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UKTV channels set to leave Virgin Media on Sunday

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

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LL
London Lite Founding member
I had a friend who lived in MK and had a roof-top aerial pointing to Sandy Heath. There may be some who also use Beckley (Oxford).
IS
Ipswich Simon
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?


No because the residents back in 1990s refused to allow them to dig up the path and driveways that why.
NW
nwtv2003
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?


No because the residents back in 1990s refused to allow them to dig up the path and driveways that why.


Wowzers.

NYNEX dug up out street in the mid 1990’s, they filled the holes and moved on, it became less noticeable after time. It didn’t stop us getting Cable, my mother did not want one of the old style satellite dishes mounted to the house at any cost.
JA
james-2001
They sound like a bunch of NIMBYs.
VM
VMPhil

Because they'd have been coming round forcing you to use it at gunpoint, right?


No because the residents back in 1990s refused to allow them to dig up the path and driveways that why.


Wowzers.

NYNEX dug up out street in the mid 1990’s, they filled the holes and moved on, it became less noticeable after time. It didn’t stop us getting Cable, my mother did not want one of the old style satellite dishes mounted to the house at any cost.

The original story is hilarious.


https://www.tvforum.co.uk/forums/post1111705#post-1111705
JA
james-2001

No because the residents back in 1990s refused to allow them to dig up the path and driveways that why.


Wowzers.

NYNEX dug up out street in the mid 1990’s, they filled the holes and moved on, it became less noticeable after time. It didn’t stop us getting Cable, my mother did not want one of the old style satellite dishes mounted to the house at any cost.

The original story is hilarious.


https://www.tvforum.co.uk/forums/post1111705#post-1111705


Hilarious and ridiculous in equal measure. The middle class militia.
ZE
zeebre12
Virgin do have a point. The thing with the UKTV is, it's hard to distinguish what's pay TV/FTA like Sky has Sky One and Pick. Like why is Good Food pay but Home FTA? A lot of it is just the same shows repeated over various channels. There is no big strong channels like Sky has Sky One/Witness. With UKTV you'd assume Dave would be a pay channel in their portfolio.
steveboswell and London Lite gave kudos
JK
JKDerry
Virgin do have a point. The thing with the UKTV is, it's hard to distinguish what's pay TV/FTA like Sky has Sky One and Pick. Like why is Good Food pay but Home FTA? A lot of it is just the same shows repeated over various channels. There is no big strong channels like Sky has Sky One/Witness. With UKTV you'd assume Dave would be a pay channel in their portfolio.

But the question is, why are they not having this same problem with Sky? Why does Sky accept UKTV channels and have a carriage deal all there, but somehow Virgin are the ones throwing their toys out of the pram?
LL
London Lite Founding member
Virgin do have a point. The thing with the UKTV is, it's hard to distinguish what's pay TV/FTA like Sky has Sky One and Pick. Like why is Good Food pay but Home FTA? A lot of it is just the same shows repeated over various channels. There is no big strong channels like Sky has Sky One/Witness. With UKTV you'd assume Dave would be a pay channel in their portfolio.


Exactly the points I tried to make earlier in the conversation. There's no coherent programming policy between the free and paywall channels.

Dave was created at a time when the previous channel UKTV G2 was fledgling and UKTV wanted to raise their profile on Freeview. The channel has been a massive success in targeting a previously under served male audience, yet also enjoyed by a general audience. The issue now is that it's now so successful that it demands original commissions, which you'd ideally schedule behind a paywall.

With the exception of Gold, the paywall channels feel unloved, while the other channels pump out sitcoms and dramas on off-target channels, I'm thinking Allo Allo on Yesterday and Drama, newish stuff on Drama that was on Alibi.

I think Dave's too big to go back behind the paywall, but is it really necessary to show sitcoms from Gold on Yesterday and Drama? While Eden and Good Food are behind a paywall unloved?

Sky Witness will blow Alibi out of the water thanks to Sky's branding and budget for shows, W has no real focus with their factual shows that could be shown on Really (and I suspect already do) and so on. Dave and Gold are the only channels that really show focus and direction.
ME
mediamonkeyuk
What’s the chances of the UKTV brand being reintroduced as a prefix for each channel? Always thought it strengthened the identity before but now many casual viewers would have no idea some of those channels were even from the same family. Incoherent branding aside, it could certainly make their absence from the Virgin platform more apparent
JK
JKDerry
Well it seems after a week, the UKTV channels will remain off Virgin Media for the foreseeable future. Has anyone heard any progress? It must be costing UKTV and Virgin a lot for these channels off now for a week. The silence from both sides, and the feeling from UKTV's twitter account is that - hey we are on everywhere else, so just move, is a pathetic attitude to the four million subscribers to Virgin **** hole.
DA
Dave Founding member
Must be costing virgin a fortune, phoned today and was out of contract but negotiate an increase in TV package with BT and Sky Sports and improved landline package (use it a lot still!) for less than what I’m paying now.

UKTV will either return of i’ll get used to not having them

- UKTV are saying they haven’t heard from Virgin last week and Virgin are saying they are in talks still - both of these from their Twitter accounts.
- Have also read but can’t now find that broadcasters have been contacted stating the EPG slots are available like they did with E4 a few months ago that allowed it to move to 106

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