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VIVA to be removed from Freeview

(October 2014)

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MO
Mouseboy33
Spike when it was conceived in 2003 in the US, it was positioned at the loud and brass lads channel. And thats pretty much what it is. Im certain there will be programming variations. But most of the original programming feature a heavy metal soundtrack. Not my favourite channel. BUt I do like Bar Rescue and Hungry Investors. But basically it started at the MMA fighting and WWE. Now is about tattoos parlour reality shows and that type of stuff.
Ehhh.

1000 Ways To Die
4th and Long
Blue Mountain State
Car Lot Rescue
Criss Angel BeLIEve
Deadliest Warrior: The Game
Diamond Divers
Flip Men
Hire A Vet
Jail
The Joe Schmo Show
MMA Uncensored Live
Permanent Mark
Powerblock
Rat B*stards
Savage Family Diggers
Spare Time
Tattoo Rescue
Undercover Stings
World's Wildest Police Videos

10 Million Dollar Bigfoot Bounty
Big Easy Justice
Bellator: MMA Onslaught
Coal
Deadliest Warrior
Deadliest Warrior: Legends
Fight Master: Bellator MMA
GTTV
Hooters Swimsuit Pageant
Jesse James Is A Dead Man
MANswers
Nissan GT Academy
Playbook 360
#Rampage4Real
Repo Games
Scrappers
Star Wars
Three Sheets
Urban Tarzan
World's Worst Tenants
BR
Brekkie
I can see some of the content being dropped:

* SpongeBob SquarePants
* Kung Fu Panda: Legends of Awesomeness
* Penguins Of Madagascar

* That '70s Show
* My Wife And Kids
* Catfish: The TV Show
* 21:00
* Two Pints of Lager and a Packet of Crisps
* Celebrity Deathmatch
* Awkward
* Are You the One?

Alot of that would probably fit on Spike anyway.

I think with most Freeview channels lower down the pecking order they start with a few decent enough shows which make it worth checking out the channel occassionally but then get completely stuck in a rutt repeating them on a loop.
PF
PFML84
I wonder what programmes can be transferred rights wise (if at all)? Shows like South Park and Scrubs would fit into 5 USA for new (to the channel at least) daytime / night-time programmes, and some American sitcoms and dramas could brighten up 5 USA's morning and afternoon schedules instead of it being mainly just NCIS repeats whilst some other VIVA shows like Catfish would fit on to 5* (which badly needs a name change to something more appropriate, like 5 Extra or something).
DE
declan
Wait, earlier on in this thread it seemed as though people are expecting VIVA to continue outwith freeview, as I understand, the channel is being axed and replaced everywhere with spike and VIVA's content would shift over to 5*?
:-(
A former member
From the First post:
Quote:
Music and entertainment channel VIVA is to be axed from Freeview next Spring, as Viacom makes its first major channel distribution change following its recent acquisition of Channel 5.

Philippe Dauman, Viacom President and CEO announced the launch of the Spike brand here in the UK at a Broadcasting Press Guild event in London, ahead of a potential future international push for the brand. Spike will combine programming from the original US channel with content from Channel 5.
[/quote]
PF
PFML84
It will be taken off Freeview and replaced with Spike TV. VIVA will continue to be available on satellite and cable.
LL
London Lite Founding member
I wonder if Viacom would consider putting VIVA on IPTV via Freeview?
JA
JAS84
I remember there was a show that Bravo (gone since 2011) had and it was from Spike. I can't remember it's name, but probably there's a chance of that show coming back on UK TV screens...
Describe that Bravo show and maybe someone can identify it.
DE
declan
From the First post:
Quote:
Music and entertainment channel VIVA is to be axed from Freeview next Spring, as Viacom makes its first major channel distribution change following its recent acquisition of Channel 5.

Philippe Dauman, Viacom President and CEO announced the launch of the Spike brand here in the UK at a Broadcasting Press Guild event in London, ahead of a potential future international push for the brand. Spike will combine programming from the original US channel with content from Channel 5.
[/quote]

No I understand it said that although with them offering their content to 5* the two channels will run basically identical to each other. For freeview viewers this won't be a problem but for others it will be odd. Seems a bit of a waste of money for viacom, they'd be as well to axe it completely and focus on strengthening 5*?
:-(
A former member
Quote:
From the First post:
Quote:
Music and entertainment channel VIVA is to be axed from Freeview next Spring, as Viacom makes its first major channel distribution change following its recent acquisition of Channel 5.

Philippe Dauman, Viacom President and CEO announced the launch of the Spike brand here in the UK at a Broadcasting Press Guild event in London, ahead of a potential future international push for the brand. Spike will combine programming from the original US channel with content from Channel 5.


No I understand it said that although with them offering their content to 5* the two channels will run basically identical to each other. For freeview viewers this won't be a problem but for others it will be odd. Seems a bit of a waste of money for viacom, they'd be as well to axe it completely and focus on strengthening 5*?


But remember Viva is a music channel at heart so it possible it could just become a 24 hour music channel on Sky.
DE
declan
Quote:
From the First post:
Quote:
Music and entertainment channel VIVA is to be axed from Freeview next Spring, as Viacom makes its first major channel distribution change following its recent acquisition of Channel 5.

Philippe Dauman, Viacom President and CEO announced the launch of the Spike brand here in the UK at a Broadcasting Press Guild event in London, ahead of a potential future international push for the brand. Spike will combine programming from the original US channel with content from Channel 5.


No I understand it said that although with them offering their content to 5* the two channels will run basically identical to each other. For freeview viewers this won't be a problem but for others it will be odd. Seems a bit of a waste of money for viacom, they'd be as well to axe it completely and focus on strengthening 5*?


But remember Viva is a music channel at heart so it possible it could just become a 24 hour music channel on Sky.


It is, maybe that is what they plan to do probably for the best. It started off after TMF as that and then lost its direction and tried to balance being a music, reality and kids channel all in one and inevitably it has led us here. I didn't see VIVA lasting much longer even before the C5 acquisition because of the above problem and so now there is hope for the station - not that I watch/care about it.

Do you think we'll see a 5* rebrand shift to incorporate its new arrivals and somewhat shift in programming. Always struggled with the sister channel names and felt, before this, it would have been best to merge them. 5 Entertainment may be a slight copy of E4 however so maybe something different?
BR
Brekkie
I don't think a fourth name for the channel would help it at all. 5* works well enough - it basically lets them show anything without being restricted by a more specific brand.

It will be interesting how they play the EPG game. Thanks to the strange way Freeview works according to a516 Digital they can't just replace Viva with Spike (although as UKTV have done that I'm not sure why!) but prior to closing Viva they could rearrange their channels and give 21 to a C5 station to keep the slot.

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