I'm quite surprised that they're putting 4/7 on channel 140 on Sky and relegating Channel 4 HD to 230. Surely it would make more sense to move Channel 4 HD to 104, (on Sky+HD at least), 4/7 on 140 and Channel 4 on 230? Channel 4 don't have any regional variations so what is actually stopping them following in the foosteps of all of the Sky-owned channels where the HD versions are at the top end of the EPG?
At the very least they should have just moved More4+1 down to 230, moving Channel 4 HD is just idiotic.
Surely it would make more sense to move Channel 4 HD to 104, (on Sky+HD at least), 4/7 on 140 and Channel 4 on 230? Channel 4 don't have any regional variations so what is actually stopping them following in the foosteps of all of the Sky-owned channels where the HD versions are at the top end of the EPG?
Surely it would make more sense to move Channel 4 HD to 104, (on Sky+HD at least), 4/7 on 140 and Channel 4 on 230? Channel 4 don't have any regional variations so what is actually stopping them following in the foosteps of all of the Sky-owned channels where the HD versions are at the top end of the EPG?
Is there anything to prevent them from restructuring their advertising and moving Channel 4 HD just on HD platforms and selling that ad space as national, selling with a presumably bigger audience in mind? I just find it bizarre that one day Channel 4 HD will become their flagship channel and they've completely shunted it in favour of a channel that seems pointless and might not even take off.
Surely it would make more sense to move Channel 4 HD to 104, (on Sky+HD at least), 4/7 on 140 and Channel 4 on 230? Channel 4 don't have any regional variations so what is actually stopping them following in the foosteps of all of the Sky-owned channels where the HD versions are at the top end of the EPG?
Is there anything to prevent them from restructuring their advertising and moving Channel 4 HD just on HD platforms and selling that ad space as national, selling with a presumably bigger audience in mind? I just find it bizarre that one day Channel 4 HD will become their flagship channel and they've completely shunted it in favour of a channel that seems pointless and might not even take off.
It might be a technicality that prevents this. Someone on DS implied that it wouldn't be possible as Ofcom only allows those top five slots in the EPG to be occupied by the services that hold the PSB licences. I assume (though it might not be so) that C4 has regional advertising as part of its PSB licence and therefore that prevents C4 HD to be moved there in its current national form, even if it were only for Sky+HD users.
I think C5 also has regional advertising and they're presumably in the same position.
I would imagine that by replacing the C4 regions with C4HD, it would dramatically reduce the advertising revenues available from those regions, which would then have an affect on what C4 could afford to broadcast - they wouldn't be broadcasting six versions now if it wasn't making them more money than they could get from one..
Until such time as all the variations of C4 are run in HD and there is the capacity available at a suitable cost, I don't see them being swapped.
I really really like this branding. It's very well done. Compared to the More4 rebrand where I wasn't really sure about it for a while, I think this is brilliant before even seeing it on TV.
Another thing to note - @4seven is taking tweets posted during last night's Gordon Ramsay show and showing them during the repeat tonight, sending a message saying "Congratulations! Your tweet will be on 4seven tonight during Gordon Behind Bars"
I would imagine that by replacing the C4 regions with C4HD, it would dramatically reduce the advertising revenues available from those regions, which would then have an affect on what C4 could afford to broadcast - they wouldn't be broadcasting six versions now if it wasn't making them more money than they could get from one..
But the point in this case is that the channel swap would only be for people who use that feature on Sky+HD. These are exactly the sort of people who will make an effort to find and watch C4HD rather than the SD version so really swapping the two around isn't going to make much of a difference commercially, it'd just make life a bit easier for those who want to watch the HD channel without having to remember the obscure EPG number.
There is going to be a point where HD (or at least access to HD) will be the norm for most people and it will be worthwhile for C4 to broadcast HD regions. If channel swapping is going to encourage that to happen faster (even for a relatively small number of viewers at present) they might as well do it.