General : Virgin Media & UKTV+ITV Channels

[mot12]

Originally Posted by Mr K

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.

I agree.

I think in general more people are up in arms about this than they were when the Sky Basics went I don't think Sky One for example, was as good back then as it is now. VM have underestimated the power of Only Fools & Horses repeats never a wise thing to do, Trigger has more Brains than VM.

[japitts]

Quite ironically I actually "renewed" our Full House Sports & Movies only last Thursday, and got a new price for the next year that I'm quite happy with. We don't really watch any UKTV and can see a lot of merit in the whole FTA argument that Virgin are claiming.

But I am quite seriously unimpressed with Virgin's approach to this to be honest. "Replacement" channels that are nothing of the sort (great as an addition, fine - and the Love Nature one is actually pretty good), leaving the EPG slots open to pretend nothing's changed, and the whole PR approach to this.

Sure we don't know the detail in the contracts etc so this may have already been on borrowed time, I suppose VM have to draw a line somewhere - and yes I'm sure this will be resolved at some point. Perhaps within a couple of weeks, maybe longer. But it just leaves a sour taste.

My parents have VM mainly for the broadband & TiVo, with basic TV and a phoneline that's not even connected. They watch UKTV quite a bit and have Freeview but are thinking quite seriously about chopping the TiVo and phone, and just keeping the BB - assuming this isn't resolved quickly. I really can't say I blame them.

[Dave42]

Official UKTV
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Verified account

@UKTV
6h
6 hours ago


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Thanks for getting in touch, James - we are sorry for this being public, it isn't something we wanted to happen.
We care about our viewers and are trying to work things out with Virgin. If we have anymore information, we'll of course let you know.


look like there talking at least hopefully they get things sorted soon as possible

[Media Boy UK]

Originally Posted by UKTV

we are sorry for this being public, it isn't something we wanted to happen.

If you say so.

[Raider999]

Originally Posted by Angua

Just annoyed they are offering Sport for 2 months. If we wanted sport we would have the sport package already, plus for those with the sport package already they gain nothing.

Bit like offering Ham and Jarlsberg to a vegetarian who ordered Cheddar and Onion.

Incorrect, premier sports is not included in my package and I have all sky sports and BT sports HD channels.

So the 2 month offer is better than the rubbish UKTV show.

[RichardCoulter]

Originally Posted by Mr K

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.

This issue really seems to be gathering momentum more than I thought it would.

This is making the national news, a petition has been created, there are lots of posts about it on social media on people's personal accounts, Martin Lewis of Money Saving Expert has made a statement about it and there have been features about it on daytime programmes e.g. This Morning.

There are a lot of very angry and disgruntled people about and VM are making things worse by telling the majority of customers that they cannot have a discount, that they have to pay early termination of contract fees totalling hundreds of pounds, closing threads about it on their own forums and when any complaints are actually answered, it is with a standard copy/paste answer. Arrogant and defensive call centre staff aren't helping the situation either.

They are also trying to say that their generic "we reserve the right to amend our channel line up" clause in their t&c's means that they are not in breach of contract. However, they did not give customers the required 30 day notice period and legal people are saying that this change is so substantial that this clause cannot be used anyway. There are also Consumer Rights Act 2015 implications.

Sticking a similar number of mainly minority and low value channels on to replace these channels just doesn't cut the mustard. It can be alikened to a vegetarian ordering a vegetable curry in a restaurant, being brought a meat curry because the vegetarian curry is no longer available and being expected to pay for it on the grounds that a curry was ordered and supplied!!

A formal complaint has now been made to Ofcom by Martin Lewis who have been asked to make a ruling on this.

I think that VM took a gamble and lost. As often happens in these cases (if happens in politics too), they are too proud to admit that they misjudged the impact of this and don't want to appear weak. If they stand down, they will be afraid that it will send out the wrong signals to their other channel providers. However, if they don't reverse their decision, the bad publicity, possibility of legal ramifications, massive customer dissatisfaction and resultant disconnections will only worsen.

I believe that they don't now really know what to do, so are currently sticking their head in the sand. If they don't do something with regards to damage limitation soon though, it will seriously damage their reputation long term and popularity as a pay TV supplier. Many people are saying that they no longer trust VM, which is one of the worst things that can happen to a company.

I also seriously think that we may see resignations/replacement of senior staff over this.

---------- Post added at 02:16 ---------- Previous post was at 00:28 ----------

Just received a massive message on the V6 that almost covered the screen. It went on about their wonderful new channel launches and at the bottom said that the UKTV channels were 'no longer available'. Well, you don't say ��

I wonder if this is an attempt to reduce the number of phone calls they're having. I've read of people hanging up after waiting over an hour to get through to cancellations.

As an olive branch, perhaps VM could offer to return the FTA UKTV channels without an EPG fee for now. There again, to be fair, they may not be allowed to do that under the Fair, reasonable and non discriminatory regulations that cover EPG's.

[oliver1948uk]

What we don't know is how many people have ACTUALLY cancelled their VM services.

In my case, I would like to as I watch Drama a lot, mainly The Bill and He De Hi.

However, 100 broadband only is more expensive than what I am paying now for a basic TV package including V6. In addition, I would have to get the aerial working better and buy a Freeview recorder.

As I definitely want to keep VM broadband and cost is important, it is not in my interests to cancel. I suspect I am not the only one in a similar situation.

[telegramsam]

This is terrible publicity for Virgin and it will surely hit them very hard. Would be customers will now be thinking twice about signing up to them. The UK TV channels are very popular and much loved by many people including myself. I'm so glad I'm with Sky and certainly wouldn't even consider switching to Virgin now.

[warrenb]

I think the large message will probably prompt more people to phone, as the people that didn't know the situation certainly do now.

[OLD BOY]

Originally Posted by denphone

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.

I said if VM are tired of the arrangement (being ripped off, that is). We are paying far more than Sky do for these channels as I understand it.

---------- Post added at 11:02 ---------- Previous post was at 10:59 ----------

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.

Eden and Drama are the better quality channels, so I certainly don't agree with that!

[muppetman11]

Originally Posted by OLD BOY

I said if VM are tired of the arrangement (being ripped off, that is). We are paying far more than Sky do for these channels as I understand it.

Be honest you haven't a clue who pays what so no point speculating.

[OLD BOY]

Originally Posted by muppetman11

Be honest you haven't a clue who pays what so no point speculating.

It's not speculation. Every other platform gets paid for carrying channels, but for some strange reason, this is not the case for VM (except the shopping channels, I believe). As UKTV don't pay other platforms for carrying their free channels, why should VM subscribers pay for mostly repeated content funded by advertising?

---------- Post added at 11:39 ---------- Previous post was at 11:36 ----------

Originally Posted by SonicMaster

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.

VM should not be paying for free channels. This practice is a hangover from the past.

A bit like the UKTV channels, actually.

---------- Post added at 11:43 ---------- Previous post was at 11:39 ----------

Originally Posted by mot12

I agree.

I think in general more people are up in arms about this than they were when the Sky Basics went I don't think Sky One for example, was as good back then as it is now. VM have underestimated the power of Only Fools & Horses repeats never a wise thing to do, Trigger has more Brains than VM.

Not sure if your memory is failing you, but those were the days when Sky did have good programmes on it. In fact, the main draw of people to the pay tv channels was Sky TV.

UKTV has nowhere near as much clout and they will lose this fight. The sooner they realise that and climb down from their high horses, the sooner they will bleed less money.

They had better move fast, or Virgin will be reinvesting their money, hopefully in superior content.

---------- Post added at 11:50 ---------- Previous post was at 11:43 ----------

Originally Posted by telegramsam

This is terrible publicity for Virgin and it will surely hit them very hard. Would be customers will now be thinking twice about signing up to them. The UK TV channels are very popular and much loved by many people including myself. I'm so glad I'm with Sky and certainly wouldn't even consider switching to Virgin now.

They will get over it. And if you think you are safe with Sky, remember that they almost lost the Discovery channels a few months ago.

Fortunately, Discovery saw sense. UKTV are trying it on. The people complaining are simply dragging this dispute out. If they quietened down, UKTV would be forced to re-consider. I am not expecting VM to give in over this, so the ball is in UKTV's court. Are they going to continue to discriminate against VM by making them pay for their free channels when other platforms get them free, or not?

[muppetman11]

That's frankly laughable I'm sorry but back when the Sky basics dispute was on Sky's content was vastly inferior to what it shows now and the viewing figures back that up , I completely agree with mot12 on that.

[Gavin-D]

Its started

Sky TV Offer

Enjoy more channels than ever before, including UKTV channels like W and GOLD that aren't available on Virgin Media. Get over 1,000 movies on demand, plus 11 kids channels with over 5,000 episodes. And all of this in stunning HD.

https://www.sky.com/

[OLD BOY]

Originally Posted by muppetman11

That's frankly laughable I'm sorry but back when the Sky basics dispute was on Sky's content was vastly inferior to what it shows now and the viewing figures back that up , I completely agree with mot12 on that.

Nonsense! I used to record four or five programmes from Sky One every week. There is nothing worth recording these days. Strikeback excepted.

More channels does not mean increased quality content. It just means more dross to fill it out.