General : Coming soon to Virgin TV 2014

[denphone]

Originally Posted by muppetman11

You aren't forced to pay it !!!!! You choose to pay it big difference.

Try exploring alternatives like other people do or better still manage without.

We are tied into our contract until November but rest assured the winds of change will be coming to our package from then onwards.

[andy_m]

Originally Posted by muppetman11

You aren't forced to pay it !!!!! You choose to pay it big difference.

Try exploring alternatives like other people do or better still manage without.

Agreed. I'd urge everyone to look at exactly what sporting content they watch during the course of a month. If it's mainly the Premier League perhaps you can get by with just Sky Sports 1. If you might watch a couple of events like f1 one month but then not much the month after perhaps a couple of Now TV day passes are the way to go (Sky Sports f1 generally have a full replay of qualifying within 24 hours of the end of the grand prix, so one day pass this weekend just gone, carefully activated just after 1800hrs on Saturday, got me a replay of qualifying that evening followed the next day by the GP2 sprint race, Everton v. Arsenal and then the full f1 grand prix). Now TV is also only £8.99 per month for Sky Movies, including on demand.

If you absolutely want permanent access to all the sport channels and absolutely have to have full hd and 5.1 for your movies then it costs what it costs, but if you're flexible with some of those things then there really are some very competitively priced options available.

[Mad Max]

Originally Posted by andy_m

Agreed. I'd urge everyone to look at exactly what sporting content they watch during the course of a month. If it's mainly the Premier League perhaps you can get by with just Sky Sports 1. If you might watch a couple of events like f1 one month but then not much the month after perhaps a couple of Now TV day passes are the way to go (Sky Sports f1 generally have a full replay of qualifying within 24 hours of the end of the grand prix, so one day pass this weekend just gone, carefully activated just after 1800hrs on Saturday, got me a replay of qualifying that evening followed the next day by the GP2 sprint race, Everton v. Arsenal and then the full f1 grand prix). Now TV is also only £8.99 per month for Sky Movies, including on demand.

If you absolutely want permanent access to all the sport channels and absolutely have to have full hd and 5.1 for your movies then it costs what it costs, but if you're flexible with some of those things then there really are some very competitively priced options available.

I tried that mate, I asked to get the movies taken off my package, but when she calculated it I was only going to save about £6/£7 per month due to the amount of discounts that i already receive, I'm on the VIP package.

[1andrew1]

Originally Posted by Mad Max

I tried that mate, I asked to get the movies taken off my package, but when she calculated it I was only going to save about £6/£7 per month due to the amount of discounts that i already receive, I'm on the VIP package.

Guess it's a case of how useful the money you would save - £80 per year - v what you get from Sky Movies.

---------- Post added at 14:06 ---------- Previous post was at 14:00 ----------

Originally Posted by andy_m

Agreed. I'd urge everyone to look at exactly what sporting content they watch during the course of a month. If it's mainly the Premier League perhaps you can get by with just Sky Sports 1. If you might watch a couple of events like f1 one month but then not much the month after perhaps a couple of Now TV day passes are the way to go (Sky Sports f1 generally have a full replay of qualifying within 24 hours of the end of the grand prix, so one day pass this weekend just gone, carefully activated just after 1800hrs on Saturday, got me a replay of qualifying that evening followed the next day by the GP2 sprint race, Everton v. Arsenal and then the full f1 grand prix). Now TV is also only £8.99 per month for Sky Movies, including on demand.

If you absolutely want permanent access to all the sport channels and absolutely have to have full hd and 5.1 for your movies then it costs what it costs, but if you're flexible with some of those things then there really are some very competitively priced options available.

Good advice, the movie savings are substantial. Sports fans shouldn't rule out substituting Sky Sports with BT Sport @ £15pm/free with VIP especially as it has the Champions League from next year and great rugby union coverage. Use Now TV passes for those must-see fixtures.

[Media Boy UK]

April List update - April 9th update.

Keep up-to-date on the latest news on upcoming channel launches and other important events across all platforms of Virgin TV and SmallWorld networks.

NOTE: I DO NOT WORK FOR VIRGIN MEDIA OR SMALLWORLD SO ALL THE INFORMATION ON THIS LIST IS STILL SUBJECT TO CHANGE

Colours on my list are as followed:

Media Boy = New Info just added.
Media Boy = Virgin Media or Smallworld News and links.
Media Boy = Other Media news/Things.

=== Coming up on Virgin's Digital TV ===
=== Freeviews on Virgin Media or Smallworld ===
???. ??th. (Put channel here) is having an freeview to all (Put package info here) ?? package on Virgin Channel ??? right now until 6am on (Put end date here).

=== April ===
14th. Sky Movies Greats rebrand as Sky Movies Superhero on Virgin Channel 410 and Smallworld Channel 309.
14th. Sky Movies Greats HD rebrand as Sky Movies Superhero HD on Virgin Channel 440 and Smallworld Channel 337.
27th. Sky Movies Superhero rebrand as Sky Movies Greats on Virgin Channel 410 and Smallworld Channel 309.
27th. Sky Movies Superhero HD rebrand as Sky Movies Greats HD on Virgin Channel 440 and Smallworld Channel 337.

=== May ===
No News...

=== June ===
2nd. STV to launch STV Glasgow on Virgin Channel 159 (STV West areas only.)

=== July ===
No News...

=== August ===
No News...

=== September ===
No News...

=== October ===
No News...

=== November ===
No News...

=== December ===
No News...

=== By 2015 ===
ITV to launch ITVBe on Virgin Media and Smallworld.

=== Autumn 2015 ===
-The BBC may close BBC Three on Virgin Media and Smallworld subject to approved by the BBC Trust.
-The BBC may close BBC Three HD on Virgin Media and Smallworld subject to approved by the BBC Trust.
-The BBC launch BBC One +1 on Virgin Media and Smallworld subject to approved by the BBC Trust.
-The BBC may add an extra hour per day (to 8pm) to CBBC and CBBC HD on Virgin Media and Smallworld subject to approved by the BBC Trust.

=== Local TV on Virgin Media ===
-Local TV broadcaster Made in Bristol hope to launch sometime in 2014 on Virgin Channel 159.
-Local TV broadcaster Made in Leeds hope to launch in Summer 2014 on Virgin Channel 159.
-Notts TV has confirmed that they are in talks with Virgin Media
-Local TV may launch on Virgin TV in some areas on Virgin Channel 159.
-Local TV Channels may also launch on Smallworld in some areas.

=== Unknown dates ===
-News 18 will soon launch on Virgin Media (No news in Months).
-Media Boy HQ has seen info that says an TV Channel is set to be close by it owner on Virgin Media.
-Rumours has reappeared that Sky to close Sky Livingit and Sky Livingit +1.
-The BBC to axe BBC Radio 4 LW on Virgin Channel 911 ''in the long term''.
-The BBC hope to launch English regional variants of its existing BBC One HD service as well as Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland editions of BBC Two HD - but still need to be approved by the BBC Trust.
-Virgin Media may renumber all of the Smallworld channel numbers.

=== Channels ONLY in Smallworld and UPC Ireland areas ===
List last updated on April 9th 2014.

ONLY TV CHANNELS THAT ONLY BROADCAST IN THE UK ON OTHER NETWORKS WILL APPEAR ON THIS PART OF THE LIST.

ALSO THE FOLLOWING LIST OF CHANNELS IS CURRENTLY BROADCASTING ON SMALLWORLD CABLE OR UPC IRELAND BUT NOT ON VIRGIN MEDIA:

Entertainment:
-Sky1 +1*
-MTV +1*

Documentaries:
-History HD**
-Nat Geo Wild HD**
-CI HD**

Lifestyle:
-Travel Channel +1*
-Food Network +1*
-Fashion TV**

Movies:
-Movies4Men*

Music:
-MTV Classic***
-Channel AKA*
-Now Music*

News:
-Sky News HD**

Sports:
-Sky Sports News HD**

Kids:
-Disney Channel HD**

Specialist:
-EWTN**

Radio:
-UCB Ireland**

*Only in Smallworld areas.
**Only in UPC Ireland areas.
***Only in both Smallworld and UPC Ireland areas.

©copyright 2014 Media Boy 2006 - 2014. An ''Keep it real and free'' Production.

==== Virgin Media's Deals with broadcasters ===
Full list now at: http://mediaboyblog.blogspot.co.uk/p...adcasters.html

This part of list has now moved to my blog - follow link.

=== What is Media Boy on about??? ===
Here is what I mean when I post the following on Cable Forum:

Virgin Insiders - means just that.
'Do Not Post' order - means an Virgin insider has given me some info on things that set to happen but has told me not to reveal it right now.

=== Media Boy Extra info: ===
Liberty Global - http://www.lgi.com/
Media Boy Blog - For all things Virgin TV - http://mediaboyblog.blogspot.com/
Follow Virgin Media on ''twitter'' here - http://twitter.com/virginmedia
Follow Smallworld Fibre on ''twitter'' here - https://twitter.com/smallworldfibre
See Nialli's blog on Virgin Media High Definition & TiVo Services here - http://vmhd.blogspot.com/

=== Ask Media Boy ===
Last updated February 3rd 2014.

Q: WHERE DO YOU GET YOUR INFORMATION ABOUT VIRGIN MEDIA FROM?
A: I get all my info from Virgin Media viewers, some Virgin Media workers (I called them Virgin Insiders) and Web Sites (NOTE: When I used web sites I will post an link to that web site).

Q: WHY HAVE YOU ADDED 'ONLY IN SMALLWORLD AREAS' AND 'ONLY IN UPC IRELAND AREAS' WHEN THIS THREAD IS FOR VIRGIN MEDIA?
A: Virgin Media, Smallworld and UPC Ireland are now ALL own by Liberty Global.

Q: WHY AM I NOT GETTING ''MTV CLASSIC'' OR ''DISNEY CHANNEL HD'' FOR?
A: MTV CLASSIC and Disney Channel HD is only broadcasting in Smallworld and UPC Ireland areas right now.

==== See you later ===
List last updated on April 9th 2014.

Next update: TBC - unless:

A) If Virgin Media are set to launch more than TWO channels (TV or Radio) in Virgin TV or Smallworld areas.
B) If Virgin Media are set to move more than TWO channels (TV or Radio) about in Virgin TV or Smallworld areas.
C) If Virgin Media are set to close or repackage more then TWO channels (TV or Radio) in Virgin TV or Smallworld areas.

Why update today for? Was fixing some text in the 'Channels ONLY in Smallworld and UPC Ireland areas.' part of list.

Did I miss anything??? If I did tell me and it will appear on the next update.

©copyright 2014 Media Boy 2006 - 2014. An ''Keep it real and free'' Production.

[OLD BOY]

Originally Posted by Media Boy

Guardian did report that Sky Sports and Sky Movies is up sometime in 2014.

http://www.theguardian.com/media/201...eal-sky-sports

---------- Post added at 17:04 ---------- Previous post was at 17:01 ----------



Or maybe signed???

http://forums.digitalspy.co.uk/showp...postcount=1230

But no Virgin insiders I know can back that rumour up.

The most interesting passage of the Guardian article was:

In a sign of how telecoms and content are converging, it is thought Virgin and Sky have traded football for fibre-optic cables.

Virgin announced Wednesday that it had struck a deal to rent its fibre 'backhaul' to the satellite group, helping carry internet traffic across its core network, although not as far as customers' homes, for which Sky still relies on BT.

"I find it unbelievable that Virgin won't have a deal with Sky on the sports because they've just done a deal on backhaul and they'll all be connected," said Toby Syfret at Enders Analysis. "There is a better and better relationship between them helped by the aggressive stance taken by BT which it feels it has to attack Sky directly in the content area."

This indicates that there is indeed a link between channel and non-channel deals between Sky and VM. For some reason, there was a view expressed on this forum that the fibre optic deal had nothing to do with channels. I would have thought that the two companies do not have such a blinkered approach, which is good for us!

The other significant passage was this:

By contrast, BT is struggling to agree terms to carry Sky's two main sports channels on its flagship YouView service.

The telecoms group is mounting the biggest challenge yet to Sky's dominance in football by paying the Premier League £738m to show 38 Premier League matches a year for the next three years, and will launch its own sports channels this summer.

BT has a deal until 2016 to carry Sky Sports 1 and 2 on its BT Vision box, but that service is being phased out in favour of YouView.

Now to my mind, Sky is playing a very dangerous game because if it is denying BT access to its premium sports channels, this will make BT even more determined to get the lion's share of the Premiership rights next time around. Sky can't afford to be this obstructive.

[muppetman11]

Would a sports fan realistically care who wins the rights ? BT Sport is available to subscribe to on BT TV , VM and the Sky platform so its just a case of switching subscriptions , I'm pretty sure the average punter couldnt careless what goes on at a corporate level.

[harry_hitch]

Originally Posted by OLD BOY

The most interesting passage of the Guardian article was:

In a sign of how telecoms and content are converging, it is thought Virgin and Sky have traded football for fibre-optic cables.

Virgin announced Wednesday that it had struck a deal to rent its fibre 'backhaul' to the satellite group, helping carry internet traffic across its core network, although not as far as customers' homes, for which Sky still relies on BT.

"I find it unbelievable that Virgin won't have a deal with Sky on the sports because they've just done a deal on backhaul and they'll all be connected," said Toby Syfret at Enders Analysis. "There is a better and better relationship between them helped by the aggressive stance taken by BT which it feels it has to attack Sky directly in the content area."

This indicates that there is indeed a link between channel and non-channel deals between Sky and VM. For some reason, there was a view expressed on this forum that the fibre optic deal had nothing to do with channels. I would have thought that the two companies do not have such a blinkered approach, which is good for us!

The other significant passage was this:

By contrast, BT is struggling to agree terms to carry Sky's two main sports channels on its flagship YouView service.

The telecoms group is mounting the biggest challenge yet to Sky's dominance in football by paying the Premier League £738m to show 38 Premier League matches a year for the next three years, and will launch its own sports channels this summer.

BT has a deal until 2016 to carry Sky Sports 1 and 2 on its BT Vision box, but that service is being phased out in favour of YouView.

Now to my mind, Sky is playing a very dangerous game because if it is denying BT access to its premium sports channels, this will make BT even more determined to get the lion's share of the Premiership rights next time around. Sky can't afford to be this obstructive.

I don't wish to rain on your parade too much OB, but that article is from 2013 and they are only publishing the views of analyst who (I am guessing) has very little to do with Sky or VM. IMHO, if a deal for channels, content or pricing had been signed with this deal, we would have seen the benefit of it by now.

[1andrew1]

Originally Posted by harry_hitch

I don't wish to rain on your parade too much OB, but that article is from 2013 and they are only publishing the views of analyst who (I am guessing) has very little to do with Sky or VM. IMHO, if a deal for channels, content or pricing had been signed with this deal, we would have seen the benefit of it by now.

Unfortunately I'm inclined to agree with you, we've seen no additional Sky channels as a result of the backhaul deal and therefore nothing to indicate a linkage. Time has proved the analyst's theory; welcome as it was at the time; wrong.
I think Sky are in a very strong position whereby they can put the backhaul out to tender as a stand-alone contract. BT, Virgin and Vodafone-Cable & Wireless can all bid for the standardised contract and Sky can take the best price. This makes it easy to retender in a few years' time as it won't be entwined with other contracts.

[Anypermitedroute]

Originally Posted by 1andrew1

Unfortunately I'm inclined to agree with you, we've seen no additional Sky channels as a result of the backhaul deal and therefore nothing to indicate a linkage. Time has proved the analyst's theory; welcome as it was at the time; wrong.
I think Sky are in a very strong position whereby they can put the backhaul out to tender as a stand-alone contract. BT, Virgin and Vodafone-Cable & Wireless can all bid for the standardised contract and Sky can take the best price. This makes it easy to retender in a few years' time as it won't be entwined with other contracts.

Yep that is how I see at as well, VM can bid as well as others and a way for Sky to get best deal for their requirements and in return don't have to throw anything else into the ring. VM bidded because for them it still represented a good deal in terms of generating much needed cash.

As for this article 2013, we seen nothing as a result and was speculation and nothing official. Indeed since then we had an official announcement from sky and impending set up of ITV encore, all without a carriage deal with VM, so this sky bravo if it will exist could be a rebranding of sky 2, and perhaps was always the case

[Media Boy UK]

Update:

-Media Boy HQ has seen info that says an TV Channel is set to be close by it owner on Virgin Media.

It may happen by late Summer.

[Anypermitedroute]

Originally Posted by Media Boy

Update:



It may happen by late Summer.

Sky arts 2

[1andrew1]

Originally Posted by Media Boy

Update:

It may happen by late Summer.

Presumably the Sky channel in question will close on all platforms and not just VM?

[Media Boy UK]

Originally Posted by Anypermitedroute

Sky arts 2

Sky Arts has an new boss but an Sky Insiders has told me that Sky are set to close an channel at somepoint this year.

So maybe even:

-Sky 2 (Due to Sky adding Sports shows to lineup - maybe rebrand as Sky Bravo?)
-Sky Livingit and Sky Livingit +1 (for ITV to use?).

[theone2k10]

Originally Posted by Media Boy

Sky Arts has an new boss but an Sky Insiders has told me that Sky are set to close an channel at somepoint this year.

So maybe even:

-Sky 2 (Due to Sky adding Sports shows to lineup - maybe rebrand as Sky Bravo?)
-Sky Livingit and Sky Livingit +1 (for ITV to use?).

BIB got it in one i think.