UPC - Channel Line Up and Package Changes from 4th January 2010 [Merged]

Stingray

deanh wrote: »

To clear up confusion, the budget was announced on Dec 9th, but none of its changes come into effect until after they are passed by the Oireachtas usually Jan 1st.(except for cigarettes, alcohol and petrol, where any increases are voted on the day and come into effect from midnight) The Vat. reduction was considered an unexpected move but the company has confirmed to you that the changes will be passed on on the next bill, so I don't see much of a problem. Of course, it would have been better for the economy if a more meaningful reduction had been made.

No confusion my end, but it it is rather surprising that the gap between 9th Dec'09 and 31st Dec'09 was not a sufficient time for UPC to update their system to apply correct VAT rates on post 31st Dec'09 services

fulhamfanincork

Got Sky Arts and Sky 3.

Any more channels on there way?

deanh

Have got Sky 3,on cable in Cork. Sky Arts 1 is listed but blocked. Would I be correct in assuming that it is for Digital Max customers? I think I am on the digital select package.

Alun

I have both here in Bray (on Digital Max, or whatever it's called this week). I haven't even bothered looking to see if they work, and having looked at the program line-up I don't think I ever will.

icdg

Added today to Digital Max:

*133 - Sky Three
*141 - Sky Arts 1 (though no sign of Sky Arts 2)

No sign of FX, either...

coldfire1x

deanh wrote: »

Have got Sky 3,on cable in Cork. Sky Arts 1 is listed but blocked. Would I be correct in assuming that it is for Digital Max customers? I think I am on the digital select package.

Same here in Dublin 8. Got Sky 3 but not Sky Arts. I am on Digital Select Extra.

Also I am not getting ESPN classic, so I assume that is only for Digital Max customer.

Can anyone confirm this?

Ranicand

coldfire1x wrote: »

Same here in Dublin 8. Got Sky 3 but not Sky Arts. I am on Digital Select Extra.

Also I am not getting ESPN classic, so I assume that is only for Digital Max customer.

Can anyone confirm this?

ESPN Classic and Sky Arts are max pack only.

All channels and their packs here.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_channels_on_UPC_Ireland

Kristopherus

Badabing wrote: »

Sky 3 is a waste of a station just another shopping channel and old Keith Floyd shows.

Not IMO. There's an awful lot more serious stuff on Sky 3 than in either Sky 1 or 2. Same with Sky Reallives.

Infoanon

deanh wrote: »

To clear up confusion, the budget was announced on Dec 9th, but none of its changes come into effect until after they are passed by the Oireachtas usually Jan 1st.(except for cigarettes, alcohol and petrol, where any increases are voted on the day and come into effect from midnight) The Vat. reduction was considered an unexpected move but the company has confirmed to you that the changes will be passed on on the next bill, so I don't see much of a problem. Of course, it would have been better for the economy if a more meaningful reduction had been made.

Facts: Revenue Legislation requires that the 21% VAT rate is applied to all invoices dated on or after Jan 1st 2010.
Its that simple - as an aside the VAT reduction was expected and all commercial entities know they must adhere with revenue legislation unless you have managed to get written agreement for a deferral - which is next to impossible for most.

ynotdu

The origional press release said nine more channels.
I wonder did that include the ESPN,s as they already were on the network but downgraded to Max.

Who knows what is going on? I saw another poster say Sky Arts and Sky 3 were freezing as they are for me{the only two that are}
others have said that Sky will not provide their HD channels to UPC in Ireland and Virgin in the UK.Others have said they received phone calls from Sky asking what Channels their cable company does not carry they would like to have.

Are UPC testing the 'capacity' of the network?{after all Fibre power is only available to a very few} were Sky arts/Sky 3 added first because a 'deal'was done with sky to provide their sports/movies HD? What if the network cant cope?

so ITV ,2,3,4,Sky 3/arts amounts to five 'new' channels'
the ESPN.s are not new so do they count?
If they do count that means 7 new channels have been added,which still leaves 'room' for fx and a food channel.{what about Watch and Yesterday?}

I wonder have Sky made an offer that UPC cant refuse,and fresh negotiations are going on?

whatever is the end result UPC in most area's are constrained by bandwidth:(

Ranicand

ynotdu wrote: »

The origional press release said nine more channels.
I wonder did that include the ESPN,s as they already were on the network but downgraded to Max.

Who knows what is going on? I saw another poster say Sky Arts and Sky 3 were freezing as they are for me{the only two that are}
others have said that Sky will not provide their HD channels to UPC in Ireland and Virgin in the UK.Others have said they received phone calls from Sky asking what Channels their cable company does not carry they would like to have.

Are UPC testing the 'capacity' of the network?{after all Fibre power is only available to a very few} were Sky arts/Sky 3 added first because a 'deal'was done with sky to provide their sports/movies HD? What if the network cant cope?

so ITV ,2,3,4,Sky 3/arts amounts to five 'new' channels'
the ESPN.s are not new so do they count?
If they do count that means 7 new channels have been added,which still leaves 'room' for fx and a food channel.{what about Watch and Yesterday?}

I wonder have Sky made an offer that UPC cant refuse,and fresh negotiations are going on?

whatever is the end result UPC in most area's are constrained by bandwidth:(

Four more coming we already got 5.

The four remaining channels are Watch Yesterday Good Food and FX.

Bandwidth is not a problem UPC operate on 16 digital transport streams each using the same room as an analog channel.
UPC have 17 analog channels running if these were replaced with regular Digital channels you could fit 170 more channels.

UPC just upgraded their encryption and Virgin in the UK are now in the process of doing the same.
I would guess Sky will offer their HD channels to cable once all this is complete.

Infoanon

ynotdu wrote: »

The origional press release said nine more channels.

whatever is the end result UPC in most area's are constrained by bandwidth:(

Hopefully 9 new channels means 'new' ie ITV2,3,4,Sky3,SkyArts & FX (advertised since 04.01 but still not available) Watch,Good Food and Yesterday.

Their CS staff have said watch,GF & yesterday where to be added....we can only hope.

Bandwidth is not at a max in dublin - and if it was can i suggest dropping Smile & Buzz !!

Roland27

ESPN is free to air this weekend in Ireland, but does anyone know is it free to people with just regular cable TV and not digital?

campo

Roland27 wrote: »

ESPN is free to air this weekend in Ireland, but does anyone know is it free to people with just regular cable TV and not digital?

This is for all Digital customers so people who are on the Value pack and the old select pack will get ESPN free this weekend

deanh

Infoanon wrote: »

Facts: Revenue Legislation requires that the 21% VAT rate is applied to all invoices dated on or after Jan 1st 2010.
Its that simple - as an aside the VAT reduction was expected and all commercial entities know they must adhere with revenue legislation unless you have managed to get written agreement for a deferral - which is next to impossible for most.

Yes it is simple and as the original poster confirmed, the reduction will be passed on with any outstanding credit applied on the next bill. There doesn't seem to be too much else to add to the matter.

Cupart

Just saw that Sky Three and Sky Arts are now available on UPC - At least on Max pack

Cupart

Btw, what happened to FX and the mystery food channel?

Drummerboy2

Sky 3 seems to be on the ordinary Digital package, not Sky Arts though

dunworth1

Cupart wrote: »

Btw, what happened to FX and the mystery food channel?

FX is coming soon

Cupart

dunworth1 wrote: »

FX is coming soon

But quite funny that FX is advertised, not Sky Three and Sky Arts and which ones do we get first?

I wonder what it takes to get a job as a PR/Marketing manger at UPC?

patrickmooney

Why is Arts in the 100's. It should really be up in the 500's. UPC really need to rethink their EPG strategy. It's a total mess.

billy the squid

Locked out of sky arts 1. sky 3 look like garbage.

couple of other things havent seen before. ESPN classic, ESPN America and Eurosport 1 and 2.

10000maniacs

billy the squid wrote: »

Locked out of sky arts 1. sky 3 look like garbage.

couple of other things havent seen before. ESPN classic, ESPN America and Eurosport 1 and 2.

Road Wars, Street Wars, Airline, Lion Man.
Whats not to like?:D

paulm17781

patrickmooney wrote: »

Why is Arts in the 100's. It should really be up in the 500's. UPC really need to rethink their EPG strategy. It's a total mess.

It is. The annoying thing is that there used to be some order to it and now they're beginning to mess it up.

Infoanon

paulm17781 wrote: »

It is. The annoying thing is that there used to be some order to it and now they're beginning to mess it up.

EPG is an utter mess now - no thought been put into it apart from giving Buzz & Smile high numbers...

I wonder will 137 to 140 be used for the new 4 channels due to be added - FX,Watch,GoodFood & Yesterday - of course GF should be in the 500's and Yesterday in the 200's but then again Bravo is in the 500's....

Elmo

I have yet to find skyARTS what number?

and should I have FX and Good Food?

Infoanon wrote: »

I wonder will 137 to 140 be used for the new 4 channels due to be added - FX,Watch,GoodFood & Yesterday - of course GF should be in the 500's and Yesterday in the 200's but then again Bravo is in the 500's....

I hate docs being in with News. Also I kind of want all the ITV Channels together, C4 Channels together etc. Perhaps they could start using the 800 channels more.

Infoanon

Elmo wrote: »

I have yet to find skyARTS what number? 141

and should I have FX and Good Food? Not yet

I hate docs being in with News. Also I kind of want all the ITV Channels together, C4 Channels together etc. Perhaps they could start using the 800 channels more.

Agree - BBC & ITVs should all be together and the +1's should beside their primary channels

The 200's,300's,400's,600's and 700's are not to bad its the entertainment and 500's that are a complete mess

An Tarbh

Granted the sequence could be better but if they move channels around don't you lose what you've recorded on those channels?

Infoanon

An Tarbh wrote: »

Granted the sequence could be better but if they move channels around don't you lose what you've recorded on those channels?

Open to correction but I don't believe so - the recording links to the channel not the EPG number. There is an issue if the name changes eg Sky Sport Xtra recordings are (temporaily) lost when the channel was renamed to Sky Sports 4 etc but this can be overcome.

paulm17781

Infoanon wrote: »

Open to correction but I don't believe so - the recording links to the channel not the EPG number. There is an issue if the name changes eg Sky Sport Xtra recordings are (temporaily) lost when the channel was renamed to Sky Sports 4 etc but this can be overcome.

How can it be overcome? I deleted anything I had recorded from a channel changed name as I couldn't watch them.