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End of Universal TV in the UK?

(October 2019)

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NL
Ne1L C
You're right. I stand corrected.
GE
thegeek Founding member
VH1 UK was around before 1997, I remember watching it on a TV in a bar back in 1995.

1994, according to Wikipedia. I feel a bit like we've not seen the last of the brand in the UK and it'll return the next time someone in Camden has a bright idea...
JA
james-2001
VH1 was a decent, strong brand, they killed it off when they decided to turn it into a channel showing nothing but sub-Channel 5 level reality crap.
NL
Ne1L C
It was a classy music station.
TM
tmf9
VH1 (and VH1 Classic) live on in continental Europe as 24 hour music channels. Both receive very little attention, VH1 Classic is still using the 2004 UK graphics.

There is also an unusual version of VH1 on DTT in Italy with music during the day and an odd mix of programmes at night, including property renovation series from HGTV dubbed in to Italian. It is run as a spin-off of Paramount Network along with Spike: https://www.paramountnetwork.it/guida-tv/vh1
ZE
zeebre12
Why would Viacom not launch the European version of Vh1 in the UK like they have done with MTV Live?
GE
thegeek Founding member
Why would Viacom not launch the European version of Vh1 in the UK like they have done with MTV Live?

I guess there's a cost/benefit analysis - does the sliver of subscription fees and ad revenue cover the cost of UK ad insertion, transmission costs, EPG fees, etc...
ZE
zeebre12
Why would Viacom not launch the European version of Vh1 in the UK like they have done with MTV Live?

I guess there's a cost/benefit analysis - does the sliver of subscription fees and ad revenue cover the cost of UK ad insertion, transmission costs, EPG fees, etc...

Surely it would cost a lot less than running the UK specific music channels for what little subscription/ad revenue they bring in?
KU
Kunst
UK is a big market, arguably the biggest TV market in Europe, the great majority of the operations in the UK (but also in relatively big especially Western markets, like Germany, France, Italy, Spain) is localised, as advertisers tend to be stronger in these countries

Pan-European (or even EMEA) operations, with exceptions, are for the smaller European countries like Czechia, Slovakia, Hungary, Greece and to a lesser extent even Poland

Maybe something like VH1 Polska (which is a kind of VH1 Europe with adverts sandwiched) would've been viable, but I don't think worth the costs, given Viacom UK (now Viacom CBS) prefers to have its own set of MTV channels, which are many already
KU
Kunst
tmf9 posted:
VH1 (and VH1 Classic) live on in continental Europe as 24 hour music channels. Both receive very little attention, VH1 Classic is still using the 2004 UK graphics.

There is also an unusual version of VH1 on DTT in Italy with music during the day and an odd mix of programmes at night, including property renovation series from HGTV dubbed in to Italian. It is run as a spin-off of Paramount Network along with Spike: https://www.paramountnetwork.it/guida-tv/vh1

Why would VH1 Italy be that "unusual"? At the end of the day, it's just VIVA UK with a different name, with music and non-music shows at night

HGTV shows are barely there anymore (and they should be gone with the launch of HGTV in February), the prime time schedule is more an MTV Italy for DTT users

It's not a spin off of Paramount Network, PM came later than VH1. They're just grouped on the same website
TM
tmf9
Poland and Romania get localised versions of VH1 Europe, with the same schedule and music, but approx. 3 tracks dropped each hour to make way for adverts. Elsewhere VH1 Europe is completely commercial free. It used to have breakfillers every 15 minutes where local cable operators could insert ads but those have been removed now.
JA
JAS84
So how does that channel make them any money?

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