TV Home Forum

UKTV channels set to leave Virgin Media on Sunday

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

This site closed in March 2021 and is now a read-only archive
BR
Brekkie
JKDerry posted:
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.

Really surprised you have time to keep making that post considering you now have ZooMoo HD and IQTV to keep you entertained.
SP
Steve in Pudsey
BT getting in on the act now

DB
dbl
Brilliant!
JA
james-2001
Brekkie posted:
Really surprised you have time to keep making that post considering you now have ZooMoo HD and IQTV to keep you entertained.


Don't forget Horse & Country. I'm suprised he even has time to sleep with the excitement and all the quality content on there.
JK
JKDerry
james-2001 posted:
Brekkie posted:
Really surprised you have time to keep making that post considering you now have ZooMoo HD and IQTV to keep you entertained.


Don't forget Horse & Country. I'm suprised he even has time to sleep with the excitement and all the quality content on there.

Thankfully I have Freesat in the house, so I can access some of the UKTV channels. Just the hassle of not having it on my main TV
KU
Kunst
mediamonkeyuk posted:
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

I honestly hope they don't do that

Yes, someone will criticise me for this, but I think the channels are stronger now, with an individual identity for each channel. It's more "fun", an adding a "UKTV" prefix just would make them blander - that's really not where the problem lies

This is no Sky - UKTV doesn't have a platform, and in addition to all of that, "UKTV" + something else doesn't sound as good as "Sky" + something else
LL
London Lite Founding member
Kunst posted:
mediamonkeyuk posted:
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

I honestly hope they don't do that

Yes, someone will criticise me for this, but I think the channels are stronger now, with an individual identity for each channel. It's more "fun", an adding a "UKTV" prefix just would make them blander - that's really not where the problem lies

This is no Sky - UKTV doesn't have a platform, and in addition to all of that, "UKTV" + something else doesn't sound as good as "Sky" + something else


Indeed it's a content and how they distribute issue, which has led to VM's devaluation of the portfolio.
DE88, Kunst and Woodpecker gave kudos
WO
Woodpecker
Kunst posted:
mediamonkeyuk posted:
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

I honestly hope they don't do that

Yes, someone will criticise me for this, but I think the channels are stronger now, with an individual identity for each channel. It's more "fun", an adding a "UKTV" prefix just would make them blander - that's really not where the problem lies

This is no Sky - UKTV doesn't have a platform, and in addition to all of that, "UKTV" + something else doesn't sound as good as "Sky" + something else


Exactly! I think the problem with the UKTV prefix is that it's 4 syllables, making it sound clunky. Sky is one syllable, and it's snappy, hence why IMO that prefix works.
Stuart, DE88 and Kunst gave kudos
LL
Larry the Loafer
As great as the Dave rebrand turned out to be, I'm still lukewarm over how UKTV took the same approach with the rest of the channels, and that includes watering down the strength of the UKTV brand. Then again, they have the UKTV brand integrated into the DOG, programme menus, the UKTV Play service, and the UKTV Original stings. I wouldn't say the majority of people won't know what UKTV is or what channels they operate.
DB
dbl
Larry the Loafer posted:
I wouldn't say the majority of people won't know what UKTV is or what channels they operate.

Think the opposite, it's strengthened the channels brands, but it's weakened the UKTV brand. UKTV Play is fighting hard because of this.

If you look at the broadcaster on-demand services and brand association...

BBC iPlayer - BBC One, BBC Two, BBC Three, BBC Four, BBC Radio
ITV Hub - ITV, ITV2, ITV3, ITV4, ITVBe
All 4 - Channel 4, E4, More 4, Film 4, 4seven
My 5 - Channel 5, 5 Star, 5 USA, 5 Select, 5 Spike

etc..

You see the pattern? Because the parent name is attached to the channels, it's easier for viewers to associate the parent brand. UKTV Play has an issue because viewers have basically 'forgotten' what UKTV is as a brand and no UKTV animated DOG or network menu is solving this.

Their current branding strategy was great back in 2007, but the landscape has changed and VOD is competition, they need to strengthen their brand, even if it's a soft launch by adding a prefix back onto the EPG
Last edited by dbl on 30 July 2018 10:58pm - 4 times in total
WO
Woodpecker
dbl posted:
Larry the Loafer posted:
I wouldn't say the majority of people won't know what UKTV is or what channels they operate.

Think the opposite, it's strengthened the channels brands, but it's weakened the UKTV brand. UKTV Play is fighting hard because of this.

If you look at the broadcaster on-demand services and brand association...

BBC iPlayer - BBC One, BBC Two, BBC Three, BBC Four, BBC Radio
ITV Hub - ITV, ITV2, ITV3, ITV4, ITVBe
All 4 - Channel 4, E4, More 4, Film 4, 4seven
My 5 - Channel 5, 5 Star, 5 USA, 5 Select, 5 Spike

etc..

You see the pattern? Because the parent name is attached to the channels, it's easier for viewers to associate the parent brand. UKTV Play has an issue because viewers have basically 'forgotten' what UKTV is as a brand and no UKTV animated DOG or network menu is solving this.


I suppose they could always bring the 'UK' prefix back, and as for Play, how about going back to the future... Wink

BR
Brekkie
C5 still haven't updated it's on demand branding on many platforms since they changed their logo some 18 months ago.

I think to anyone who watches UKTV they push the UKTV brand quite a bit. The connection might not be so obvious to anyone who doesn't.

Newer posts