why if your services are cut off if u havnt paid ur virgin media tv bill that u don't get hardly much free tv choice compared to freeview on virgin u get a few +1 channels the terrestrial channels and bbc news.cbbc and cbeebies plus the radio and no press red on bbc to get iplayer as I pay my tv licence I should get it but nope.
Virgin are only obligated to give you 1-5 for free... interestingly does anyone know whether this will change when Digital switchover is completed? Not suggesting they'll give you any more channels if you are cut off - after all it is your own fault for not paying your bill (unless Virgin have screwed up big time which I appreciate happens a lot!) I am guessing the obligation to provide 1-5 has more to do with their status as Public Service Broadcasters as opposed to the fact that they are "terrestrial" channels?
Virgin are only obligated to give you 1-5 for free... interestingly does anyone know whether this will change when Digital switchover is completed? Not suggesting they'll give you any more channels if you are cut off - after all it is your own fault for not paying your bill (unless Virgin have screwed up big time which I appreciate happens a lot!) I am guessing the obligation to provide 1-5 has more to do with their status as Public Service Broadcasters as opposed to the fact that they are "terrestrial" channels?
Wouldn't they have to give you the 'officially recognised' PSB channels/Freeview only line up?
What are the PSB channels after switchover? 1 to 5, BBC News, BBC Three & Four? I'm guessing that due to a recent DTT retune, that lost certain channels from relays, ITV 3 & 4 are not part of the PSB requirement!
Wouldn't they have to give you the 'officially recognised' PSB channels/Freeview only line up?
What are the PSB channels after switchover? 1 to 5, BBC News, BBC Three & Four? I'm guessing that due to a recent DTT retune, that lost certain channels from relays, ITV 3 & 4 are not part of the PSB requirement!
Isn't there legislation stating that the majority of households must have access to 1-5? I seem to remember hearing that but I could be wrong? When I used to work for VM we were told to just tell the customer that as they had failed to pay their bill we were only obliged to provide them with the main terrestrial channels.
They're not obliged to provide them; every channel on the VM DTV platform is encrypted and the STB can be (and will eventually be) remotely deactivated and/or the entire line cut off.
On analogue, several channels were available without subscription owing to agreements with local authorities.
That's the beauty of Digital Terrestrial Television, most of it is free. However you have to pay for Top Up TV, which includes G.O.L.D.
Do British Sky Broadcasting really need to charge for so many of their channels? Face it most channels show adverts.
When Sky launched on Astra 1 in February 1989 it was all going to be free. The only exception was to be Sky Movies. Even Sky Movies was free for several months to get people to see what it was like before deciding to subscribe to it.
After Sky and BSB merged, BSB's sport channel became Sky Sports. If I remember rightly, it was free to view from the start, so you had to have either a decoder connected to your Sky box, or intergrated receiver/decoder, but didn't need a subscription. After a while, Sky started charging for Sky Sports.
About a year after that, Sky started charging for Sky One, The Children's Channel, MTV and just about everything else, under the banner "Multichannel Package". Sky Movies and Sky Sports were an optional add-on for an additional fee. Interestingly around the same time they started sending out their monthly magazine to subscribers.
When Sky Digital launched in autumn 1998, they had a variety of options. There was the Value Pack, which only contained about half a dozen channels, but that was the cheapest option. Alternatively you could take all the primary channels for a considerably higher monthly fee. In addition there were several intermediate packs which contained themed groups of channels (entertainment, lifestyle, etc) IIRC; they were priced mid way between the Value Pack and the "all primary channels" pack. Sneakily, you had to subscribe to one of those to be able to take Sky Sports and / or Sky Movies for an additional monthly fee; you couldn't have either of those alone.
Circa 2004 / 2005 they changed the primary channel charging system to 6 mixes, e.g. Entertainment, Music, Kids. You could take two, four or all six primary mixes, BUT you had to subscribe to at least two primary mixes to be able to take the Movie mix and/or Sport Mix as optional add-ons. You still couldn't take the Movie Mix or Sport Mix without any primary mixes.
That's the beauty of Digital Terrestrial Television, most of it is free. However you have to pay for Top Up TV, which includes G.O.L.D.
Do British Sky Broadcasting really need to charge for so many of their channels? Face it most channels show adverts.
When Sky launched on Astra 1 in February 1989 it was all going to be free. The only exception was to be Sky Movies. Even Sky Movies was free for several months to get people to see what it was like before deciding to subscribe to it.
After Sky and BSB merged, BSB's sport channel became Sky Sports. If I remember rightly, it was free to view from the start, so you had to have either a decoder connected to your Sky box, or intergrated receiver/decoder, but didn't need a subscription. After a while, Sky started charging for Sky Sports.
About a year after that, Sky started charging for Sky One, The Children's Channel, MTV and just about everything else, under the banner "Multichannel Package". Sky Movies and Sky Sports were an optional add-on for an additional fee. Interestingly around the same time they started sending out their monthly magazine to subscribers.
When Sky Digital launched in autumn 1998, they had a variety of options. There was the Value Pack, which only contained about half a dozen channels, but that was the cheapest option. Alternatively you could take all the primary channels for a considerably higher monthly fee. In addition there were several intermediate packs which contained themed groups of channels (entertainment, lifestyle, etc) IIRC; they were priced mid way between the Value Pack and the "all primary channels" pack. Sneakily, you had to subscribe to one of those to be able to take Sky Sports and / or Sky Movies for an additional monthly fee; you couldn't have either of those alone.
Circa 2004 / 2005 they changed the primary channel charging system to 6 mixes, e.g. Entertainment, Music, Kids. You could take two, four or all six primary mixes, BUT you had to subscribe to at least two primary mixes to be able to take the Movie mix and/or Sport Mix as optional add-ons. You still couldn't take the Movie Mix or Sport Mix without any primary mixes.
