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The END of Ftn!

Ftn closes down for good on Sunday 30th September! (December 2006)

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NJ
Neil Jones Founding member
Having just scoured the Challenge forums for which there is a thread dedicated to Ftn queries, it would appear:

1) Crystal Maze is scheduled up until mid-July which would again take us up to the end of Series 4.

2) Fort Boyard Series 1 (with Melinda Messenger) is pencilled in sometime this year.

3) Ftn shows programmes that apparently "don't have costs". Whatever that means.

4) Plenty of Challenge programming is "coming up on Ftn".

5) Ftn will be able to show Millionaire but not for a while yet, maybe next year. It apparently props up Challenge.

6) Big Break isn't going to happen. Neither is People Versus and Blockbusters seems to have been tied exclusively to a one-channel deal with Challenge so it won't be on Ftn for, well, anybody's guess really.

7) Discussion of longer broadcasting hours is under discussion possibly long-term, as apparently the channel is now "doing well". It wasn't hard to improve on what was there before though.

http://www.challenge.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=9210 is the thread in question if anybody else would like to keep an eye on it and "Ftn Guru" Smile
DA
David
Attn: Phil McCusker. WE KNOW WHERE YOU LIVE!

http://www.dl.34sp.com/grabs/tvforum/bullseye/jim.png
http://www.dl.34sp.com/grabs/tvforum/bullseye/full.png

Anyone live near Baldernock Glen Cottage? If so, maybe you could pop in and tell Phil that since Bullseye began they have given away £90,000 in prize money and £45,000 to charity (figures correct as of 1986).

Slighty off-topic (in a thread about FTN) but this was a great episode of Bullseye just shown on Challenge. They won all 9 prizes on the prize board (first time it had been done according to Jim) and then
gambled and lost it all.
One of the contestants badges fell off too, which is always nice to see.
GO
gottago
davidlees posted:
Attn: Phil McCusker. WE KNOW WHERE YOU LIVE!
Anyone live near Baldernock Glen Cottage? If so, maybe you could pop in and tell Phil that since Bullseye began they have given away £90,000 in prize money and £45,000 to charity (figures correct as of 1986).

Slighty off-topic (in a thread about FTN) but this was a great episode of Bullseye just shown on Challenge. They won all 9 prizes on the prize board (first time it had been done according to Jim) and then
gambled and lost it all.
One of the contestants badges fell off too, which is always nice to see.
Was this so uncommon in years? My mum and her sister were dancers and they had their picture in a newspaper once with the name of their street and the area! Just think of all the dirty old men who could have turned up at her door!
NW
nwtv2003
If the Tyne Tees section is back on TV Ark, then there's a clip with Neville Wanless who reads out the Birthday Cards and gives out the details of where the people live. Fair enough in the old days but it would just be wrong now.
DA
David
gottago posted:
davidlees posted:
Attn: Phil McCusker. WE KNOW WHERE YOU LIVE!
Anyone live near Baldernock Glen Cottage? If so, maybe you could pop in and tell Phil that since Bullseye began they have given away £90,000 in prize money and £45,000 to charity (figures correct as of 1986).

Slighty off-topic (in a thread about FTN) but this was a great episode of Bullseye just shown on Challenge. They won all 9 prizes on the prize board (first time it had been done according to Jim) and then
gambled and lost it all.
One of the contestants badges fell off too, which is always nice to see.
Was this so uncommon in years? My mum and her sister were dancers and they had their picture in a newspaper once with the name of their street and the area! Just think of all the dirty old men who could have turned up at her door!


I don't think it was that unusual to be honest. I remember when Challenge repeated a Bob Monkhouse episode of The Golden Shot, they bleeped out the contestant's address (not sure if it was Challenge or if it was supplied to them pre-bleeped). I wonder why they found the need to give out addresses though, in the Bullseye case it was just because they didn't bother to obscure it but in The Golden Shot case they purposely mentioned the address. Why did viewers ever need this information?
GM
GMc
BroadcastNow.co.uk posted:
Virgin Media TV is planning to launch a general entertainment channel on Freeview, in what is the cable group's latest attempt to take on its arch rival BSkyB.

Talk of the offering, which Broadcast understands will be called Virgin One and be available on cable and Freeview, has been gaining momentum following frenzied bidding by the cable group for US shows from the LA Screenings.

According to sources Virgin Media is attempting to do deals with most studios.

One source said: "Virgin Media seems to be trying to buy everything [from the LA Screenings]. The word from the US is it is because they are launching a new channel to take on Sky One."

Virgin Media has also begun commissioning shows from UK indies for the new channel, which will be positioned between its female skewing offering Living and the male skewing Bravo. It is also likely to replace Virgin Media's Freeview channel FTN.

Managing director for Virgin Media TV Johnny Webb is spearheading the initiative.

At present FTN is used as a "shop window" on Freeview, airing taster content from all the Virgin Media channels and receiving little investment.

Sky also has three channels on Freeview, Sky Sports News, Sky News and Sky Three, which it uses as a means to convince viewers to take out a Sky subscription. However, Sky has said it wants to make its Freeview channels subscription offerings and has asked Ofcom for permission.

Virgin Media is also set to seal a deal to create a sports news channel within the next few weeks, with Setanta Sports the most likely partner.

The spat between Virgin and Sky escalated earlier this year when Broadcast revealed Sky had hammered down the cable group's subscriber revenues by approximately 85% in the fees that it pays for Virgin Media channels such Bravo and Trouble and Challenge. Sky told NTL that the only channel it felt worth paying for was Living.

Sky's basic channels have since been removed from the cable platform when Virgin claimed that Sky asked for double the fees for retailing Sky 's basic channels. Sky refuted the claims stating that its offer is a 20% increase on the existing contract or 3p per customer per day, and not double.

Virgin has started legal proceedings against Sky arguing that the satellite giant , which it says account for almost 70% of the country's pay TV subscribers, is dominant and "has engaged in a strategy to stifle competition," particularly by using its dominance against the cable group.

Last year Sky also bought a 17.8% stake in ITV, which the cable group believes was a "blocking" tactic to prevent it from buying the network.
NE
Netizen
Was hoping they'd come up with a more original name than Virgin 1... not that I could come up with anything better. Bit more info here if needed http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/digitaltv/a60623/virgin-media-plans-new-channel-launch.html
RE
Reboot
Well, ideally this would be in addition to FTN, replacing one of Virgin/sit-up's shopping channels and making V1 a 24-hour channel. Not likely to be that lucky though, huh?
NE
Netizen
Yeah I'm not so keen on losing the free Challenge content even if we do get new original US programming.
:-(
A former member
Netizen posted:
Yeah I'm not so keen on losing the free Challenge content even if we do get new original US programming.


who say ALL the Free Challenge is going?
BR
Brekkie
Typhical just as FTN is finding it's niche again.


I agree though on Freeview at least the US import market is more than served by the various ITV/C4/five spin-offs - while FTN really does have it's own niche.


One good thing though could be that Sky might become more reluctant to give up Sky Three if Virgin are set to launch a FTA general entertainment channel.
NE
Netizen
623058 posted:
Netizen posted:
Yeah I'm not so keen on losing the free Challenge content even if we do get new original US programming.


who say ALL the Free Challenge is going?

No one, but I'm assuming 15 year old gameshows won't sit too well in the scheduled next to brand new US drama and such. Virgin One appears to be pitched as a channel in its own right rather than a mix channel. This is all speculation at the moment so hopefully I'm wrong.

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