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UKTV channels set to leave Virgin Media on Sunday

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

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IN
Interceptor
james-2001 posted:
According to this article, UKTV are losing a million a week in lost ad revenue, and prime time audiences for Dave and Gold fell by a fifth, and Eden by a third!

https://www.theguardian.com/media/2018/aug/05/viewers-turn-to-freeview-after-virgin-media-uktv-dispute

I'm sure it must be in UKTV's interest to get the channels back as much as Virgin. After all, the viewers who haven't moved over to Sky or Freeview may get out of the habit and not come back even if the channels do, especially the longer they stay off. If even Dave, which is on Freeview, can lose a fifth of its viewers because of this, that's a BIG hit to UKTV. Surely it could get to the stage where at least getting some money from Virgin (and the ad revenue that comes with it) will be better than getting none, even if they do take a big cut.

We're still in the immediate aftermath - try calling Virgin Media cancellations department tomorrow and see how long you have to hold for.


People are looking to leave, still. How many do move and how many are retained is yet to be seen, but it'll take a few weeks for people to get alternative arrangements sorted if that's what they choose to do.
JM
JamesM0984
Interceptor posted:
james-2001 posted:
According to this article, UKTV are losing a million a week in lost ad revenue, and prime time audiences for Dave and Gold fell by a fifth, and Eden by a third!

https://www.theguardian.com/media/2018/aug/05/viewers-turn-to-freeview-after-virgin-media-uktv-dispute

I'm sure it must be in UKTV's interest to get the channels back as much as Virgin. After all, the viewers who haven't moved over to Sky or Freeview may get out of the habit and not come back even if the channels do, especially the longer they stay off. If even Dave, which is on Freeview, can lose a fifth of its viewers because of this, that's a BIG hit to UKTV. Surely it could get to the stage where at least getting some money from Virgin (and the ad revenue that comes with it) will be better than getting none, even if they do take a big cut.

We're still in the immediate aftermath - try calling Virgin Media cancellations department tomorrow and see how long you have to hold for.


People are looking to leave, still. How many do move and how many are retained is yet to be seen, but it'll take a few weeks for people to get alternative arrangements sorted if that's what they choose to do.


The best part of an hour on Friday. It's only because I'd pay more if I got rid of the telly I'm staying!
LL
London Lite Founding member
Looking at some social media and MoneySavingExpert, it appears to be a mixed bag when it comes to retention deals. Most are getting either a cut in their bill, free speed increases, free tv package upgrades and in one case, VM have offered to pay the £7.99pm sub to TVPlayer until the end of their contract.
BA
bilky asko
JamesM0984 posted:
Interceptor posted:
james-2001 posted:
According to this article, UKTV are losing a million a week in lost ad revenue, and prime time audiences for Dave and Gold fell by a fifth, and Eden by a third!

https://www.theguardian.com/media/2018/aug/05/viewers-turn-to-freeview-after-virgin-media-uktv-dispute

I'm sure it must be in UKTV's interest to get the channels back as much as Virgin. After all, the viewers who haven't moved over to Sky or Freeview may get out of the habit and not come back even if the channels do, especially the longer they stay off. If even Dave, which is on Freeview, can lose a fifth of its viewers because of this, that's a BIG hit to UKTV. Surely it could get to the stage where at least getting some money from Virgin (and the ad revenue that comes with it) will be better than getting none, even if they do take a big cut.

We're still in the immediate aftermath - try calling Virgin Media cancellations department tomorrow and see how long you have to hold for.


People are looking to leave, still. How many do move and how many are retained is yet to be seen, but it'll take a few weeks for people to get alternative arrangements sorted if that's what they choose to do.


The best part of an hour on Friday. It's only because I'd pay more if I got rid of the telly I'm staying!


Why not just switch the lot?
JA
james-2001
Probably because despite everything else, Virgin have better broadband.
NG
noggin Founding member
james-2001 posted:
Probably because despite everything else, Virgin have better broadband.


They have faster local connection speeds - but AIUI they don't have a massively uprated peering and backbone arrangement to match, so although you get fast connection speeds to your local Virgin site, the speeds you achieve on the wider internet may not be as high as you'd hope as a result.
LL
London Lite Founding member
Virgin speeds in my part of London are hideously slow, especially during peak times. At least with Openreach (using TalkTalk), I have a stable connection at all times.
LL
Larry the Loafer
I don't think Virgin's broadband is any different from the other providers - some have great service, some have terrible service. My parents switched back to Sky when I found out their VM connection was gimped to about 2mbps. They switched to VM in the first place because their Sky broadband was gimped to an even worse 1.2mbps.
JM
JamesM0984
bilky asko posted:
JamesM0984 posted:
Interceptor posted:
We're still in the immediate aftermath - try calling Virgin Media cancellations department tomorrow and see how long you have to hold for.


People are looking to leave, still. How many do move and how many are retained is yet to be seen, but it'll take a few weeks for people to get alternative arrangements sorted if that's what they choose to do.


The best part of an hour on Friday. It's only because I'd pay more if I got rid of the telly I'm staying!


Why not just switch the lot?


Because I'm happy with the Broadband, and I've heard horror stories about Sky's Broadband.
BA
bilky asko
JamesM0984 posted:
bilky asko posted:
JamesM0984 posted:

The best part of an hour on Friday. It's only because I'd pay more if I got rid of the telly I'm staying!


Why not just switch the lot?


Because I'm happy with the Broadband, and I've heard horror stories about Sky's Broadband.


Sky is rated well for its customer service (better than Virgin) and has the fewest complaints per 100,000 customers out of the major suppliers. And that's not mentioning that you needn't go with one provider for everything.

Anecdotally, every provider will have horror stories; I've read plenty on Virgin.
UKnews and London Lite gave kudos
LL
Larry the Loafer
I've also heard plenty of horror stories regarding BT, but I still know plenty of people who use it and claim to have no issues.
BA
bilky asko
Larry the Loafer posted:
I've also heard plenty of horror stories regarding BT, but I still know plenty of people who use it and claim to have no issues.


Indeed, I use BT and have no issues.

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