RE
Bar the main channels (1-5 and BBC Four) and the NC/Sky News/RT/AJE, It's only Vintage TV and Dave that I've paid that much attention out of these Freeview multichannels. I'm also watching 5STAR for Wentworth Prison, but wouldn't watch it at all otherwise.
I don't think there's been a decent multichannel launch since the days of Virgin 1/Channel One and ABC1.
ABC1 was decent as far as it was concerned, but towards the end, it kept on repeating the same programming over. It never helped that it was limited to a 6pm closing time - made worse by the disjointed use of SDN bandwidth (TUTV, S4C2 and Tele-G were to blame). Eventually that was enough to kill off ABC1.
Out of the recent Freeview channel launches I believe that Spike has been the only one that has appealed to me. TruTV and YourTV have metamorphised into nothing but crime tat over and over.
However, Sky are stepping up their efforts (they now claim that they see value in FTA since 1993) by increasing the budget of Pick, and UKTV plan to get more channels out on Freeview in the future. I feel that, as much as pay TV companies realise the benefits of broadcasting on Freeview, the content should be decent enough. Unfortunately, this doesn't seem to be the case here. At least Sky has learnt from this - Sky3 used to be awful until it was restructured to add in some aspects of the V1 schedule (namely sci-fi) and reduce the amount of tat that was in full supply back then. And renaming it to Pick in the process to keep the perception of Sky as a pay TV company.
There was a time when new Freeview channels at the time actually had decent content to boot. Out of all of the Freeview channels I tend to watch ITV2, E4, Dave and the BBC News Channel regularly. I'd add in BBC Three had it never been moved online.
I think 4Seven is probably the furthest down the main section of the EPG I've ever got. And I'm skipping a dozen or so shopping channels and overnight +1 channels to get there.
Bar the main channels (1-5 and BBC Four) and the NC/Sky News/RT/AJE, It's only Vintage TV and Dave that I've paid that much attention out of these Freeview multichannels. I'm also watching 5STAR for Wentworth Prison, but wouldn't watch it at all otherwise.
I don't think there's been a decent multichannel launch since the days of Virgin 1/Channel One and ABC1.
ABC1 was decent as far as it was concerned, but towards the end, it kept on repeating the same programming over. It never helped that it was limited to a 6pm closing time - made worse by the disjointed use of SDN bandwidth (TUTV, S4C2 and Tele-G were to blame). Eventually that was enough to kill off ABC1.
Out of the recent Freeview channel launches I believe that Spike has been the only one that has appealed to me. TruTV and YourTV have metamorphised into nothing but crime tat over and over.
However, Sky are stepping up their efforts (they now claim that they see value in FTA since 1993) by increasing the budget of Pick, and UKTV plan to get more channels out on Freeview in the future. I feel that, as much as pay TV companies realise the benefits of broadcasting on Freeview, the content should be decent enough. Unfortunately, this doesn't seem to be the case here. At least Sky has learnt from this - Sky3 used to be awful until it was restructured to add in some aspects of the V1 schedule (namely sci-fi) and reduce the amount of tat that was in full supply back then. And renaming it to Pick in the process to keep the perception of Sky as a pay TV company.
There was a time when new Freeview channels at the time actually had decent content to boot. Out of all of the Freeview channels I tend to watch ITV2, E4, Dave and the BBC News Channel regularly. I'd add in BBC Three had it never been moved online.
Last edited by Rex on 20 August 2016 4:40pm - 3 times in total
