General : Virgin Media & UKTV+ITV Channels

[MatthewEastaugh]

Originally Posted by Media Boy

Is the 2 year old running UKTV now.

All UKTV Channels could be on freeview anyway after all we pay £150.50 per year to make 70% of UKTV's output.

Good to see you paid no attention to my previous reply about these points Media Boy.

Apparently actually answering people's questions rather than copy and paste responses for three days is the childish option, now.

Speaking of childish:
What do your fictional insiders say about how things are going, btw?

[Media Boy UK]

Originally Posted by MatthewEastaugh

Good to see you paid no attention to my previous reply about these points Media Boy.

What do your fictional insiders say about how things are going, btw?

No news - we only get information from them when channels DO launch. And not take their ball and go home.

[MatthewEastaugh]

Well, to be fair, they wanted to play with the ball, whereas the other team wanted to take it from them and sell it for their own profit while giving them none of the money...

Are you saying they should just have happily accepted the fee reduction, despite their viewing share and on-demand viewing share on Virgin increasing?

[Angua]

Originally Posted by Ddonald2016

Yeah but how long is a piece of string

Twice the distance from the middle to one end. - Sorry couldn't resist.

[Media Boy UK]

Originally Posted by MatthewEastaugh

Well, to be fair, they wanted to play with the ball, whereas the other team wanted to take it from them and sell it for their own profit while giving them none of the money...

Are you saying they should just have happily accepted the fee reduction, despite their viewing share and on-demand viewing share on Virgin increasing?

Yes but axe the number of channels brands UKTV own we do not see the point of the following channels

Eden
Drama

we would Keep Dave Gold, Home (but launch Home HD) and Good Food.

But add all the new Alibi shows from the US to W.

Then join Alibi and Drama up becomes know as Drama with +1 and HD

Also join Eden up with Yesterday to become Yesterday and launch an HD Channel.

This is only Media Boy HQ Views NOT Virgin Media or Skys.

[Angua]

Originally Posted by Paul M

Once lost, most are unlikely to come back.

Maybe Virgin dont really want to do TV anymore, and just want to concentrate on BB ?

Just wish there was a way of using the cable system for alternative providers. Aerial is useless and do not want a dish.

[Gavin-D]

Originally Posted by Angua

Just wish there was a way of using the cable system for alternative providers. Aerial is useless and do not want a dish.

I had heard VM and TalkTalk were in talks to share the cables all has gone quiet on that one

[oxfordmark]

Originally Posted by Gavin-D

I had heard VM and TalkTalk were in talks to share the cables all has gone quiet on that one

For BB yes, not TV.

[OLD BOY]

Originally Posted by MatthewEastaugh

Well, to be fair, they wanted to play with the ball, whereas the other team wanted to take it from them and sell it for their own profit while giving them none of the money...

Are you saying they should just have happily accepted the fee reduction, despite their viewing share and on-demand viewing share on Virgin increasing?

The point made by Virgin is that the value of these channels has diminished since the last time prices were negotiated. UKTV have spread themselves too thin and have blurred the distinction between free and premium tv. Additionally, they are either unwilling or incapable (due to the BBC's policy) to increase the amount of VOD available. They only have themselves to blame, really.

I can't see VM backing down on this, although they may meet them half way, possibly, recognising customer protests. However, it may be that Virgin want to reduce the amount of repeated material they are offering and increase the quality of programming. I certainly would not object to that, personally.

There will be more content coming soon, so I will reserve judgement at this time, although personally, I'm not going to miss any of the UKTV channels, which are tired and dated.

[dmeldrum]

Originally Posted by warrenb

Freeview and Freesat both pay to carry UKTV channels, UKTV buy from the BBC commercial arm.

Err, no, other way around. If you want to launch a free to air channel on DTT, you have to pay for carriage on one of the commercial muxes, the basic EPG entry comes as part of the package, with extra charge if you want to be on the interactive Freeview guide. If you want to go Free to Air on satellite, you’ve got to pay for the uplink, transponder space, and then pay separately to go on the Sky EPG and the Freesat EPG. A lot of cost, that can only be recouped by selling advertising.

On cable, it varies, with some channels paying for the privilege (e.g. shopping channels), some getting a free ride, and others getting paid for carriage. UKTV was a bundled package, Virgin pay UKTV for a bundle of free and subscription channels. Virgin are right to say that the bundle is not as valuable as it once was, since the content of the subscription channels is no longer premium. UKTV are right to hold out for as much as they can, but both sides will need to compromised eventually.

[OLD BOY]

Originally Posted by dmeldrum

Err, no, other way around. If you want to launch a free to air channel on DTT, you have to pay for carriage on one of the commercial muxes, the basic EPG entry comes as part of the package, with extra charge if you want to be on the interactive Freeview guide. If you want to go Free to Air on satellite, you’ve got to pay for the uplink, transponder space, and then pay separately to go on the Sky EPG and the Freesat EPG. A lot of cost, that can only be recouped by selling advertising.

On cable, it varies, with some channels paying for the privilege (e.g. shopping channels), some getting a free ride, and others getting paid for carriage. UKTV was a bundled package, Virgin pay UKTV for a bundle of free and subscription channels. Virgin are right to say that the bundle is not as valuable as it once was, since the content of the subscription channels is no longer premium. UKTV are right to hold out for as much as they can, but both sides will need to compromised eventually.

Virgin won't compromise if they are tired of this arrangement and want to spend the money saved to improve their offering.

[denphone]

Originally Posted by OLD BOY

Virgin won't compromise if they are tired of this arrangement and want to spend the money saved to improve their offering.

Who says they are tired of the arrangement? as it takes two to tango and two to sort it out at the end of the day.

[dmeldrum]

Originally Posted by OLD BOY

Virgin won't compromise if they are tired of this arrangement and want to spend the money saved to improve their offering.

I’m sure both sides will end up compromising, but i’m Also sure we will never know the detail. It will come down to the numbers.

Virgin will be balancing the cost / saving of having / not having UKTV channels against their estimate of the churn rate / drop in subscriber numbers. A fairly simple cost vs revenue equation.

UKTV will be weighing up the income / loss of income from Virgin and the drop in advertising revenue as a result of smaller audiences. UKTV costs are pretty much fixed, so for them it is pretty much a question of how much revenue can they get, or to put it another way, how little are they willing to tolerate?

[Mr K]

Originally Posted by OLD BOY

Virgin won't compromise if they are tired of this arrangement and want to spend the money saved to improve their offering.

I think they will compromise if not totally cave in, given the customer backlash/cancellations.. I suspect a certain head honcho at VM will lose his job too.

[SonicMaster]

Originally Posted by Media Boy

Yes but axe the number of channels brands UKTV own we do not see the point of the following channels

Eden
Drama

we would Keep Dave Gold, Home (but launch Home HD) and Good Food.

But add all the new Alibi shows from the US to W.

Then join Alibi and Drama up becomes know as Drama with +1 and HD

Also join Eden up with Yesterday to become Yesterday and launch an HD Channel.

This is only Media Boy HQ Views NOT Virgin Media or Skys.

Haha! You don't see the point in UKTV's highest rating channel?! Good job that you don't work in broadcasting!

There is nothing wrong with UKTV's strategy of 5 free and 5 pay channels, but they do need to refine the remits and tone down the content sharing.