The ITV Thread

icdg

Carnacalla wrote: »

. At the moment its like a cheaper version of tv3, which I have always considered cheap. At least tv3 had the balls to make their own soap!

Took them sixteen years to do it. Not that UTV have much of a record in that area either - I don't think they've made a single scripted series since the Irish RM in the early 1980s.

formerly scottish paddy

icdg wrote: »

Took them sixteen years to do it. Not that UTV have much of a record in that area either - I don't think they've made a single scripted series since the Irish RM in the early 1980s.

Which was a co-production with RTÉ!

formerly scottish paddy

Basically UTV in Northern Ireland don't make any programmes other than news, that's why they are able to mothball one of their two studios in Belfast, (the other being used for UTV Live).

channelsurfer2

I wonder will they have a strategic rethink in a couple of months and learn the lessons from the first week?

icdg

formerly scottish paddy wrote: »

Basically UTV in Northern Ireland don't make any programmes other than news, that's why they are able to mothball one of their two studios in Belfast, (the other being used for UTV Live).

Presumably the other studio is the one formerly used for "Kelly"?

Elmo

formerly scottish paddy wrote: »

Which was a co-production with RTÉ!

For Channel 4 ???

iseegirls

channelsurfer2 wrote: »

I wonder will they have a strategic rethink in a couple of months and learn the lessons from the first week?

Just scrolling through their Facebook page there - it's absolutely battered with so much negative comments. They will definitely need to rethink this.

in their FAQ's on their official site, the following question is answered:

Why is UTV Ireland showing some old series when UTV is showing new series of the same programme?

Some series such as Foyle’s War or Benidorm have not been licenced before in the Republic of Ireland so to ensure the audience is up to date with plots and storylines in the new series we will be showing those episodes first. We will be showing the new series in the very near future once the series have caught up.

But they are showing the brand new series of Benidorm, so this does not make sense at all.

channelsurfer2

iseegirls wrote: »

Just scrolling through their Facebook page there - it's absolutely battered with so much negative comments. They will definitely need to rethink this.

in their FAQ's on their official site, the following question is answered:


But they are showing the brand new series of Benidorm, so this does not make sense at all.

The excuse they use for Benidorm etc. is weak. they lost a viewer with me for not showing it at the same time. I just watched it on UTVHD and havent bothered watching anything on UTVIRL since...

formerly scottish paddy

icdg wrote: »

Presumably the other studio is the one formerly used for "Kelly"?

Yes.

formerly scottish paddy

Elmo wrote: »

For Channel 4 ???

Yes Channel 4 was involved, in fact IMDB give Channel 4 and RTÉ the main credits.

Elmo

formerly scottish paddy wrote: »

Yes Channel 4 was involved, in fact IMDB give Channel 4 and RTÉ the main credits.

AFAIK Channel 4 was partly set up to help the UK's independent production sector. In the early years Channel 4 relied on many of the smaller ITV regions to comission programmes. RTÉ also did a number including Irish RM with UTV and Echoes for Channel 4.

Elmo

First full week on air top twenty for Adult audiences

Coro St 250,000 to 350,000
Emmerdale 199,000 to 250,000
Number 20 to 12 60,000 to 160,000

MarkK

Elmo wrote: »

Number 20 to 12 60,000 to 160,000

Is that a programme?

Elmo

MarkK wrote: »

Is that a programme?

Yeah 12 to 20

No Numbers 12 to 20


12 Rare Breed: A Farming Year 156
13 James Nesbitt's Ireland 109
14 The Kyle Files 78
15 Undeniable 73
16 Surprise Surprise 72
17 The Cruise Ship 70
18 Doc Martin 63
19 Midsomer Murders 61
20 Birds Of A Feather 59

brick man

Elmo wrote: »

Yeah 12 to 20

No Numbers 12 to 20


12 Rare Breed: A Farming Year 156
13 James Nesbitt's Ireland 109
14 The Kyle Files 78
15 Undeniable 73
16 Surprise Surprise 72
17 The Cruise Ship 70
18 Doc Martin 63
19 Midsomer Murders 61
20 Birds Of A Feather 59

I am curious to know where did you get this info from as I cant seem to find it anywhere ,great to see it ? What was RTE2 like that same week do you know

Elmo

brick man wrote: »

I am curious to know where did you get this info from as I cant seem to find it anywhere ,great to see it ? What was RTE2 like that same week do you know

medialive.ie

Also it only reports for adults +15 and does show figures for news programmes.

AwaitYourReply

brick man wrote: »

I am curious to know where did you get this info from as I cant seem to find it anywhere ,great to see it ? What was RTE2 like that same week do you know

Very interesting to see the audience rating figures which partly explain the weakest areas that UTV Ireland need to confront. I wonder how much influence from Republic of Ireland media sources had UTV Ireland relied upon when they went out to bid/buy some of these shows.

What are they thinking with "Rare Breed: A Farming Year", "James Nesbitt's Ireland" and also plan on showing "Lesser Spotted Ulster Journeys"? I cannot see how these shows would ever be must see on any Irish channel let alone UTV Ireland.

The theme music for their most important Irish home produced programme "Ireland Live" at 6:30pm and "Ireland Live at 10" sounds all wrong - even if they deliberately avoided the theme to be authentically Irish sounding in nature, it could at least be catchy rather than a carbon copy of UTV Live!

The text graphics that displays "Ireland Live" in the box enclosure on the bottom left-hand corner of the screen during each of the Ireland Live news programmes seems almost illegible at times - I cannot understand why they have not yet improved it's appearance as it is pointless if it is presented so poorly on screen in comparison to other text graphics used. If only they did something like UTV Ireland Live all in same box enclosure - and then it would allow them to remove the need to display the usual UTV Ireland on-screen DOG also used in top left-hand corner

UTV

IRELAND

LIVE

The other thing I would highly recommend is that UTV Ireland find a way to run a minimum 15-20minutes of News, Sport & Weather single bulletin on each of the weekend days: Sat/Sun/Public Holidays in the early evening as it can often undermine a channel if they are not prepared to supply any news+current affairs outside weekdays Mon-Fri. What works for them in Northern Ireland with UTV(NI) may not necessarily give them the same viewer loyalty from an audience down here in the Ireland of 2015 as they are not the only channel in town!

JamesyBelfast

AwaitYourReply wrote: »

I wonder how much influence from Republic of Ireland media sources had UTV Ireland relied upon when they went out to bid/buy some of these shows.

What are they thinking with "Rare Breed: A Farming Year", "James Nesbitt's Ireland" and also plan on showing "Lesser Spotted Ulster Journeys"? I cannot see how these shows would ever be must see on any Irish channel let alone UTV Ireland.

This is the kind of "local" crap that UTV have been producing for UTV-NI for years and years now - so it's not about outside influence from my point of view. Someone in the company seems to like this sort of stuff!!

I glance at TV3 now and again (enjoy Vincent Browne and their 5:30 news show is watchable). There's a lot of hate for TV3 on here I notice - but I would have that lot ANY DAY running things for either UTV-NI or UTV-Ireland. Miles ahead of UTV are TV3!!!

channelsurfer2

are those numbers good or bad compared to what TV3 normally gets?

Elmo

JamesyBelfast wrote: »

I glance at TV3 now and again (enjoy Vincent Browne and their 5:30 news show is watchable). There's a lot of hate for TV3 on here I notice - but I would have that lot ANY DAY running things for either UTV-NI or UTV-Ireland. Miles ahead of UTV are TV3!!!

It took TV3 a very long time to start producing much of anything hence the hate followed by the over the top mega loan that was written down by the public. I think it's mellowing now that UTV have forced their hand. But leaving it until this year was a huge mistake for TV3.

The figures for coro st and Emmers are much the same as TV3 but the other figures are a good bit below what TV3 get for programming outside the 2 main soaps.

Basically UTV Ireland has split UTVs and TV3s old audience down the middle.

iseegirls

I think RTE2 are in serious trouble - when looking at their ratings and the quality (or non-quality) of their shows.

These are the only home produced programmes next week in prime time:
Sat: The Voice ireland (r)
Sun & Thu: Norah's Traveller Academy
Wed: Clubland: Reality Bites

That's all. And to make matters worse, they have Mock The Week on Monday nights. I don't know from which series - but Mock the Week is half made up of English politics regarding the news of that week it was originally broadcast. Seems like they have run out of all their new shows which they talked about when they re-launched back in September.

AwaitYourReply

Elmo wrote: »

It took TV3 a very long time to start producing much of anything hence the hate followed by the over the top mega loan that was written down by the public. I think it's mellowing now that UTV have forced their hand. But leaving it until this year was a huge mistake for TV3.

The figures for coro st and Emmers are much the same as TV3 but the other figures are a good bit below what TV3 get for programming outside the 2 main soaps.

Basically UTV Ireland has split UTVs and TV3s old audience down the middle.

I decided to do some research as I also felt TV3 had got lazy and seemed to do more Irish based shows in the early days. In recent times TV3 have launched a raft of new programmes given the loss of some major staple shows to new Irish terrestrial channel, UTV Ireland. Having done some research just now it seems TV3 has done a lot more that most of us (including myself) ever gave them credit to be fair.

TV3 Shows - Past and Present

The Dunphy Show-2003 Chat show hosted by Eamon Dunphy @ The Helix
Sports Tonight each weeknight
Additional TV3 News 6:30pm weekdays and SAT/SUN/Bank Holidays @5:30pm
The Weakest Link (2001/2002 Irish version) with Eamon Dunphy
Ireland AM still running since 1999
The Apprentice with Bill Cullen (2008-2011)
Deal or No Deal with Keith Barry (Nov 2009-Mar 2010)
Xposé (Irish entertainment/celebrity gossip) since 2007
Tonight with Vincent Browne
Midday (TV3's answer to Loose Women since 2008!)
Take Me Out (Irish version) with Ray Foley 2010-2013
The Morning Show with Sybil Mulcahy
The Lie (Quiz show)
MidWeek (ran until mid 2014)
The Peoples Debate (Studio Audience Q+A format chaired by V. Browne)
The Brendan Courtney Show 2005/2006
Championship Live (since 2008)
The GAA Show (since 2011)
Agenda (1999-2004)
Crossfire (TV Game Show presented by Seán Moncrieff) since 2014
Deception (Irish primetime drama) since 2013
Jack Taylor (Irish TV Series/Private Investigator) since 2010
The Restaurant (new series - previously aired on RTÉ for 7 series)
Late Lunch Live with Martin King and Lucy Kennedy since Sept. 2013
RedRock Wed/Thurs @8:30pm (Irish soap drama) launched on 07/01/2015

Sam Russell

Yes TV3 have done some home produced programmes, but most have been a poor and cheap copy of the original or are full of product placement (paid for) and are little more than informercials for particular products. The worst example of which was the Bill Cullen Apprentice edition which was a continuous advertisement for Cadburys.

I hope UTV do not go down that road. Producing Irish versions of NI programmes will not cut it, but it is early days yet.

AwaitYourReply

Sam Russell wrote: »

Yes TV3 have done some home produced programmes, but most have been a poor and cheap copy of the original or are full of product placement (paid for) and are little more than informercials for particular products. The worst example of which was the Bill Cullen Apprentice edition which was a continuous advertisement for Cadburys.

I hope UTV do not go down that road. Producing Irish versions of NI programmes will not cut it, but it is early days yet.

I think we all fear this alright - That silly theme music for Ireland Live at 10 and the very poor graphics display on screen during their news programming is sloppy. I cannot understand why they do not modify as it would reflect much better on this home produced output. They may seem like small things but the visual image presentation is also important. I think they probably should just develop it as an Irish orientated channel rather than trying to also appeal to former UTV(NI) viewers as right now they will end up with a confused identity - The name is UTV Ireland but there is a strong Northern Ireland influence with it's style and themes and some out of place programmes like: Rare Breed, Lesser Spotted Ulster Journeys, James Nesbitt's Ireland and so on.

I have not seen much of the UTV Ireland Continuity Announcers on screen in person the odd time I have tuned in over recent times. Is there a set time that they appear or has the idea been dropped altogether? They made a big deal about this style pre-launch but it's not high profile or a regular occurrence from what I've seen to date.

onethreefive

How do you make the UTV Ireland player full screen? All I can do is play and pause it

AwaitYourReply

onethreefive wrote: »

How do you make the UTV Ireland player full screen? All I can do is play and pause it

Where you see the word PLAYER towards lower end of the UTV Ireland homepage, once you click on PLAYER and open a show from it - you should then place the arrow/cursor over the icon which is just to the left-hand-side of the volume icon and click on it and Full Screen image opens. I tried it a second ago and it was fine at my end.

onethreefive

AwaitYourReply wrote: »

Where you see the word PLAYER towards lower end of the UTV Ireland homepage, once you click on PLAYER and open a show from it - you should then place the arrow/cursor over the icon which is just to the left-hand-side of the volume icon and click on it and Full Screen image opens. I tried it a second ago and it was fine at my end.

Thanks but it wont work with me I can only watch the video in a small box on the screen

AwaitYourReply

onethreefive wrote: »

Thanks but it wont work with me I can only watch the video in a small box on the screen

Do you have your Caps Lock key on in error ?
Make sure CAPS is not on just to be sure!

Go back into a show in the UTV Ireland Player
IF the Caps key was NOT on then

Try to press the ESC key (Top Left of Keyboard)

Other than that, shut down and restart computer
Mine works fine as I tried it after you sent the query

lertsnim

onethreefive wrote: »

Thanks but it wont work with me I can only watch the video in a small box on the screen

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JCX BXC

The news man on UTV makes me laugh. His facial expressions are just priceless. It looks like a cheap comedy.