Channel 6 say they need Sky - surprise(!)

mike2084

The inevitable could be happening........

‘Youth channel’ looks to Sky as ratings flag
Ciaran Hancock

CHANNEL 6, the TV station that went on air in March with €14m in backing, is believed to be in talks with NTL to end its exclusive distribution deal with the cable operator.
It is understood that Channel 6, which was founded by Michael Murphy and Pat Donnelly, wants to gain access to the Sky digital platform here in a bid to boost flagging ratings.

Sky has 427,000 subscribers in the republic, about 30% of all homes. The satellite broadcaster, in which News International, owner of The Sunday Times, has a 35.3% stake, is adding about 1,000 new subscribers a week, making it imperative for Channel 6 to appear on the platform.

At present, Channel 6 is only available through NTL’s basic and digital TV packages. NTL, which broadcasts mostly in Dublin, Galway and Waterford, is locked in a bitter subscriber war with Sky and is believed to be paying the fledgling station a substantial sum to remain exclusive to NTL.

Latest AGB Nielsen ratings give Channel 6 a mere 0.5% share of all adults and 0.7% of its target 15-34 age group.

Its founders said the station wanted to achieve a 3% share of the 15-34 age group.

Channel 6 occupies a prime slot on NTL’s programming guide, just after RTE, TV3, TG4 and Setanta.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/newspaper/0,,176-2309853,00.html

1huge1

they already tried to get on sky but i remember sky only offered them a number like 215 (in or around) and they wanted 105

maybe sky might give it to them this time

byte

I doubt very much if they'll get 105. They were refused once, they'll be refused again. Anyway, it's 6 who need Sky more than vice versa!

Gonzo

Channel 6? ive never heard of it, what sort of programming does it show?

Mossy Monk

Gonzo wrote:

what sort of programming does it show?

http://www.channel6.ie/

The Rooster

Gonzo wrote:

Channel 6? ive never heard of it, what sort of programming does it show?

I watched it for 15 minutes one afternoon. A phone-in word game where some woman rung in the premium rate number and won the game. I thought she'd won the bonus pool of something like €17,000. I'm pretty sure she thought she'd won it too - she actually won €85

Then the next game started and the bonus pool actually went down to €7,000. Then I changed channel....

Irishdudedave

HA HA! Their ratings aren't low because they're not on sky!, they're low because the channel is pretty crap!
When it first launched I used to check to see what was on it if I was channel surfing but now I just don't waste my time, I have yet to watch one full programme on channel6 and by the looks of the schedule I wont be watching anytime soon...
Did they not realise when they launched that very old US Tv repeats had all been seen already on RTE, TV3, BBC, ITV, Sky, Channel4, and repeated again(sometimes for the forth or fifth time!!) on channels like ITV2 and E4!...there is only so many times you can watch Buffy before you get bored of seeing series one!

L1011

The ratings aren't being helped by being missing from half of the Chorus cablenets still, as well as all the other companies (not that they add up to all the users). If they got on all the Chorus cablenets, they might be OK.

Tomk1

In case you didn't know channel 6 Ireland is on series 5°E

they do seem to have a lot of old sky one mainstream starteck, buffy also Frasier, american office, and a few films durning the week.

I have not watched it much but the music programmes are ok.

Just as a side note I never ever watch TV3,
and about the only prog on RTE I might watch would be nationwide.

So lets hope CH6 will stay FTA rather than the other evil choice.

Tom.

L1011

"stay" FTA? Its not FTA on Sirius...

Tomk1

Sorry forgot that, your probably right. but I am still getting it.
Tom.

watty

Sirius is used to feed cable head ends with c6. Definately encrypted and illegal to watch.

L1011

1huge1 wrote:

they already tried to get on sky but i remember sky only offered them a number like 215 (in or around) and they wanted 105

maybe sky might give it to them this time

207 is the lowest available by honest measures, 167 if Sky let them in to the lowest available slot (2 numbers per slot). They won't get 105.

Ulsterman 1690

Whats on 105 in the Republic now

DMC

Channel Unavailable

Ulsterman 1690

Why couldnt Channel six go there so ? (assuming $ky are willing to let them)

L1011

101->105 are reserved by a gentlemans agreement for terrestrial channels here (just as they are, by law, in the UK). Also, I suspect Hallmark, Paramount et al would be -EXTREMELY- unhappy with what is effectively a clone of them ending up 40 numbers or so higher

superdudeman007

There's a possibility that the UK's five (Channel 5) are planning a launch in the Republic of Ireland - they're the only UK - wide broadcaster that have no interest in Ireland at the moment. If that happens, five will want channel number 105.

That's also the reason Ireland's 5th channel is called Channel 6, not 5. There'd be a lot of confusion if there were 2 stations called Channel 5!

In fairness, even if you combined the two channels to make one they'd be crap!

L1011

Five wouldn't be given 105 either, though. And C6 claimed the reason for calling themselves 6 and not 5 was that "Setanta is Ireland's fifth channel". Oddly enough, NTL seemed to agree....

But anyway, our 5th channel will be the 5th terrestrial service, which means the first new service on DTT. Cable channels do not count as national TV services.

maisflocke

superdudeman007 wrote:

There's a possibility that the UK's five (Channel 5) are planning a launch in the Republic of Ireland - they're the only UK - wide broadcaster that have no interest in Ireland at the moment. If that happens, five will want channel number 105.

In fairness, even if you combined the two channels to make one they'd be crap!

Just like BBC 1 and 2 are on 101 and 102 in Ireland?
or UTV on 103?
or maybe even Channel 4 on 104?

Channel 5 launching in Ireland is very very very unlikely.

If you combined channel 5 and channel 6 it would simply be double the crap

Mossy Monk

five is obe of the better UK terrestrials. beaten only by the BBC. ITV and C4 are worse

superdudeman007

Mossy Monk wrote:

five is obe of the better UK terrestrials.

ok. Fair enough. Enjoy Portuguese football and 1960s movies while we're watching original TV shows on UTV

byte

Original TV shows on UTV? Do they be aired during the day? As most ITV content I see is not what I'd call original.

Anyway, the chances of Chan6 being on 105 is still rather slim I reckon.

troyblue

watty wrote:

Sirius is used to feed cable head ends with c6. Definately encrypted and illegal to watch.

Is watching a feed illegal?? It's not a pay channel

L1011

Its still encrypted.

watty

Watching a feed is legal if it is in the Clear. If it is encrypted, that is like finding someones handbag, reading their personal letters and spending their money instead of handing it in to Lost + found.

Under EU law you can only watch encrypted TV with correct payment / permission of the supplier. So a Sky card in a Dreambox the EU don't care about, but watching using someone elses card slot or pirate card breaks law in all EU countries.

superdudeman007

But if he hadn't posted it on boards it would be ok...

Mossy Monk

over 2 months since someone posted on this thread and you resurrect it to say that?

watty

If commit a crime and no-one catches me I'm still a criminal.

cauliflower69

this conversation has changed course, They won't get 105.

http://www.channel6.ie/

Thats the cheapest looking website I've ever seen i made one better than that when i was 16 lol

But they do have some good american tv shows but don't do everyone else