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UKTV channels set to leave Virgin Media on Sunday

11th August - they’re back (July 2018)

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RU
russty_russ
London Lite posted:
JKDerry posted:
rdd posted:
Those of us in Ireland have extremely long memories to one of the earliest and most bitter of these disputes, from 1992 to 1994, when a predecessor of Virgin Media in Ireland, the then Telecom Eireann/RTE controlled Cablelink, had a bitter dispute with Sky over carriage fees for Sky One and Sky News. The then early versions of Sky Movies and Sky Sports remained on the platform throughout.

Two channels may be nothing now. When it’s 1992 and you’re only offering twelve channels (six of which are RTE/BBC/ITV/C4) those two channels are a major portion of the service.

That is right, cable television has been in Ireland far longer than here in the UK right?


Milton Keynes had the first analogue cable network in the UK. I'd assume it started in the early 70s?


and what a mess that was in the end. MK never went digital. Virgin weren't interested in upgrading it as they didn't own the infrastructure and BT weren't interested as they didn't supply the service so eventually it went at point in 2013. Very limited in channels and everything was 4:3.
JK
JKDerry
russty_russ posted:
London Lite posted:
JKDerry posted:
That is right, cable television has been in Ireland far longer than here in the UK right?


Milton Keynes had the first analogue cable network in the UK. I'd assume it started in the early 70s?


and what a mess that was in the end. MK never went digital. Virgin weren't interested in upgrading it as they didn't own the infrastructure and BT weren't interested as they didn't supply the service so eventually it went at point in 2013. Very limited in channels and everything was 4:3.

If you had to choose, would you go cable or satellite? I have been with Virgin since 2012 after leaving Sky, thought cable would be better. Thankfully I bought a Freesat box to replace Sky, acts like a back up for me.
RD
rdd Founding member
JKDerry posted:
London Lite posted:
JKDerry posted:
That is right, cable television has been in Ireland far longer than here in the UK right?


Milton Keynes had the first analogue cable network in the UK. I'd assume it started in the early 70s?

The Ballymun flats in Dublin were cabled in the mid 1960s


Yeah it was encouraged early (and RTE got involved) because 1960s Dublin became an air traffic control hazard with high aerials to receive British TV.
JK
JKDerry
rdd posted:
JKDerry posted:
London Lite posted:

Milton Keynes had the first analogue cable network in the UK. I'd assume it started in the early 70s?

The Ballymun flats in Dublin were cabled in the mid 1960s


Yeah it was encouraged early (and RTE got involved) because 1960s Dublin became an air traffic control hazard with high aerials to receive British TV.

I wonder how clear BBC and ITV could be received in Dublin back then via a normal aerial? I know family in County Donegal pointed aerials towards my home city of Londonderry to get BBC and ITV, and they all got a decent signal. That might explain why there is not much cable presence in Donegal?
JM
JamesM0984
I assume then Milton Keynes has no digital cable at all? If the cables are there, presumably something can be done with them - or is it all coax rather than fibre under the streets?
RU
russty_russ
JamesM0984 posted:
I assume then Milton Keynes has no digital cable at all? If the cables are there, presumably something can be done with them - or is it all coax rather than fibre under the streets?


Yep, no digital at all. Its coax all the way round. Newer houses built in the last couple of years have fibre to the house but say pre 2015/6 then its the copper stuff.

Fast forward to 2:30 in this You Tube clip which has a Look East report on the digital switchover in MK back in 2011.
RU
russty_russ
JKDerry posted:
russty_russ posted:
London Lite posted:

Milton Keynes had the first analogue cable network in the UK. I'd assume it started in the early 70s?


and what a mess that was in the end. MK never went digital. Virgin weren't interested in upgrading it as they didn't own the infrastructure and BT weren't interested as they didn't supply the service so eventually it went at point in 2013. Very limited in channels and everything was 4:3.

If you had to choose, would you go cable or satellite? I have been with Virgin since 2012 after leaving Sky, thought cable would be better. Thankfully I bought a Freesat box to replace Sky, acts like a back up for me.


JKDerry posted:
russty_russ posted:
London Lite posted:

Milton Keynes had the first analogue cable network in the UK. I'd assume it started in the early 70s?


and what a mess that was in the end. MK never went digital. Virgin weren't interested in upgrading it as they didn't own the infrastructure and BT weren't interested as they didn't supply the service so eventually it went at point in 2013. Very limited in channels and everything was 4:3.

If you had to choose, would you go cable or satellite? I have been with Virgin since 2012 after leaving Sky, thought cable would be better. Thankfully I bought a Freesat box to replace Sky, acts like a back up for me.


When BT had the service there was talk in 1999 going digital but nothing ever happened. Ignoring the UKTV stuff to one side if NTL then Virgin went digital then I would probably would stuck with it unless Sky could have come out all singing and dancing.
Last edited by russty_russ on 29 July 2018 1:43pm
MA
Markymark
JKDerry posted:
rdd posted:
JKDerry posted:
The Ballymun flats in Dublin were cabled in the mid 1960s


Yeah it was encouraged early (and RTE got involved) because 1960s Dublin became an air traffic control hazard with high aerials to receive British TV.

I wonder how clear BBC and ITV could be received in Dublin back then via a normal aerial? I know family in County Donegal pointed aerials towards my home city of Londonderry to get BBC and ITV, and they all got a decent signal. That might explain why there is not much cable presence in Donegal?


In the VHF days, reception was from Arfon for ITV, and a mixture of Blaen Plwyf or Llandonna for the BBC. It's the reason why in eastern Ireland RTE were forced to launch on 405 lines (as well as the 'soft' European standard of 625) because there was a pre existing base of 405 line tellies in the country to watch BBC TV.

When UHF colour came along I think Arfon was the easiest to receive, because UHF transmissions from BP and Llandonna were very directional 'inland' to Wales. Arfon is only a UHF relay, but the 3.2kW transmission went a long way by virtue of the omnidirectional aerials on top of the 1000ft mast !

http://tx.mb21.co.uk/gallery/gallerypage.php?txid=769&pageid=2003
IS
Ipswich Simon
JKDerry posted:
rdd posted:
Those of us in Ireland have extremely long memories to one of the earliest and most bitter of these disputes, from 1992 to 1994, when a predecessor of Virgin Media in Ireland, the then Telecom Eireann/RTE controlled Cablelink, had a bitter dispute with Sky over carriage fees for Sky One and Sky News. The then early versions of Sky Movies and Sky Sports remained on the platform throughout.

Two channels may be nothing now. When it’s 1992 and you’re only offering twelve channels (six of which are RTE/BBC/ITV/C4) those two channels are a major portion of the service.

That is right, cable television has been in Ireland far longer than here in the UK right?


Thank god we don't have cable in our street!
JA
james-2001
siipswich posted:
Thank god we don't have cable in our street!


Because they'd have been coming round forcing you to use it at gunpoint, right?
JM
JamesM0984
russty_russ posted:
JamesM0984 posted:
I assume then Milton Keynes has no digital cable at all? If the cables are there, presumably something can be done with them - or is it all coax rather than fibre under the streets?


Yep, no digital at all. Its coax all the way round. Newer houses built in the last couple of years have fibre to the house but say pre 2015/6 then its the copper stuff.

Fast forward to 2:30 in this You Tube clip which has a Look East report on the digital switchover in MK back in 2011.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UihZqyp_U6A


How do most people in MK get their TV now if the cable system is no longer? I'm assuming satellite is the only sensible way?
RU
russty_russ
JamesM0984 posted:
russty_russ posted:
JamesM0984 posted:
I assume then Milton Keynes has no digital cable at all? If the cables are there, presumably something can be done with them - or is it all coax rather than fibre under the streets?


Yep, no digital at all. Its coax all the way round. Newer houses built in the last couple of years have fibre to the house but say pre 2015/6 then its the copper stuff.

Fast forward to 2:30 in this You Tube clip which has a Look East report on the digital switchover in MK back in 2011.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UihZqyp_U6A


How do most people in MK get their TV now if the cable system is no longer? I'm assuming satellite is the only sensible way?


Its largely by dish or aerials either on the loft or on roofs although MK was special in that it had covenants in place providing houseowners putting aerials on roofs but as this was largely ignored as time went by. When Sky Digital launched in 1998, having analogue cable was becoming less attractive as the years were going by.

Also you only need to search on the internet for those who used to struggle ringing NTL/Virgin whenever they had a problem with their basic relay package, i.e. plug a cable from the tv into a wall socket as most of the customer service agents were looking for the end user to describe a decoder box to them.

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