Just to give you a preview of UPCs future look!

Solair

Just to give you a look at how UPC Digital is sold in NL

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BGpV_Wa2Bhk

It's quite likely that UPC Ireland's branding will follow a similar theme as it's pretty similar in all of their other markets.

Perhaps without all the dutch flag waving ... The music is a BIT annoying!

patrickmooney

Don't like the blocky-ness of the semi teased epg at the end.

dulpit

what an odd ad... I didn't hear the music though (at work) but still, very annoying...

Solair

The music is even more annoying

I assume that they will use a local ad agency to 'sex it up' a bit in a way that is appropriate for the Irish market and advertising norms here.

However, we really haven't had any very good cable tv company ads to date. Neither NTL nor Chorus or any of their predecessors have produced any ads that stand out in my memory.

dulpit

Solair wrote:

The music is even more annoying

I assume that they will use a local ad agency to 'sex it up' a bit in a way that is appropriate for the Irish market and advertising norms here.

However, we really haven't had any very good cable tv company ads to date. Neither NTL nor Chorus or any of their predecessors have produced any ads that stand out in my memory.

what about those chronic radio ads that were like mastermind?

or the ones with the culchie who rang up asking about price but then turned out he lives in his car...
<sarcasm> hilarious </sarcasm>

Squirt Gun

That was a very strange Ad. Are you familiar with there services outside Ireland? Is it worth stayin with them in comparison to Skys service

Solair

Well, from what I've ever seen of them they do provide very good broadband and telephony services.
UPC in NL is a "quadruple play" provider they have mobile too via a virtual mobile operator.

TV wise:
Standard analogue cable tv/radio : €16.05 / month (unencrypted for the whole house)
You get a similar line up to NTL in terms of channel numbers on the basic digital. €2.16 per month extra.
Basic cable + the top digital pack (other than premium channels) € 20,21 per month

For the following:
HDTV for €5.95/month extra via the UPC Mediabox
PVR (Sky+ like functionality) for €9.99 extra per month.
Interactive TV (included)
Charge is in addition to basic analogue cable tv/radio but includes the top digital package too.

ON Demand : 2.99 per film (to 4.99 for some films)


Broadband internet:

Chello Easy: 1.5mbps down / 256kbps up.
€14.95
Chello light: 3mbits down / 1mbit up
€32.95
Chello power: 6mbit/s down 1.5mbits up
€39.95
Chello Extreme: 20mbit/s down 2mbit/s up
€59.95

All of those include telephone for free.

Their mobile services are pretty compeditive

Then you can get a "Total Pack" (bundled)

e.g. 44.95 gets you unlimited calls + 6mbit/s internet

Rosser

if you're wondering about the UPC media box this may be kind of interesting...

http://www.upc.nl/pdf/Snel_van_Start_ENG_Thomson.pdf

watty

Someone suggested before that UPC Ireland is looking at Thomson for all the set boxes.

steveon

UPC have done amazing things around the world by swallowing up cabling networks as far as taiwan where they provide 100mb broadband access via fibre optics but I reckon the small population of Ireland will diminish alot of the services they provide elsewhere or at a much higher price but its great that there are going to make the NTL and chorus network the same..

I can confirm that there next generation set top box will be manufactured by thomson.

Also UPC provide's a satellite service known as UPC Direct on Astra 1G/1H/1KR at 19.2°E. Im not too sure about its pickup in Ireland as I have only ever seen one dish on my travels and that was in Charleville in Co.Cork. but cannot see why its not possible

I.J.

All that matters is that they provide a better service, replace every previous NTL customers digital box, improve the list of channels, replace a channel with soemthing else if they have had to remove one and don't remove a channel at all unless their arm has been broken off from all the twisting.

watty

steveon wrote:

I can confirm that there next generation set top box will be manufactured by thomson.

Also UPC provide's a satellite service known as UPC Direct on Astra 1G/1H/1KR at 19.2°E. Im not too sure about its pickup in Ireland as I have only ever seen one dish on my travels and that was in Charleville in Co.Cork. but cannot see why its not possible

Unless you are UPC management I can't see how you can confirm it. If you are, you'll be in trouble for publicly confirming what is generally known, but unoffical.

UPC Direct is a satellite service for Central and Eastern Europe. You will not officially get a a subscription here and much of it is not English.


Please stop reporting other peoples opinions and your guesses as fact.

Don't forget there are people posting and reading here that know a lot more than can be made public. You have no idea who some posters and some lurkers that never post really are.

Solair

There's no guarentee they'll be Thomson boxes. UPC also have boxes from Philips and other manufacturers. Don't forget, UPC has a long standing relationship with Philips. Their name originally stood for United Philips Cable until Philips sold out to Liberty Global.

Philips signed a deal with UPC in 2005 to be the technology partner for their HDTV roll out and UPC NL customers who subscribed to HDTV get a Philips HDTV DCR7000 Euro-DOCSIS set-top box.

steveon

I previously worked for a subcontractor for chorus in Limerick and surrounding areas and have tested the new Thompson box for their network before leaving. It was subject to be released as far back as January but was delayed, due to the implication of UPC purchasing NTL and both networks being un-compatible at the time with one another.

Regardless of which decoder they decide to use, I for one wish them every success and look forward to seeing what they have in Plan for the Irish Marketplace.

who is this

Solair wrote:

There's no guarentee they'll be Thomson boxes. UPC also have boxes from Philips and other manufacturers. Don't forget, UPC has a long standing relationship with Philips. Their name originally stood for United Philips Cable until Philips sold out to Liberty Global.

Philips signed a deal with UPC in 2005 to be the technology partner for their HDTV roll out and UPC NL customers who subscribed to HDTV get a Philips HDTV DCR7000 Euro-DOCSIS set-top box.

What's your source for "United Philips Cable"? Wikipedia (not always reliable, I know) says it stood for "United Pan-Europe Communications". I know its not always reliable, but all the Wikipedias (of other languages) say the same. Including the important Dutch article:

http://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/UPC_Nederland_B.V.

Also, anyone thinking that upc.nl's look is an indication of the future of upc.ie, think again. It's most likely the only change to upc.ie will be the logo (and mentions of NTL). Take a look at upc.at or upc.be and you'll find something very close to the current UPC Ireland websites.

Rosser

steveon wrote:

I can confirm that there next generation set top box will be manufactured by thomson.

Scientific Atlanta according to the Head of UPC Ireland in the Sunday Business Post....

blobert

When are all of these changes going to start happening?

watty

Rosser wrote:

Scientific Atlanta according to the Head of UPC Ireland in the Sunday Business Post....

Erm two different functions. One is basic TV only, the other PVR and maybe IPTV

rogue-entity

My guess is that they will continue operating a dual-branding system until they complete the integration of the Chorus network into NTL's network.
However, back when NTL took over Cablelink, they were already using the NTL logo on that multi-channel-screen channel, so they may very well start using the UPC logo or UPC colours on the current crop of NTL STBs.

I look forward to see what PVR they will roll out for us here, and how much they plan on charging for it, and if they will have a new non-PVR box (or will they just continue to use the current crop of Pace units).

I would also love if the EU, would copy the US FCC, and pass an "interoperabiliy" directive that would force cable operators to allow customers to use third-party set top boxes on the cable network, but like most things that are good for comsumers, it rarely happens.

Calibos

I'd hope that if they were replacing every single STB in the country that they'd move broadcast compression from Mpeg 2 to Mpeg 4. Would be the perfect time to do it.

icdg

It was originally I believe United and Phillips Communications alright. Here's an article from the New York Times no less...

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=990CEEDA1438F934A25754C0A963958260&n=Top%2fNews%2fBusiness%2fCompanies%2fKoninklijke%20%28Royal%29%20Philips%20Electronics%20N%2eV%2e

However it became United Pan-European Communications when Phillips withdrew and is now UPC Broadband.

As for ditching the names, unfortunately while UPC Ireland owns the Chorus name, the NTL name is still owned by Virgin Media and UPC have a time-limited licence for its use. This puts a deadline on when they have to rebrand which I believe is this month, but they may have agreed an extension.

weehamster

Going by this web address, www.upc.ie, I think there is no doubt what the future name is called.

watty

This might be related to the proposed new UPC/NTL/Chorus Cable receiver / PVR competition to Sky+

http://gizmodo.com/gadgets/fat_pipe-dream/cisco-super+dvr-on-the-way-260145.php

patrickmooney

I've heard from NTL yesterday it won't be until Aug before this PVR is released. Major glitch meaning all boxes need to be chipped to work here. No-one I've spoken to is aware of these boxes being "given" away, as per the SBpost article!

steveon

I've also heard they have to go back to holland to be wiped before they will be re-distributed to a different customer due to cancellations etc.

Solair

I doubt they'll be given away, but unlike sky you won't have to purchase them. They'll remain UPC property.

Sky, like the mobile phone companies, just part subsidise a box. They don't rent them out.

patrickmooney

I was quoted a figure of €200 for the box, to be launched late Aug/Sept now. It's going to be premium service, not neccessarily aimed at everyone?!?!

nicelives

ah sure I decided last week I wasn't going to wait any longer, they promised me ntl broadband availability by Jan 2006 and I'm still waiting, hope the PVR does come around soon and that it's very good but in the meantime I had Sky+ installed today and given upc their month's notice.
Very impressed with Sky+ but would have stayed with UPC had they lived up to their radio promise of April for their PVR offering.

Rosser

nicelives wrote:

ah sure I decided last week I wasn't going to wait any longer, they promised me ntl broadband availability by Jan 2006 and I'm still waiting, hope the PVR does come around soon and that it's very good but in the meantime I had Sky+ installed today and given upc their month's notice.
Very impressed with Sky+ but would have stayed with UPC had they lived up to their radio promise of April for their PVR offering.

I did the same but kinda regret it 'cause my broadband with eircom stinks in comparison to my old NTL service.

nicelives

Rosser wrote:

I did the same but kinda regret it 'cause my broadband with eircom stinks in comparison to my old NTL service.

Didn't have the opportunity to get broadband from ntl so it wasn't a factor :-), probably would have stayed if the triple play had been available

MisterAnarchy

Are UPC going to replace all the existing set top boxes and upgrade them ?
That would surely be a costly and difficult job seeing as some boxes are cable and others are mmds .

watty

no.
Not at once anyway.

They have two different MMDS systems and many different Digital boxes. The same box ought to work on NTL MMDS and cable. But Chorus Digital MMDS is different.

The Chorus analogue boxes (MMDS and cable) are on the way out. Esp. the MMDS as it is going Digital only as soon as everyone has a Digital box on MMDS.

ciaran76

Got a letter yesterday from NTL/UPC saying they are changing the name of their e-mail address for all users from "ntlworld.com" to "UPC.IE"

icdg

Hmm...upc.ie, not chello.ie? That's interesting, it seems to indicate UPC may not introduce the Chello brand here, which it uses for its internet services in other countries.

http://www.ntl.ie/pdf/Migration_FAQs.pdf indicates that it will actually be upcmail.ie and will go live on 4th June. Wonder if that will be the rebrand date...

Jumpy

ciaran76 wrote:

Got a letter yesterday from NTL/UPC saying they are changing the name of their e-mail address for all users from "ntlworld.com" to "UPC.IE"

I think its upcmail.ie not upc.ie.

Solair

UPC Ireland will more than likely launch with the new UPC logo too!



I'm suspecting that rather than splitting the brand in Ireland into UPC and Chello they'll just call it UPC Broadband.

patrickmooney

Solair wrote:

UPC Ireland will more than likely launch with the new UPC logo too!

I like the font, but not the logo. Better then the existing UPC one I guess! http://www.lgi.com/ireland.html

Solair

http://www.upc.nl/

animated logo

icdg

But what is it? If anyone can read Dutch, the press release is here...

http://www.upc.nl/popup.php?ContentName=press_20070516

"Simply for Everyone" is the new tagline - better I suppose than "Together is better..."

Alun

icdg wrote:

But what is it? If anyone can read Dutch, the press release is here...

I do, and believe me, you don't want to know I quote "At UPC we call it the 'flower' ..." followed by a jumble of marketing speak.

MisterAnarchy

Will UPC offer more competitively priced packages or will the status quo be maintained for the time being ?

paulm17781

http://www.upc.ie now goes to a page that ask if you're an NTL or Chorus customer, another sign of things moving me thinks.

icdg

Yep. And while what it describes is generally true, its not necessarily:

* If you're in Swords, Malahide, or part of Dundrum, you're Chorus, not NTL.
* If you're in Mayo and on MMDS, you're on NTL, not Chorus.

Kotek Besar

Any word on any more channels being introduced when the rebranding is complete? Free ones, I mean. There are certain FTA channels available on satellite that I would like to get on my NTL feed. Namely, Al-Jazeera English and the Islam Channel. Any chance of UPC supplying these FTA channels like Sky does?

watty

Sky doesn't supply all of the FTA channels, very few if any of them.

Cable is very limited space compared with Satellite, so UPC will only supply channels that that can boost sales with.

Also Free To Air may not mean Free To Carry. There are many channels that may be unencrypted but that require payment. UPC has to pay for all the UK channels even though you can get most free with a Satellite dish.

In fact on Satellite you can even get channels free (legally), that Sky does charge for! Cable of course has no free channels, as you must pay a subscription to get any channels. Satellite in Ireland has about 3000 really free TV and 2000 really free Radio. About 50 Decent free TV channels.

Kotek Besar

Very informative - thanks for the info.