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Challenge - June 2016 onwards

#ChallengeAccepted (June 2016)

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KE
kernow
The EPG now has full listings for Challenge+1 again? It was showing "Challenge+1 is now closed" up until yesterday?

So is it staying or going?


The EPG has been updated, and is now saying "Challenge+1 is now closed" from 6am on Monday.
TI
TIGHazard
I've seen speculation that it's disappearing so that a Pick HD can launch for the free PL matches.
JO
Jon
Surely Challenge +1 wouldn’t release enough capacity for a HD channel though and presumably it would just be for the EPG slot?

I wouldn’t be surprised if Pick is hasterly rebrand as ‘Sky Pick’ to drum home the message of where the free games are coming from.
JA
Jake
Jon posted:
Surely Challenge +1 wouldn’t release enough capacity for a HD channel though and presumably it would just be for the EPG slot?

I wouldn’t be surprised if Pick is hasterly rebrand as ‘Sky Pick’ to drum home the message of where the free games are coming from.

They'll probably just hammer the Sky Sports branding, with lots of cross promotion to the paywalled games.
Jeffmister and SuperSajuuk gave kudos
SS
SuperSajuuk
I've seen speculation that it's disappearing so that a Pick HD can launch for the free PL matches.

Only way to know whether it's a permanent or temporary removal is if it comes back later in the year after everything has settled down in the world. I do hope it comes back because it's such a simple channel to run since it's just the main channel delayed by one hour, meaning that all you're running is a duplicate feed on a one hour delay.


TBH, we don't know why the +1 has been closed, and given the really short time frame for it, it seems like it was a very last minute decision. You would expect that if a channel is being closed, there would be some sort of announcement somewhere (even just a tweet) to say why it's being removed. The fact it's so last minute would imply it is a temporary measure for whatever reason.

Indeed, just to check, the first post about closing down Challenge+1 was only mentioned just last Monday. To announce that you're closing down a channel literally the following week would imply that the change was made because of the recent announcement by the Government about sports and that they just scrambled to find a random channel that could be temporarily pulled

(All this is just my speculative opinion ofc)
Last edited by SuperSajuuk on 31 May 2020 2:31pm
KE
kez19
I noticed briefly on one of the episodes of Take Your Pick the picture looked "odd", does some programming from the 90s vary picture wise? ie did say ITV use different cameras or part of the processing the programme?

Take Your Pick - yesterday afternoon I should mention...
GM
Gary McEwan
It could be the way Challenge are showing it.

If its series 1 or 2 from 1991/1992 it would have originally been in 4:3, but Challenge have been known to blow this up to 16:9 which makes slightly weird to watch.
JA
james-2001
Sometimes things are messed up on the playout end too, such as being filmised or the fields shown the wrong way round or something. Even the strange thing we had on an ITV3 Corrie earlier this week where it kept flicking from black & white to colour between fields (which looked like pale colour when watched normally). There's so many reasons old programmes can look odd, whether down to how they were made, tapes being damaged or other things being messed up with modern equipment.
NW
nwtv2003
Challenge +1 is still on the air showing The Chase at the time of writing this post, despite the EPG stating it is no longer broadcasting.
NW
nwtv2003
Challenge +1 is still on the air showing The Chase at the time of writing this post, despite the EPG stating it is no longer broadcasting.


Further to this the channel had been removed by 12pm.
PF
PFML84
Sky confirmed on Twitter that they closed it because +1's are becoming surplus to requirements in the age of catch-up and on-demand programming.

They have also started closing down Ireland variants of their channels (including +1's) and replacing them with the standard UK ones.



Last edited by PFML84 on 3 June 2020 8:54am
JO
Jon
That’s their spin of course, but +1 hour channels were never there for the convenience of viewers, but as a cheap way for of increasing the reach of these programmes to give their advertisers more value. I think it’s pretty clear Challenge has always been a bit of a loss leader to promote their pay services and all their sponsorship deals seem to have ended since the COVID situation. For me Challenge doesn’t show the kind of programmes you’d activity choose to watch on catch up but more casual viewing when it’s the best thing that’s on. I always found +1 for Challenge to be just as useful as the main channel in that regard.

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