Men & Motors has now ceased broadcasting on Freeview.
There is now just a black screen with MM at the top, and it tells you that you can find M&M on Sky, NTL and Telewest, and it also tells you the channel numbers.
Look at the EPG information for Channel 35. It says that its a test stream and the data is not authorised to be reproduced in any form (including the EPG it would seem). Might show just how smooth the launch is going to be of ITV Play.
The way the whole thing operates remember is that its all free and therefore you want more 'specialist' channels than you damn as hell gotta pay for it.
My original, and long standing, take on the Freeview project was that it was good for free, but free wasn't very good. I still consider that viewpoint to be valid at the time that I made it. I welcomed the launch of TUTV on DTT, by providing an option for better channels there, albeit paid for. However, we have seen over the past year or so a marked change as better channels launched. It now finally does have a reasonable selection of channels covering a reasonable selection of genres. This incident however sets a worrying precedent, and worst of all, it's introduced another ITV-branded channel. As a broadcaster, ITV clearly feel it important for all of their portfolio to be ITV-branded. But I still maintain the best way to sell multichannel TV is NOT to offer BBC this and ITV that, but instead to use brand names which aren't directly connected to an existing analogue broadcaster (even if M&M is now wholey owned by ITV plc), since that creates a much greater sense of choice. This I feel is why C4 do quite well with their extended range - they may have kept the '4' name in all of their channels, but there is no common corporate branding between their channels, no common naming structure (Channel 4, E4, More 4, FilmFour) each appears as a standalone entity, which looks much more impressive in a lineup of logos than does a collection of channels all sharing a corporate brand.
Even if the actual content is no great loss to the platform (especially since it's inevitably going to be largely shunted to ITV4), but the loss of a well recognised and seemingly standalone brand name in favour of another ITV-branded channel could well do the platform harm, especially if this isn't an isolated case and turns out to be a trend.
Quote:
One broadcaster's stupid actions doesnt mean that we should re-think the entire DTT situation. Channel Four, instead of abusing DTT has enriched it. Firstly it made E4 available through an aerial again through TUTV, then it brought it to Freeview and launched its new channel on it, and is bringing Film4 to it this summer. Admittedly yes it also has a Quiz channel, but that is filling space which was used by an interactive BB stream before that - the only other provider apart from the BBC to give Freeview viewers an interactive stream.
Licencing channels instead of multiplexes isn't a new belief of mine, I've long believed that this is how DTT should be licenced. Aswell as being able to control the content this way, it also means that there would be a finite number of channels available which cannot be abused by over-compression to fit another stream in (or on the other hand, abused by madness like moving multiplex 1 to 16QAM when it performed perfectly well on 64QAM which then creates the need for the BBC to hold a second multiplex leaving the BBC occupying a third of all available DTT bandwidth yet not accounting for anything like that amount of actual content).
Quote:
What I object to really is how easily ITV can change the use of it's space - as OFCOM basically grant licences to channels regardless of space on the spectrum - and then ITV can choose what channels to use that space for.
This is why I believe in individual licencing as I mentioned above. OFCOM grant a licence to a channel to be suitable for DTT transmission but have no say in how that transmission takes place. Thus ITV plc (and any other broadcaster except for the BBC) can simply swap channels out at will. And when you're dealing with now virtually unregulated commercial broadcasters, of course this will always be for the channel which can bring in the greatest revenue at the lowest cost rather than the channel which might be of higher quality (and which might even bring in more viewers - ITV Play can doubtless turn a profit on a viewership of a fraction of that which M&M needs to break even).
Quote:
This is where OFCOM need to be tougher. If ITV News had decided just to broadcast male orientated programmes in the evening they'd have probably been in breech of their licence - but ITV could take half of it's airspace and air male orientated programmes on a different channel number.
Well OFCOM seem to care little about what actually gets carried on channels these days. They had no problem with ITV News Channel carrying Football or with FilmFour carrying cricket. I doubt ITV News Channel would breach any licence for carrying mens programmes in the evenings.
The biggest concern I have with today is not with the immediate effect - M&M replaced with ITV Play - but with the precedent it sets. Unless proper regulation is introduced (which it won't be, because it's entirely against the grain of OFCOM), I seriously fear what will happen with FTA DTT. The idea of FTA genuinely offering decent multichannel choice might well just turn out to be a flash in the pan if the regulator does nothing (which it won't, except de-regulate even further). Within 5/6 years, we could easily be straight back to a situation where you get FTA DTT for free, but then have to pay to receive any sort of decent channel choice. As much as the Freeview fan-boys consistantly predict the death of Sky considering how wonderful Freeview is getting, I very much get the feeling that Sky haven't had it yet - OFCOM's wank-handed 'regulation' could well put paid to any hope of that.
I'm sick of ITV. And so many people on popular forums such as Digital Spy and TV Forum!
Why can't you merge Men and Motors in with ITV4 and make it a 24 hour channel. Then everyone who has Freeview can watch the programmes they have grown to love.
ITV Play could share with CITV just now till there's more space on DTT.
And don't reply with 'This has been passed onto the appropriate people.'
PS: Will you please stop repeating Wycliff at 5pm on ITV1. And from next week we will have to put up with Rising Damp! Incase you forgot, you have a channel called ITV3 for all that.
I'm sick of ITV. And so many people on popular forums such as Digital Spy and TV Forum!
Why can't you merge Men and Motors in with ITV4 and make it a 24 hour channel. Then everyone who has Freeview can watch the programmes they have grown to love.
ITV Play could share with CITV just now till there's more space on DTT.
And don't reply with 'This has been passed onto the appropriate people.'
PS: Will you please stop repeating Wycliff at 5pm on ITV1. And from next week we will have to put up with Rising Damp! Incase you forgot, you have a channel called ITV3 for all that.
Let's see what crap they reply with.
I don't expect you will receive a reply if you take that tone with them.
Please don't drag TV Forum into your rant.
I personally have no interest in Men and Motors so you can't speak on behalf of me.
I'm sick of ITV. And so many people on popular forums such as Digital Spy and TV Forum!
Why can't you merge Men and Motors in with ITV4 and make it a 24 hour channel. Then everyone who has Freeview can watch the programmes they have grown to love.
ITV Play could share with CITV just now till there's more space on DTT.
And don't reply with 'This has been passed onto the appropriate people.'
PS: Will you please stop repeating Wycliff at 5pm on ITV1. And from next week we will have to put up with Rising Damp! Incase you forgot, you have a channel called ITV3 for all that.
Let's see what crap they reply with.
I don't expect you will receive a reply if you take that tone with them.
Please don't drag TV Forum into your rant.
I personally have no interest in Men and Motors so you can't speak on behalf of me.
Excuse me, but I didn't say everyone on TV Forum, I said many.
Here's an idea why don't we just give everyone in the UK a free sky dish and free access to all the channels forever!!!
You want the moon on a stick, freeview is called FREEview you know channels can be pulled you want men & motors now you've got to pay for it im afraid.
Here's an idea why don't we just give everyone in the UK a free sky dish and free access to all the channels forever!!!
You want the moon on a stick, freeview is called FREEview you know channels can be pulled you want men & motors now you've got to pay for it im afraid.
Yes, but not everyone can afford Sky or Cable.
I've got NTL so I have no problems, but there are alot of people who are very angry with ITV.
