Paramount Channel to launch in the UK

Viacom wouldn't be a big company if they spent all their money on the "best" things. They, like all commercial broadcasters, are only interested in spending the least amount of money that will attract a sufficiently big enough audience that will get advertisers giving them money. What's the point in spending a LOT more money on a HD broadcast when it may only attract 5%* more viewers?

Oh, and 480p isn't HD.

* Number used as an example, I don't have access to a market research company to find out what the demand would actually be

576i surely....

And probably at 544x576 at the lowest bitrate possible.

Indeed, some people don't get the basic principles of commercial broadcasting.

Unless pay TV providers such as Sky, Virgin and BT wish to pay Viacom to provide them with HD versions of their free channels, then Viacom have no reason to do so.

Just seen this trailer for the Paramount Network on 5STAR (I have no idea how I ended up on 5STAR - lol)

I can recommend 'Designated Survivor', I have been watching it on Netflix. Not sure what that rubbish 'Suits' is about, or who's in it.

Don't worry, there are several promos of varying length for Paramount that have been showing across the 5 family of channels for several days now. You'd see one eventually on any of them!

I wonder why people think they have to advertise their channel numbers on BT or TalkTalk like they are separate services? Do people that have them think that by plugging the set top box into their aerial that they are getting a completely different service to Freeview? (albeit excluding whatever pay services these set top boxes allow you to access).

One trail. One end cap. Going out over multiple platforms.
That's why they advertise all the EPG numbers of all the platforms.

Technically, it is a seperate service. Youview is not Freeview; and technically isn’t 100% compliant with the Freeview spec, so is not allowed to use the Freeview name anywhere. They both use the same DTT broadcasts, but they are different platforms. Even the BBC lists them as seperate services on the HD Regional slate.



In a word: yes. Using one of these boxes, there is no obvious difference to the average user whether their TV is being deivered by DTT or IP. They just know they have a ‘BT box’ or a ‘Talktalk box’ (akin to one having a ‘Sky box’). Quite often, it’s an engineer who does the install anyway, so they are further none the wiser. Not everyone understands or cares how their TV is being deivered - just that they can watch the channels they want.

This is why broadcasters often list BT and Talktalk explicitly, as opposed to the collective ‘Youview’ (which would also cover Plusnet - the lesser known TV provider).

It also provides consisensy for those broadcasters who have a mix of free and pay channels. Their pay channels would have to list Youview on endcaps anyway, so they may as well include it on the endcaps for their free ones.

I think you misunderstood the point I was making. I know they only use one promo across all channels, hence why they list all platforms in one ad, but my query was why list two services as separate entities when they are basically Freeview plus some extra bells and whistles.

1 week to go. No website. No Facebook. No Instagram. 2 tweets. No advertising beyond TV ads on their own channels. No carriage on Feeesat or Virgin Media. The chance of success is looking very low!

They do have a banner at the top of a TV listing mag (What’s On TV I think)