UKTV channels set to leave Virgin Media on Sunday

a516 has posted in the TVPlayer thread that UKTV channels are now available on all Roku devices.

UKTV channels are also on the Samsung Tizen Smart TV's.

For distribution on Freeview, UKTV pay multiplex operator Arqiva a fee for terrestrial TV bandwidth. They have a total of six slots at the moment. Freeview is essentially a marketing organisation and isn't in a position to pay any broadcaster anything.

UKTV also have their own satellite transponder. They will pay Freesat EPG listing fees. Again, Freesat isn't in a position to pay broadcasters anything.

Sky will have a deal encompassing the listing of free and pay channels, similar to the deal between Discovery and Sky (which includes free and pay, and provided room for Discovery to launch a second free channel last year, Quest Red). But unlike on Virgin, if the deal with Sky collapsed, the free-to-air channels would remain available on satellite.

Sky has been known to offer discounts to broadcasters in return for on-demand and exclusive content.

This is the issue with cable television, as it seems channels are more at risk of being pulled off air on the cable platform than on Freeview or Satellite.

This happened in Ireland, when Virgin Media got rid of UTV and ITV2 from their platform, which caused uproar among Virgin Media subscribers.

The pulling of channels off cable platforms happens a lot in the US, with major networks like NBC, CBS etc having disputes with cable providers over carriage agreements with Time Warner, Comcast, also satellite with Dish Network.

Virgin Media Ireland have dreadful PR skills. I took a look at their website, and where the UKTV channels would appear on their packages part, there are now gaping holes, as Virgin removed their channel logos and have not replaced them or re-positioned them. Terrible promotion.

Also, when Irish customers now look at what Virgin TV have, it now looks pathetic compared to Sky Ireland, or even Vodafone TV or Eir TV.

This is the company which is planning to relaunch Ireland's main commercial channels in the next month, God help TV3, 3E and be3 if this is they way their PR machine works.

That's odd, considering they just added a bunch of channels whose logos could've filled those gaps.

ITV threatening to pull their channels from Virgin now- they've really left themselves open to all this, haven't they?

https://www.theguardian.com/media/2018/jul/26/virgin-media-could-lose-itv-programmes-in-long-running-dispute

ITV channels could be next.
I think if ITV channels go then an awful lot of customers will quit very quickly - even through their available on freeview the PVR function will be lost.
https://www.theguardian.com/media/2018/jul/26/virgin-media-could-lose-itv-programmes-in-long-running-dispute
Virgin sounds like it’s a company in crisis.

There won't be any channels left on Virgin by Christmas at this rate.

Or any customers.

Feels like they're more interested in having disputes than anything else.

You have to wonder what the hell is going on at Virgin for two channel providers to be threatening to pull their channels in the space of a week. There's clearly something seriously wrong, and it's not giving us customers much confidence that the rest of our channels will be staying put.

Discovery will be the next to get the chop, I'm sure