The Virgin Media Television thread

deezell

Sadly as long as the broadcast licence allows sub SD to satisfy FTA then they'll leverage HD for premium pay per view. Read this, https://www.independent.ie/business/media/tv3-aims-to-score-with-new-ad-model-on-sports-channel-37067273.html
Their model is becoming a new hybrid of stream/broadcast, with huge revenue from targetted ads. A huge investment by TV3 previous owners Liberty for premium sports rights has paid off, they are in profit and Virgin will build on that. RTE will have to change seriously to compete and survive even. Their on demand box is the first shaky step, but unless they can claw back the big sports fixtures or the FTA terms change to mandatory HD they are on a hiding to nothing. Its like two competing airlines, with one being forced to sell first class for economy prices.

iseegirls

icdg wrote: »

The problem is that having ended ITV as a presence in the Irish market (bar FTA satellite), TV3 have been under some pressure to serve long time ITV viewers with their programmes. Be3 provides a second option for TV3 to show ITV programmes where the main channel is showing Irish made programmes or sport, while 3e shows a good deal of ITV2’s first run shows.

Be3s schedule currently consists of kids shows that have been shown numerous times this year, Xpose which has been shown three times before it airs on be3, a repeat of Ireland AM, a new episode of Loose Women, then repeats of a 4th run of series 6 of Dinner Date, re-repeats of Corrie and Emmerdale, repeats of DIY SOS, repeats of The Royal, repeats of The Chase. So only one new programme between 6am until the News at 7. And to think of all the programmes they have access to.

Elmo

Regards of if we like them or not both 3e and be3 bring in an audience to TV3 something that a HD version of TV3 won't do. you'd be quicker to get +1 channels than TV3 HD.


I would have thought the complacency of TV3 with both 3e and be3 might cause the audience to fall of but so far both have remained surprisingly fairly steady.

However I'd worry if VM TWO & THREE were to only rebrand without any real change of direction.

Maz2016

Elmo wrote: »

Regards of if we like them or not both 3e and be3 bring in an audience to TV3 something that a HD version of TV3 won't do. you'd be quicker to get +1 channels than TV3 HD.


I would have thought the complacency of TV3 with both 3e and be3 might cause the audience to fall of but so far both have remained surprisingly fairly steady.

However I'd worry if VM TWO & THREE were to only rebrand without any real change of direction.

Oh I’d nearly put money on it purely bring a rebrand. I can’t see them making any substantial change. Just my opinion, but I’ve learnt not to expect much from the VM group

TheRiverman

I only watch Champions League and Rugby on TV3.The other two channels are crap,never watch them.

Tigerandahalf

TheRiverman wrote: »

I only watch Champions League and Rugby on TV3.The other two channels are crap,never watch them.

Same here. Nothing on those other channels but low base stuff. Going forward on demand will be key and the ability to watch a programme from the start has a lot of growth potential. Does Virgin currently offer this? Too often it is only available on certain channels or programmes.

The watch from the start facility is very handy on the bbc.

Rte just seem to be falling behind with their offering. The new Connect box won't initially offer live streaming of channels which is a foolish move as many would happily stream off it if the service was good. Using the Connect box in other rooms without the need for an aerial seems like a lost opportunity.

As long as Virgin don't have sole rights to HD content I don't mind.

icdg

Saw a bus ad promoting the rebrand this morning, so expect promotion to ramp up in the coming days.

I wonder if we might have an announcement relating to the sports channel to conincide with TV3’s first game under the new UEFA club football contract, the Super Cup (Real Madrid v Athletico de Madrid) which is on Wednesday night.

Ten Pin

They're already showing the new logos (along with current) just before end of ad breaks, still using current logos during programs.

icdg

I hadn’t seen this before and it may not be officially “live” (so subject to change) but this page contains pricing and FAQs for VM Sport. Not much we didn’t know other than the launch date - 18th September. (Presumably the Champions League play off round gets coverage on the three existing channels then).

https://www.virginmedia.ie/virgin-media-sports/

iseegirls

They didn't answer this question at all in their Q&A:
"Which of the UEFA Euro 2020 & UEFA Nations League matches will be Free-to-Air?"

They only discussed the CL and EL coverage instead.

Elmo

I have to agree with the poster who said that it was suicide not to put Virgin Media Sport on Sky. I could understand not putting on eir. Even if it was an add on for 20 euro on Sky.

Also am I wrong in suggesting that Virgin Media Sport with carry RTÉ's first choice game as well as the clashing game, where are they going to show the clashing game, or am I wrong to think there are 2 games airing at 8, and they mean they will air both the 6pm and 8pm games.

It starts the 18th of September.

Tigerandahalf

Elmo wrote: »

Also am I wrong in suggesting that Virgin Media Sport with carry RTÉ's first choice game as well as the clashing game, where are they going to show the clashing game, or am I wrong to think there are 2 games airing at 8, and they mean they will air both the 6pm and 8pm games.

It starts the 18th of September.

I read it that Virgin fta will broadcast the 6pm game on Tuesdays. Rte will then broadcast the 8pm game while Virgin Sport (the premium channel) will also broadcast it.
That dilutes rte's viewership.

I presume on Wednesdays it will be the same except no rte coverage (or perhaps no live fta coverage)

Interesting quote here from the QandAs:
......
RTE will also show a live game on Tuesday night (First Pick – 8pm) which will also be broadcast on Virgin Media Sport with our own analysis and commentary. The Tuesday game, the finals and a highlights show on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday each week will all be Free-to-Air.
.....

Nice to at least have highlights plus the europa highlights on Thurs night would be more attractive than watching a full game.

mikeym

Nobody is going to fork out €20 a month for a poxy app when they can pay a few euro extra more to get Eir Sport.

If anyone that doesnt have cable tv that wants to pay for Champions League and Europa League football will be paying for the Eir Sports Pack.

So basically Virgin are doing Eir a favour.

Tigerandahalf

mikeym wrote: »

Nobody is going to fork out €20 a month for a poxy app when they can pay a few euro extra more to get Eir Sport.

If anyone that doesnt have cable tv that wants to pay for Champions League and Europa League football will be paying for the Eir Sports Pack.

So basically Virgin are doing Eir a favour.

Eir's contract for carriage of the BT channels is up in Aug '19. If Virgin secure that well then it becomes a different ball game.
If Eir hang onto it, it is great for most people, even those with poor broadband as the eir channels can be viewed on a sky box.

I do wonder if vodafone, sky ireland or others will compete for that package though.

icdg

Tigerandahalf wrote: »

I read it that Virgin fta will broadcast the 6pm game on Tuesdays. Rte will then broadcast the 8pm game while Virgin Sport (the premium channel) will also broadcast it.
That dilutes rte's viewership.

I presume on Wednesdays it will be the same except no rte coverage (or perhaps no live fta coverage)

Interesting quote here from the QandAs:
......
RTE will also show a live game on Tuesday night (First Pick – 8pm) which will also be broadcast on Virgin Media Sport with our own analysis and commentary. The Tuesday game, the finals and a highlights show on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday each week will all be Free-to-Air.
.....

Nice to at least have highlights plus the europa highlights on Thurs night would be more attractive than watching a full game.

For the Champions League, there are 32 teams in the group stage - 16 games per match day. Eight take place on a Tuesday and eight on a Wednesday. Of the eight each date, two will kick off at 5:55pm and the remaining six at 8:00pm.

Virgin Media One (TV3) will show one game kicking off at 5:55pm on a Tuesday.
RTE will show one game on a Tuesday. The Virgin article says that it will be one of the games kicking off at 8:00pm but I was given to understand it can be any of the Tuesday fixtures.
All other Tuesday games and all Wednesday games will be shown on Virgin Media Sport.
I am not sure how it works for the knockout stages where games kick off at 8:00pm but my understanding is that RTE will still have first choice of Tuesday fixtures.
The final will be on Virgin Media One.
All games in the competition from group stage onwards will also be on BT Sport.
Finally there is usually a practice that all games taking place in the Moscow Time Zone kick off in the early slot (because 8:00pm is 11:00pm local).. Not sure how that is factored in.

icdg

For the play off round, the advanced schedules are showing both RTE2 and TV3 showing a game on Tuesday and TV3 showing a game on Wednesday. BT have games scheduled for 2,3, and ESPN on both nights.

A trailer for VM Sport has run several times during the Super Cup tonight, but nothing new - only mentions Champions League, Europa League, and Nations League.

Elmo

Anyone seen a schedule for the first week of Sept on the Virgin Media Channels, and changes to TWO and THREE?

brick man

Elmo wrote:

Anyone seen a schedule for the first week of Sept on the Virgin Media Channels, and changes to TWO and THREE?

Be3 has no news at 7pm or 10pm the Chase looks to be on vm2 and news at 10 is also there .a Really just moving the crap around

iseegirls

icdg wrote: »

For the play off round, the advanced schedules are showing both RTE2 and TV3 showing a game on Tuesday and TV3 showing a game on Wednesday. BT have games scheduled for 2,3, and ESPN on both nights.

The 6 fixtures next week are absolutely awful. No English or Scottish side in the playoff matches. I can see TV3 moving their 2 matches to 3e if they even go for it at all. Hard to even know what RTE2 will show.

Tue: BATE v PSV
Benfica v PAOK
FK Crvena v Salzburg

Wed: Ajax v Dyn Kyiv
MOL Vidi v AEK Athens
Young Boys v Dynamo Zagreb

political analyst

brick man wrote: »

Be3 has no news at 7pm or 10pm the Chase looks to be on vm2 and news at 10 is also there .a Really just moving the crap around

Is the planned 8 o'clock news still going ahead?

icdg

iseegirls wrote: »

The 6 fixtures next week are absolutely awful. No English or Scottish side in the playoff matches. I can see TV3 moving their 2 matches to 3e if they even go for it at all. Hard to even know what RTE2 will show.

Not that hard at all, the EPG says it’s Benfica. I suppose it’s a consequence of moving the big nations out of the playoff round that there’s no obvious attractive ties. Had Celtic got through I guess they would have been picked. There may be a push from some broadcasters possibly over the next three years to take this round out of the central contracting but for the moment it’s still theee and there’s an obligation to cover.

iseegirls

political analyst wrote: »

Is the planned 8 o'clock news still going ahead?

8pm news will be on VM1.

Delta2113

political analyst wrote: »

Is the planned 8 o'clock news still going ahead?

- Yes.

Elmo

Surprised the 10pm is moving to TWO, it’s audience relied on Coro st repeats on THREE.

Ireland trains

Where can you view the schedule

brick man

Ireland trains wrote:

Where can you view the schedule

Sign up to digiguide I think it costs a very small amount and u can see 2 orv3 weeks ahead

Maz2016

Digiguide is free for the first week as a trial. From looking ahead to the 30th/31st - doesn’t seem great so far. Will see closer to the time but for now , my guess is this rebrand will cost thousands upon thousands. Can’t see it being a success. They could have just changed the DOG logo to 3 with virgin media wrote under it or something. Better idea would have been to invest in more programmes.

Tv3 was meant to be the “grown up” channel, be3 for women/kids and 3e for entertainment. That philosophy certainly doesn’t live up to expectations

iseegirls

icdg wrote: »

Not that hard at all, the EPG says it’s Benfica. I suppose it’s a consequence of moving the big nations out of the playoff round that there’s no obvious attractive ties. Had Celtic got through I guess they would have been picked. There may be a push from some broadcasters possibly over the next three years to take this round out of the central contracting but for the moment it’s still theee and there’s an obligation to cover.

TV3s two matches have now moved to be3 on Tuesday and Wednesday night. With the highlights also on at 10.30 on be3. PSV on Tuesday and Ajax on Wednesday. 3e showing Celebrity Big Brother, so that's why they're placing it on be3.

icdg

Odd move given the demographics Be3 is at least nominally aimed at, but maybe an indication that will probably be thrown out the window with the forthcoming rebrand anyway. Is this the first Sport Be3 have shown under their current name?

Without the presence of any big teams - or at least teams with any sort of Irish support base -they are showing these matches only to comply with a contractual obligation and they’ll have their Sport channel for them next year.

icdg

So the terms of TV3’s Heineken Cup deal become clear - they will be showing the same games as Channel 4, with only two of five pool stage games (final weeks fixtures are tba until closer time) involving Irish sides, Munster v Gloucester and Leinster v Tolouse. Maybe it was a take it or leave it affair, but they are now committed to showing three fixtures with no Irish involvement on one of their FTA stations.