UKTV channels leaving Virgin Media

mike2084

Apparently the UKTV media channels are leaving Virgin Media UK and according to a poster in the below thread, Ireland as well. It's becoming really poor value now.


https://forums.digitalspy.com/discussion/2290459/uktv-to-leave-virgin-media-as-of-this-weekend#latest

Tigerandahalf

mike2084 wrote: »

Apparently the UKTV media channels are leaving Virgin Media UK and according to a poster in the below thread, Ireland as well. It's becoming really poor value now.


https://forums.digitalspy.com/discussion/2290459/uktv-to-leave-virgin-media-as-of-this-weekend#latest

I see in the bottom of that article Virgin are going to offer Premier Sports free for 2 months. Are they finally seeing sense re eir sports? Premier is the uk version of eir sports.

wally79

Tigerandahalf wrote: »

I see in the bottom of that article Virgin are going to offer Premier Sports free for 2 months. Are they finally seeing sense re eir sports? Premier is the uk version of eir sports.

That would be UK only

Don’t think there was ever an issue over there

kooga

wally79 wrote: »

That would be UK only

Don’t think there was ever an issue over there

true - plus bt sport has always been available on virgin uk

patrickmooney

So the four channels are meant to be removed today with CBS channels replacing them in Ireland. This must be a first for a carriage deal to cover both UK and Ireland?

icdg

Maybe for Virgin Media - Sky does that sort of deal as a matter of course.

The bigger mystery though is how long it’s taken Virgin Media Ireland to get carriage deals for these channels which used to be part owned by Liberty!

Auld Jim Halpin

“Virgin Media has had a long relationship with UKTV, but viewing behaviours amongst our customers are changing and we are committed to investing in the kind of programming they want to watch, whenever and however they want to watch it"

https://www.independent.ie/entertainment/uktv-apologises-to-virgin-media-customers-who-will-lose-channels-37139508.html



I only just learned of this when I flicked to Dave which now has an on-screen message. I watched a good bit of Dave and Gold. Incredibly disappointing treatment again from VM, running out of any reasons to stay with them. The message says they have new entertainment channels in CBS Reality, CBS Action, Horror Channel and CBS Drama.


There is nothing of interest on any of these channels right now but to be fair its 3am. So lets have a look at tomorrow, Sunday, primetime hours of 6 to 11pm for example.


CBS Drama - has 5 hours of ER, must be 20 years old at this stage

Horror Channel - A film, 1999, Avalon - Beyond the Abyss, rated 4.0 on IMDB, followed by The Return 4.8 on IMDB

CBS Action - Has no less than 10 episodes of NCIS from 1pm to midnight with a 1967 film in the middle, Gunsmoke

CBS Reality - 17 episodes of Judge Judy throughout the day then Unsolved Mysteries, Killer Couples and Medical Detectives.


You are spoiling us Virgin Media with such top notch TV, seriously you shouldn't have bothered, these channels are total rubbish. One decent channel would have been better than this tripe. There is already plenty of terrible channels on your network as it is without adding 4 more. Maybe have a think about the maxim of quality over quantity and also about customer loyalty while you are at it.

paddy.59

wally79 wrote: »

That would be UK only

Don’t think there was ever an issue over there

Yep uk only premier is owned by eir

Harry Palmr

The CBS channels are utterly useless bar Horror which is worth keeping an eye on.

paddy.59

Uk are been offered 10 other channels and ireland gets dignoises murder and the love boat 😄😄😄😄😄🀯😀😀 bloody hilarious

paddy.59

Harry Palmr wrote: »

The CBS channels are utterly useless bar Horror which is worth keeping an eye on.

Cbs channels are cheap crap and not worth the channel space

Johnboy1951

these channels are total rubbish

The CBS channels are utterly useless bar Horror

Cbs channels are cheap crap and not worth the channel space

'One man's meat is another man's poison.'

No doubt there are lots of people who watch these channels .... and others some might consider rubbish also like Food, Religious and other 'niche' channels.

Wanderer78

What's the full list of channels affected with virgin Ireland? Thank you

JDxtra

CBS channels are a waste of bandwidth.

Auld Jim Halpin

Wanderer78 wrote: »

What's the full list of channels affected with virgin Ireland? Thank you

I think Dave, Gold, W and Alibi.

titan18

What's with the channel numbers for the new channels ffs? Surely have them all together next to each other makes sense, but outside of that throwing one of them into 138, in between TG4 HD and BBC 1 HD is just annoying.

aaaaaaaahhhhhh

Correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't the same thing happen with Cabelink & Sky back in the early 90s?

JDxtra

It happens all the time. Big players just trying to use their size to get a better deal. They'll kiss and makeup eventually.

mackersdublin

Ofcom in the UK is set to get involved

https://twitter.com/a516digital/status/1022130999596081152

dodzy

Mr.S wrote: »

To be fair, the content on UKTV channels isn't much better.

Still, VM is poor value now. Especially when Sky is basically around the same price point, and often cheaper.

VM's only savour is their broadband, and the new customer deals make it cheaper to get the bundle with TV added.

100%. They’re top tier TV offering in that horridly presented UI and slug-speed box (horizon) is pure crap. Seriously, how we have put up with it for so long is absurd. Without broadband, they’d be in a world of hurt.

Wanderer78

Mr.S wrote: »

I’m amazed they still use Horizon, which they inherited from UPC so maybe it’s a contract thing? I believe VM UK uses TiVo as the set top box.

The only reason I have the TV package is because it’s always cheaper to get it as part of a bundle (I’ve been switching between Sky and UPC/VM every 12 months) - why anyone would pay for VM tv is beyond me.

i believe virgin ireland is to move over to the tivo soon, as this is a cardless box, will upset 'alternative' services, but shur such is life

Delta2113

Horizon is a cardless box.

Wanderer78

Delta2113 wrote:

Horizon is a cardless box.

Thought it had a card, that's interesting to know

Tigerandahalf

It seems there is now a dispute between Virgin and ITV.

https://www.theguardian.com/media/2018/jul/26/virgin-media-could-lose-itv-programmes-in-long-running-dispute

Harry Palmr

ITV doesn't exist on Virgin Ireland does it? But 2/3/4 do and ITV could well pull all of them as the UK market has freeview as the no cost alternative.

Tigerandahalf

Harry Palmr wrote: »

ITV doesn't exist on Virgin Ireland does it? But 2/3/4 do and ITV could well pull all of them as the UK market has freeview as the no cost alternative.

Someone on another thread said tv3 (now virgin) signed a 10 year rights deal with itv when they bought out the utv ireland channel a few years back. Not sure if that covers itv2 to itv4 though.
I read online that itv have to make their main channel available to virgin as they are a public broadcaster but that itv2 to itv4 isn't covered so they could be pulled in the uk.

lgs 4

Tigerandahalf wrote: »

Someone on another thread said tv3 (now virgin) signed a 10 year rights deal with itv when they bought out the utv ireland channel a few years back. Not sure if that covers itv2 to itv4 though.
I read online that itv have to make their main channel available to virgin as they are a public broadcaster but that itv2 to itv4 isn't covered so they could be pulled in the uk.

Go Freesat HD

EdgeCase

Mr.S wrote: »

I’m amazed they still use Horizon, which they inherited from UPC so maybe it’s a contract thing? I believe VM UK uses TiVo as the set top box.

The only reason I have the TV package is because it’s always cheaper to get it as part of a bundle (I’ve been switching between Sky and UPC/VM every 12 months) - why anyone would pay for VM tv is beyond me.

Other way around:

Liberty Global bought Virgin Media UK and inherited TiVo boxes.

Horizon was developed by Liberty for use on all of its cable systems. There's a new version rolled out in several markets. Whether they'll move Virgin Media Ireland to that or to the same platform as the UK is unclear.

The current version of Horizon in use here now is not really fit to compete with Sky Q by a long shot.

It looks from reports I've been reading that the whole Liberty Global group including Virgin Media Uk will transition to a version of Horizon on those V6 boxes with a lot of licenced TiVo technology used for search and linking.

They're very wedded to the idea of controlling their own platform. We are just stuck with a version of Horizon that dates from about 2012.

Tigerandahalf

Virgin UK have signed a 3 year deal with itv. Saga over.

Kristopherus

Tigerandahalf wrote: »

Virgin UK have signed a 3 year deal with itv. Saga over.

No use without a link:).

mike2084

Here you go:

http://www.digitalspy.com/tv/news/a862616/itv-channels-virgin-media-three-year-deal/

mike2084

Apparently the dispute is costing UKTV £1 million a week in lost advertising revenue.

https://www.theguardian.com/media/2018/aug/05/viewers-turn-to-freeview-after-virgin-media-uktv-dispute

Davy

Delta2113

This includes Rep of Ireland - hopefully it includes HD and all channels.

Davy

Delta2113

Delta2113 wrote: »

This includes Rep of Ireland - hopefully it includes HD and all channels.

- Sadly my guess would be no - just getting back exactly what we had before - hope I'm wrong.

Bodan

Delta2113 wrote: »

- Sadly my guess would be no - just getting back exactly what we had before - hope I'm wrong.

We lost the UKTV channels at the same time as virgin media uk, so we must be tied in with the same deal as them. Either, they dont care about giving us the rest of the uktv package or they do not have the bandwidth to do so.

Harry Palmr

So does that mean the replacement channels will be deleted? Or hadn't they made the EPG yet?

Davy

Harry Palmr wrote: »

So does that mean the replacement channels will be deleted? Or hadn't they made the EPG yet?

The replacement channels are staying, but existing ones are back now also.

Auld Jim Halpin

Well done UKTV and Virgin Media for working this out, was watching Only Fools earlier and now Top Gear!

TheRedDevil10

Watch on both Ch 160 & 512 on my horizon box!😕