The END of Ftn!

Oops - oh well, never mind - only bought a Freeview box 1 year ago, so pretty new to all this. Apologies...

Is that the same as the 'Best of' type show that Tim Vine was presenting a month or two ago on FTN? Didn't think there 10 parts to it but it sounds similar.

Dunno where Melinda was tonight...shame on FTN's listings for billing it as Melinda hosted and also my digibox listings...shame on you!

The EPG listings have been advertising the wrong host for months now, Crystal Maze was the same too.

Well, the end is nigh...sadly...

In 11 days time on the night of Sunday 30th September, Ftn closes its doors for good - to be replaced by Virgin1 the next day! Shame... The news was announced today. It seems unlkely that it is going to be moved to another channel number etc - the death toll has finally rung...

This means:-
- No more classic programmes like The Crystal Maze, Fort Boyard and Bullseye!
- No more dodgy continuity announcements with the end cut off or the wrong presenter announced...
- No more basic Now, Next, Later captions...
-No more late-night quizzing action...
- No opportunity to watch yet to be shown editions of The Crystal Maze and Melinda FB's...

It is a great shame! One of the best channels since I got Freeview last year. The remainder of this epic thread will, I suppose, be used to discuss the demise of the channel and to recall the good and bad times of Ftn.

But will YOU miss Ftn??? Vote now and express your opinions!!!

Its not a shame in my opinion. FTN has had its day.

Yes, its been great this year to see they cut down on tacky Grub Smith documentaries, old reality shows and Thomas Cook TV in favour of Bullseye, Krypton Factor and more classic gameshows. But no doubt these are bound be shown again on another channel...maybe even Virgin1 sometime in the future.

From a personal view, FTN has introduced me to a lot of programmes from cable and satellite which has been handy. So in this way, for me, its acheived what it set out to do.

Obviously, we'll say nothing about the late night poker and phone-in quizzes which last year annoyed me especially when they started at 10pm when the channel had already wasted two hours with Thomas Cook TV. You began to wonder what the channel was all about.

In the long term I shall miss FTN but its certainly time for a revamp.

Incidently, its closing down on my birthday...probably saying something to me! Get a life!

Its been known for a while now that Virgin 1 has been the long-mooted replacement for Ftn, even the promos use the same channel numbers as Ftn currently has, on Sky, Freeview and Cable.



Not necessarily on all of these counts. The opportunity may return. But if Virgin 1 is going to be using the same playout system as Ftn currently is, the dodgy continuity announcements might still be with us. The basic now, next and later captions were simple but effective. Quiz Night Live was virtually impossible, teaming up with Big Game TV, then TGBBQ and after they'd all fell over having to team up with Live Roulette. Either that or the dodgy looking WinWinTV software that's returned again overnight on The Hits.



Only been a decent channel since January, in the three years previously it went from decent to bad to very bad to very very bad and then suddenly turned good again.

Offtopic but last night the hits showed a static caption of WinWinTV for 10 minutes before going back to music videos.

According to the first day schedule posted in the Virgin 1 thread, Bullseye is still in there.

When everyone is asleep.

VCRs. PVRs and DVD recorders don't sleep though do they?

I can't even get FTN on my Pace tonight - the still 'back at 18:00' slide is blocking the picture.