project), there are massive moans on here and calls to Customer Service.

But surely Telewest are just as susceptible to delays? They are doing exactly the same thing, after all. What is it about the way Telewest are doing things that makes them more confident about getting it done within the four-week target window?

And even if we accept your point, it doesn't stop NTL telling us the order in which franchises are due to go live, does it? Yet they won't even do that.

Why are Telewest willing to communicate with their customers, when NTL are not?

[quadplay]

I don't know, I don't work in PR.

[nn012]

Originally Posted by Tristan

But surely Telewest are just as susceptible to delays? They are doing exactly the same thing, after all. What is it about the way Telewest are doing things that makes them more confident about getting it done within the four-week target window?

To correct your post, its a 2 week window Telewest give now and they have been rolling out VoD without any delays and its set for national completion before the year ends, shame about the broadband speed increases.

[quadplay]

Originally Posted by nn012

To correct your post, its a 2 week window Telewest give now and they have been rolling out VoD without any delays and its set for national completion before the year ends, shame about the broadband speed increases.

Cob Stenham giveth with one hand, and taketh with another.

[garyparson]

Originally Posted by Tristan

But surely Telewest are just as susceptible to delays? They are doing exactly the same thing, after all. What is it about the way Telewest are doing things that makes them more confident about getting it done within the four-week target window?

And even if we accept your point, it doesn't stop NTL telling us the order in which franchises are due to go live, does it? Yet they won't even do that.

Why are Telewest willing to communicate with their customers, when NTL are not?

Spot on. No excuses NTL! Shame on you.

[sherer]

although it's taken a while the problem with the NTL network is there is the Langley side and the Bromley side plus some stuff from other companies they have bought out and that mess needs to be sorted out before they can roll these things out efficiently

it is coming you just need to show abit of patience

[KenK]

Originally Posted by sherer

although it's taken a while the problem with the NTL network is there is the Langley side and the Bromley side plus some stuff from other companies they have bought out and that mess needs to be sorted out before they can roll these things out efficiently

The 'mess' has existed for years. What steps have ntl taken to sort it out?

it is coming you just need to show abit of patience

This topic has been appearing for many, many months now. At one stage, 2H2005 was being quoted to investors as the launch time for PVR. There's still no sign of a target date from ntl, just 'coming soon' statements from various sources. Just how much patience do we need to show?

[ailean]

I don't think the original PVR plans involved HD or Mpeg4 so that's going to add a lot of extra work and investment to do. As the user end is rented it makes sence to do it in one go (if they charged us £300 for the box I'm sure we'd have one by now and they'd be happy to charge us another £300 for an HD/Mpeg4 version 6 months later ).

They also want to maximise VOD deployment first as it's more of an earner for simular features.

And as for the mess, well it's a very expensive mess to sort and I think without government backing to get fiber to every urban door it won't happen anytime soon. If they'd tried to do it before now I don't think they'd still be in business.

It's a shame we've never had much of an open market in this country, if the government laid/owned the fiber to the door and providers laid there cable to the street nodes then you could shop around a bit. As it is now you can't even move house to a Telewest area (as I'm certain more bad practises from NTL will leak to Telewest then good ones from Telewest going to NTL from the merger ).

But hey, I've got 10MB and can just download all my TV in HD now instead... or at least 75GB/month.

[Andy C]

Considering SA arn't going to have the PVR hardware ntl have chosen on the market before Q1 2006 then that should tell you that we probably wont hear anything until Q2 2006.

[KenK]

Originally Posted by ailean

I don't think the original PVR plans involved HD or Mpeg4 so that's going to add a lot of extra work and investment to do. As the user end is rented it makes sence to do it in one go (if they charged us £300 for the box I'm sure we'd have one by now and they'd be happy to charge us another £300 for an HD/Mpeg4 version 6 months later ).

If they're going to keep delaying shipment to add even more features, they're never going to get it out the door and earn money from it.

They also want to maximise VOD deployment first as it's more of an earner for simular features.

There is nothing at all similar between VOD and PVR. VOD is a way of selling chargeable content; PVR is a way for customers to time-shift broadcast content. The miniscule amount of 'highlight' content on VOD is pointless.

And as for the mess, well it's a very expensive mess to sort and I think without government backing to get fiber to every urban door it won't happen anytime soon. If they'd tried to do it before now I don't think they'd still be in business.

It's a shame we've never had much of an open market in this country, if the government laid/owned the fiber to the door and providers laid there cable to the street nodes then you could shop around a bit.

It was ntl's choice to merge all these companies and create the mess in the first place. And why should the taxpayer pay for any of it?

But hey, I've got 10MB and can just download all my TV in HD now instead... or at least 75GB/month.

That may well be the future, at least until the content providers catch on and start charging for it. All the more reason for ntl to try to make some money before it happens.

[SMHarman]

Originally Posted by KenK

It was ntl's choice to merge all these companies and create the mess in the first place. And why should the taxpayer pay for any of it?

It was the governments choice to carve the country up into tiny cable patches that the cable patch kid Barclay decided to sew together to create an entity with the economy of scale to compete with Sky. If the Govt had decided that there should be one, or two cable suppliers for the UK and implemented the licence sell off on that basis, not one per city we would not be in this mess. Again the govt trying to maximise licence revenue without considering the repercussions.

[dwrotch]

Read some info lately about Ntl version of Sky+ it looks very good 160gb hard drive, 3 tuners, usb ports, ethernet and multi-room capabilities. But can't seem to find any info on when it's coming out or how much it'll be, fed up of using videos and don't want to buy a dvd recorder because they're all changing soon to new HD dvd's ( plus also read that in a year or so that a new format atomic holographic storage is going to be used 300gb/dvd ) Am impressed with mates Sky+ but looking at the Ntl+ specs would prefer to stay with Ntl, but how long do we have to wait? Can anyone shine any light on the topic?

[Chris W]

There is a long thread on the PVR, but i can't seem to find it at the moment

however, in summary, anyone who has access to this information will be under a NDA anyway, and those who don't have access to the information will just be speculating...

As soon as ntl release any information to the public, CF will hear about it

*moving to cable tv discussion forum*