General : Coming Soon to Virgin Media TV (2017)

Originally Posted by OLD BOY

The answer really lies in the quality of the content..

Or the type of content, more reality tv isn't going to pull in the viewers when the market is already saturated with reality tv.

[OLD BOY]

Originally Posted by jj20x

Or the type of content, more reality tv isn't going to pull in the viewers when the market is already saturated with reality tv.

Agreed. But generally, I would not class any reality tv as quality content.

[RichardCoulter]

Originally Posted by jj20x

It didn't seem to go too well at the last attempt, with the tests having an initial provisional EPG channel allocation of 215. Further channels arrived on VM, taking the 215 slot, Viceland being shunted to channel 990 and subsequently removed. It's not a good sign when a prospective channel is carrying video / audio "tests" across the network and is subsequently removed.

I'm not sure that seeking carriage on extra platforms is a good way of dealing with low audience figures. The probability is that audience figures would continue to be low, but with additional carriage costs. It might be better to concentrate on audience research and improving the audience figures before looking at expansion.

I wonder why VM go to the trouble of setting up channels that never make it to the EPG??

The only things that I can think of are that, should carriage negotiations be successful, the additional of the channel is ready to go, or to demonstrate to the broadcaster during negotiations that they are technically able to carry their channel with quality audio & video.

Originally Posted by OLD BOY

Agreed. But generally, I would not class any reality tv as quality content.

Indeed, reality tv seems to be a competition to see how low the quality bar can be dropped.

Originally Posted by jj20x

Indeed, reality tv seems to be a competition to see how low the quality bar can be dropped.

It also has little to do with "reality".

Originally Posted by RichardCoulter

I wonder why VM go to the trouble of setting up channels that never make it to the EPG??

The only things that I can think of are that, should carriage negotiations be successful, the additional of the channel is ready to go, or to demonstrate to the broadcaster during negotiations that they are technically able to carry their channel with quality audio & video.

I don't know about demonstrating quality to the broadcaster, that could be demonstrated with other channels. It seems sensible to get everything up and running in the background as negotiations proceed, if only to check for and eliminate any problems before going live to VM customers.

I suppose the conclusion here is that not all negotiations have a successful outcome and some of the channels running in the background won't make it to the wider network.

---------- Post added at 13:55 ---------- Previous post was at 13:48 ----------

Originally Posted by Paul M

It also has little to do with "reality".

It's a wide genre. Crime based reality tv shows should, arguably, have more to do with "reality" than the scripted drama shows that seem to be pandemic within the genre.

[vincerooney]

Originally Posted by Paul M

It also has little to do with "reality".

Yes its all very odd reality tv. All scripted so instead of real actors and actresses getting a job its people who have no acting experience but want to be famous reading some pre-arranged stuff

[Media Boy UK]

Originally Posted by jj20x

Indeed, it does seem as if we all need to learn Hindi, Russian etc to enjoy some of VM's latest additions.

I have been given scan data for the end of June, which shows 4 new cryptically named additions (on 4 networks used by VM for internal testing):

TSID 8, SID 809, Service Name: InternalASD
TSID 9, SID 915, Service Name: InternalBSD
TSID 23, SID 2303, Service Name: InternalAHD
TSID 35, SID 3503, Service Name: InternalBHD

Indications are that these channels will be in the Sky Sports packs and in the Sports section of the EPG on channels 519, 520, 509 and 510 respectively. The EPG programme information states "Coming Soon".

Maybe Sky are set to rebrand At The Races as Sky Sports Racing soon on both Virgin Media Channels 509 and 519. The other two is maybe just to tell Virgin Media's Sky Sports Viewers what happen to stop them from phone up Virgin Media.

*Sky Sports Racing is only an rumour at time of this post.

---------- Post added at 15:42 ---------- Previous post was at 15:28 ----------

Sky Cinema has confirm that Sky Cinema Greats will become Sky Cinema Tom Hanks from July 10th.

http://www.sky.com/tv/channel/skycin...tion/tom-hanks

[denphone]

Originally Posted by Media Boy

Maybe Sky are set to rebrand At The Races as Sky Sports Racing soon on both Virgin Media Channels 509 and 519. The other two is maybe just to tell Virgin Media's Sky Sports Viewers what happen to stop them from phone up Virgin Media.

*Sky Sports Racing is only an rumour at time of this post.

---------- Post added at 15:42 ---------- Previous post was at 15:28 ----------

Sky Cinema has confirm that Sky Cinema Greats will become Sky Cinema Tom Hanks from July 10th.

http://www.sky.com/tv/channel/skycin...tion/tom-hanks

Being reasonable knowledgeable about horse racing but not much else this is not a rumour MB but a cast iron cert.

Originally Posted by Media Boy

Maybe Sky are set to rebrand At The Races as Sky Sports Racing soon on both Virgin Media Channels 509 and 519. The other two is maybe just to tell Virgin Media's Sky Sports Viewers what happen to stop them from phone up Virgin Media.

*Sky Sports Racing is only an rumour at time of this post.

I don't see how they would need to "test" that on internal networks. A re-brand or, for that matter, changing the EPG slot of an existing channel is relatively simple matter of issuing a new version of the Service Description Table with updated details at the time of the change.

The cryptically named channels have the same "pack" codes as Sky Sports 3, 4, 5 & F1. Sky Sports 1 and 2 each have a unique (different) pack code. At the Races has pack codes for the M, More, Mix, M+, Fun and Full House packs. So no obvious links between the newly added channels and At the Races.

[Media Boy UK]

Originally Posted by denphone

Being reasonable knowledgeable about horse racing but not much else this is not a rumour MB but a cast iron cert.

It an rumour here at MB HQ until any of the following happen:

A) It confirmed by our Sky Sources.
B) Sky UK confirmed it.

After all this is Sky we are talking about.

[denphone]

Originally Posted by Media Boy

It an rumour here at MB HQ until any of the following happen:

A) It confirmed by our Sky Sources.
B) Sky UK confirmed it.

After all this is Sky we are talking about.

They will confirm it soon enough.

[Media Boy UK]

Originally Posted by jj20x

I don't see how they would need to "test" that on internal networks. A re-brand or, for that matter, changing the EPG slot of an existing channel is relatively simple matter of issuing a new version of the Service Description Table with updated details at the time of the change.

The cryptically named channels have the same "pack" codes as Sky Sports 3, 4, 5 & F1. Sky Sports 1 and 2 each have a unique (different) pack code. At the Races has pack codes for the M, More, Mix, M+, Fun and Full House packs. So no obvious links between the newly added channels and At the Races.

Base on information we saw last month Maybe Sky has given an NDA's to Virgin Media UK that is why you see the funny names testing on Virgin Media UK.

At time of post we have not seen the 100% confirmed names yet.

---------- Post added at 18:01 ---------- Previous post was at 17:55 ----------

But our Sky Sources did confirmed that some (part) of the articles (posted online last week) isn't entirely correct.

[theone2k10]

According to a source VM are interested in getting Boxnation into their top package in a deal similar to BTs one with boxnation.

Originally Posted by Media Boy

Base on information we saw last month Maybe Sky has given an NDA's to Virgin Media UK that is why you see the funny names testing on Virgin Media UK.

At time of post we have not seen the 100% confirmed names yet.

The final names aren't really important. For all we know, Sky might not have reached a final decision on the names at this point. In any event, we know that temporary re-brands are quite popular with Sky branded channels. It could be that after launching a new sports channel, Sky could potentially re-brand it as, say, Sky Tiddlywinks the following month.

As with any re-brand, it only takes a few small adjustments to the SDT. There is no reason why the "internal" channels cannot be renamed at the same point as other channels in the group.

But our Sky Sources did confirmed that some (part) of the articles (posted online last week) isn't entirely correct.

Indeed, then again, it is possible that certain prospective channel names were leaked to the press to see how the general public reacted to the names and the changes. Something probably better discussed in a different thread.