General : Virgin Media & UKTV+ITV Channels

[spiderplant]

Originally Posted by Mr K

But the audience for these 10 channels is 25% of VM viewers time.

Think about it. How can that even be possible?

Try this:
https://www.barb.co.uk/viewing-data/...channel-group/

[Mr K]

Originally Posted by spiderplant

Think about it. How can that even be possible?

Try this:
https://www.barb.co.uk/viewing-data/...channel-group/

Something heard on the official forum, tbh it wouldn't surprise me if it's excluding the main terrestrial channels.

[Horizon]

As I said on the other thread, VM told me yesterday that the viewing figures for the channels aren't that great and they didn't want to pay UKTV's prices for the channels. No mention was made of on demand, so I'd suggest that's a little white lie put out by their PR people.

[denphone]

Smoke and mirrors by both sides one suspects.

[Horizon]

Indeed, as is always the case in these matters.

[cityfan247]

Like many others on here I wasnt impressed that (with pretty little advance notice) we are losing the UKTV channels. My family and i do watch some of the shows on these channels.

The replacement channels coming i didnt feel fully compensated the loss. As a sports fan Freesports will hold a small interest as will the 2 month offer of Premier Sport HD (shame this couldnt be put permanently into a bundle).

Apart from that it is a mix of a couple of brand new channels (most already available on freeview) and channels already available to me (I am on Full House + sport bundle)

This and the regular price hikes has made me feel I am not getting as much value for my (quite considerable) outlay.

I contacted Sky and got an offer for a TV package similar (minus BT sport) to my VM one. Sky'sBB cant compare to my VM so i also got a price for BT BB + BT Sport. The total price came to just less than my current deal. But worth looking into leaving VM I thought.

I currently pay £105 pm for Full House + Sky Sports (not HD) + talk anytime + 200BB with 2 V6 boxes and a Tivo.

I decided to call VM retentions. I politely explained why i was looking to move.
The chap was very helpful and without too much effort I got the following deal on a 12 month contract

Upgrade to VIP bundle -so Sky Sports + Movies in HD and 350 BB and upgrade to top phone package -kept my existing 3 boxes all for £96 pm saving me almost a tenner a month for quite a bit more. I did not say yes immediately so i was then offered a one off £50 credit as i am a long standing customer.

Could I have got more?? I dont know but to be fair I had got a reduction to my bill and gained in my view significantly more value. I had gained as much as i would have hoped. I work out i save £160 over the next 12 months.

I have stayed with VM. I can still access some (not all) of the UKTV channels on my freesat and freeview so reasonably happy.

My advice is if you are not happy with what has happened do a little bit of research, look at other providers and give VM a ring and so what they will do to keep you. No need to get angry and shout just let them know you are unhappy and you may get a better deal than what you have.

[vincerooney]

I've been in touch with Sky and been offered a rather nice deal. 3 boxes, sky sports and all for about a tenner less.

Virgin Media have hiked the prices up massively above inflation since the new owners took over. And then to go to UKTV and want the channels on the cheap? The new owners are so determined to increase profit that they're providing a lacklustre service as a result.

Anyone know a sky tv forum similar to here?

[denphone]

There is Digital Spy where you get a lot of Sky TV threads on there but DS pales into comparison compared to the great and the good on here Vince.

[johnathome]

Originally Posted by vincerooney

Anyone know a sky tv forum similar to here?

Once you create a sky account there's a forum on the sky.com site.

[cityfan247]

Originally Posted by vincerooney

I've been in touch with Sky and been offered a rather nice deal. 3 boxes, sky sports and all for about a tenner less.

Virgin Media have hiked the prices up massively above inflation since the new owners took over. And then to go to UKTV and want the channels on the cheap? The new owners are so determined to increase profit that they're providing a lacklustre service as a result.

Anyone know a sky tv forum similar to here?

Vince. My advice is to go through to retentions and tell them you have a better deal from Sky. I would be surprised if they did not try to better it. Also note there will likely be some set up fees from Sky. When I spoke to them this morning she waived some but i would still have had over £160 to shell out.

I should have pointed out in my earlier post that the price VM have done for me is locked in and protects me from any price increase during this period so potentially saving a bit more.

[SonicMaster]

Virgin Media's latest tweet puts a new perspective on things, but they are getting a terrible response from customers:

We want to keep UKTV’s free channels, like Dave, on Virgin TV.
These channels are freely available over the air and on the internet, but UKTV has decided to cut off Virgin Media customers.
Join us in asking @UKTV why…

https://twitter.com/virginmedia/stat...39574597529600

We are still in discussions with UKTV but we have already invested in an extensive collection of new and high-quality programming for you to enjoy. Read more here: https://virg.in/3cr . We have only known for a matter of days that UKTV has decided to cut off its free channels from us. It is denying our customers its free channels, like Dave, unless we also take its paid channels, like Gold.

[denphone]

More smoke and mirrors as its a bit like modern day politicians who obfuscate rather then giving us a honest answer.

[Gavin-D]

UKTV's response

https://twitter.com/UKTV/status/1020344158219796481

[OLD BOY]

Well, if there is no deal with UKTV, VM could surely relieve some of the anger by making the TV Player available as an app. They could even do a deal with TV Player so that VM viewers received all programming free of charge.

As I mentioned before, they could also provide access to You View so that VM viewers could get access to the Freeview channels that way, although some of the UKTV content would still be missing as the premium channels are not included.

[Gavin-D]

I bet Sky are loving this just imagine the amount of new customers they could sign up over the coming day's. They are very active on the Virgin Media/UKTV tweets atm