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The best and worst digital TV channels in the UK of all time

(June 2016)

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LL
London Lite Founding member
Larry the Loafer posted:
My suspicions grow whenever a new member talks about Doctor Who...


I feel like I'm in a Tardis of multiple accounts.
MA
Maaixuew
MetalGearRex posted:
slashtvUK posted:
MetalGearRex posted:

Worst ones of the lot:
Disney Channel (modern)
Nickelodeon (modern)
MTV

I agree with you about Disney and Nick. My sister forcing me to watch then has shown me that most of their shows revolve around fame and stuff that would never happen to an average teen. And MTV is just plain rubbish (Geordie Shore, anyone?)

Those teen sitcoms...ugh. Bad acting, dreadful jokes and a lack of meaningful realism are traits of these awful shows. At least Cartoon Network is getting better with Adventure Time, Steven Universe and the Regular Show.

MTV in itself is wholly crap. ITV2, E4 and other channels aiming for the younger demographic are far superior in my own personal opinion.


Like this?

RE
Rex
Maaixuew posted:
MetalGearRex posted:
slashtvUK posted:
I agree with you about Disney and Nick. My sister forcing me to watch then has shown me that most of their shows revolve around fame and stuff that would never happen to an average teen. And MTV is just plain rubbish (Geordie Shore, anyone?)

Those teen sitcoms...ugh. Bad acting, dreadful jokes and a lack of meaningful realism are traits of these awful shows. At least Cartoon Network is getting better with Adventure Time, Steven Universe and the Regular Show.

MTV in itself is wholly crap. ITV2, E4 and other channels aiming for the younger demographic are far superior in my own personal opinion.


Like this?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U0l0pClT5vE

Typical MTV material. Probably why it leaves such a bad stain in my mouth.
BR
Brekkie
JetixFann450 posted:
If you are a child or have one, I believe there are some decent and brilliant kids channels out there on Sky or other platforms, but if you don't have that, you'll have to deal with most of the POP channels and BBC and ITV. Anyway, the first one I'd recommend is Cartoon Network. Its library has been good over the last few years with awesome programming like Adventure Time, Regular Show, etc. But don't get me wrong, all channels have their falls and downs, which CN has had to deal with.

Disney Channel and Nickelodeon is the worst for sitcoms, they have the same jokes, the same dull laugh track, and if all end kills the coffin, a lot of the dullest actors I have ever seen. I do NOT recommend showing Disney Channel or Nickelodeon to your child. But Nick's and Disney's cartoons are hit or miss. You'll have good ones like Mickey Mouse, Harvey Beaks and The Loud House, but, bad toons like Sanjay and Craig and Breadwinners are the ones that only a baby would laugh at. Euugh, what happened, Nick and Disney?

With UK childrens production at crisis point with the BBC responsible for something like 90% of it I really do think it's time a quota was introduced for UK based childrens channels to spend a minimum amount of their income, or broadcast a minimum number of hours, of UK originated childrens content each year.
MA
Maaixuew
MetalGearRex posted:
Maaixuew posted:
MetalGearRex posted:
Those teen sitcoms...ugh. Bad acting, dreadful jokes and a lack of meaningful realism are traits of these awful shows. At least Cartoon Network is getting better with Adventure Time, Steven Universe and the Regular Show.

MTV in itself is wholly crap. ITV2, E4 and other channels aiming for the younger demographic are far superior in my own personal opinion.


Like this?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U0l0pClT5vE

Typical MTV material. Probably why it leaves such a bad stain in my mouth.


Who watches this tripe? Apart from of course the lowest common denominator, i.e. a clueless, unintelligent, dimwitted, foolish, bovine, hare-brained, half-baked juvenile piece of scum! Mad
VM
VMPhil
Maaixuew posted:
MetalGearRex posted:
Maaixuew posted:

Typical MTV material. Probably why it leaves such a bad stain in my mouth.


Who watches this tripe? Apart from of course the lowest common denominator, i.e. a clueless, unintelligent, dimwitted, foolish, bovine, hare-brained, half-baked juvenile piece of scum! Mad

You do love using that thesaurus, don't you.
BK
bkman1990
From me for my limited choice of the only UK channels I thought they were good back then presentation & content wise were as follows.

Sky1, Sky News (2000-2008), Discovery Channel, CNBC Europe, Nickelodeon, Channel 4, BBC One NI (Hot Air Balloon era) & UTV NI.

Compared back then to now my opinions have utterly changed on which channel so far is best or worst. They are listed as follows.

Best - BBC One, BBC Two, BBC Three (before it went online), BBC Four (My standout favourite), BBC News HD, BBC Alba, ITV HD, ITV2, ITV3, ITV4, Channel 4 HD, Channel 5 HD, Sky News (2010-2014 era), Kix, CBBC, Film4.

Worst (That I have observed so far) - CITV, E4.
Last edited by bkman1990 on 7 June 2016 9:42pm
AE
AlexEdohHD13
MetalGearRex posted:
First topic in this forum.
Decided to create this thread to share my opinions and to see what people's opinions on what their favourite or hated digital channels are. Defunct channels count too.

Here are what I consider to be the best digital channels in the UK of all time, whether I watch them or not:
All 5 terrestrial services
ITV2/ITV3/ITV4
E4/More4/Film4
BBC Four
Sky1/Atlantic/Living
Sky Sports
Gold/Dave
Fox
Comedy Central
5 USA / 5Star
Challenge
Nat Geo
Yesterday
CBBC/CBeebies

Defunct channels that proved their worth:
BBC Three (despite its online move)
Plus
Bravo
Channel One/Virgin 1

Worst ones of the lot:
History (modern version)
YourTV
Disney Channel (modern)
Nickelodeon (modern)
MTV
All of the adult trash that plagues Freeview

What do you think in your opinion are the best and worst digital channels of all time?

Virgin 1/Channel One was a good channel, it's just that after Living TV Group was bought by Sky (Rupert Murdoch), they didn't really know what to do with it. They just repeats of Sky and Challenge shows and imports. So they had no choice but to close it down. Just my opinion.
LL
Larry the Loafer
AlexEdohHD13 posted:
Virgin 1/Channel One was a good channel, it's just that after Living TV Group was bought by Sky (Rupert Murdoch), they didn't really know what to do with it.


It wasn't a case of didn't know what to do, they simply didn't need it. They couldn't have a Virgin-branded channel and they already had a general entertainment channel in the form of Sky 1. It was more cost effective to shut the channel down and re-locate the programmes, though I'll admit Pick is a dreadful replacement in comparison in terms of availability on Freeview.
RE
Rex
Larry the Loafer posted:
AlexEdohHD13 posted:
Virgin 1/Channel One was a good channel, it's just that after Living TV Group was bought by Sky (Rupert Murdoch), they didn't really know what to do with it.


It wasn't a case of didn't know what to do, they simply didn't need it. They couldn't have a Virgin-branded channel and they already had a general entertainment channel in the form of Sky 1. It was more cost effective to shut the channel down and re-locate the programmes, though I'll admit Pick is a dreadful replacement in comparison in terms of availability on Freeview.

Pick has steadily improved but it's still not a patch on what V1 used to be. But at the end of the day, Sky already had a free channel (Sky3/Pick), which defeated the purpose of keeping Channel One on air. Bravo could have gone the way of Sky Living, only to appeal to a male audience.
What about Plus and Men and Motors? Did ITV3 and ITV4 truly live up to both services as worthy successors?
DJ
DJGM
Maaixuew posted:

MetalGearRex posted:
slashtvUK posted:

I agree with you about Disney and Nick. My sister forcing me to watch then has shown me that most of their shows revolve around fame and stuff that would never happen to an average teen. And MTV is just plain rubbish (Geordie Shore, anyone?)


Those teen sitcoms...ugh. Bad acting, dreadful jokes and a lack of meaningful realism are traits of these awful shows.

At least Cartoon Network is getting better with Adventure Time, Steven Universe and the Regular Show.

MTV in itself is wholly crap. ITV2, E4 and other channels aiming for the younger
demographic are far superior in my own personal opinion.


Like this?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U0l0pClT5vE


Oh FFS ... MTV really is a shadow of its former self. Once the premier music video channel, now going beyond scraping the barrel, with a worse than third rate dating reality show! MTV is now officially a waste of broadcast bandwidth.
VM
VMPhil
…except of course for the fact that MTV has nine other channels, seven of which are MTV branded, all of which predominantly show music videos, and you probably wouldn't watch MTV if it was still playing videos today either.

Their shows are not supposed to appeal to people who watched MTV twenty or thirty years ago

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