Channel 4's Ads

Mossy Monk

i don't have the Northern Ireland version of Channel 4 so i am asking how much of its advertising is aimed at us in the south. is it anywhere near UTV's level?

David C

Yes there is quite a lot from what I remember. About the same as UTV I think... Sometimes they have an Irish voice on Channel 4 between programmes and you'd nearly forget its a UK station

Haven't bothered plugging in ntl for a while because it distorts the RF out on the Digibox (yea i'm getting a scart soon). It used to be my favourite channel before I got Sky, I'm sure i'm missing loads.

Mossy Monk

strange then that they aren't responding to any emails i am sending them. do they have any interest in going on Sky in this country.

could someone please explain what this exclusive thing that cable has which ends on March 31st?

thank you

David C

I sent an email to Channel 4 exactly one month ago:

Sent: 14 January 2002 23:48
To: viewerenquiries@channel4.co.uk
Subject: Channel 4 on Sky - ROI
Hello,

I am a Sky Digital subscriber in the Republic of Ireland... I can
receive BBC 1, 2 & E4 amongst others, but ITV and Channel 4
are not available on the service here.

Could you please tell me when you plan to make your service
available here as Channel 4 has always been in great demand
in Ireland. I know you show ROI ads on the N. Ireland version
too so it would be of great attraction to those advertisers also
for you to be on Sky here,

Looking forwards to a reply and seeing you on Sky Digital!
David.

I got this reply back today:
Hello David

It is a shame that The Republic of Ireland do not receive Channel 4 but
Channel 4 do not have a licence to transmit outside the UK. People living
in Southern Ireland are picking up the signal from the Belfast transmitter.
This is known as 'fortuitous' reception.

This 'fortuitous' reception cannot be supported by the Channel and we cannot
be seen to be encouraging viewers outside the UK to watch the Channel. The
voting numbers we have set up for viewers in Southern Ireland for Big
Brother really was in demand to a huge upset to the S. Irish voters last
year but we cannot actively promote them on-air.

Viewers may be confused as they will occasionally see 'local' advertisements
in C4. This will simply be that companies know there is 'fortuitous'
reception in Eire and place their advertisements anyway. As long as the
content doesn't breach any guidelines we can sell air-time for
advertisements to whoever we like.

Regards
Beth Gore

---

Interesting stuff! The person seems to have taken their time to compose an original letter.... Comments?

roy

"This 'fortuitous' reception cannot be supported by the Channel and we cannot
be seen to be encouraging viewers outside the UK to watch the Channel"

What rubbish. Why is the channel on ntl and chorus then.

Mossy Monk

that reply to your email has to be the biggest load of crap i have ever read. is there any cable company in this country who does not offer Channel 4/S4C?

icdg

Originally posted by Mossy Monk

could someone please explain what this exclusive thing that cable has which ends on March 31st?

thank you

Really a subject for the Cable and MMDS forum, but however here goes...

There is a clause in the contracts for cable and MMDS stating "The Director shall not licence an equivilant system in the area for which the Licencee is operating before March 31st 2004".

What this means is that the ODTR undertakes not to licence another cable or MMDS system in any area where one is already licenced. As part of the reviews of the cable and MMDS licences carried out last year when Chorus and NTL asked for price increases, the ODTR changed to date when cable exclusivity ended to March 31st 2002. (Not that this means anything in practical terms, since no other cable company wants to dig up the streets anyway)

This exclusivity does *not* relate to channels carried. Indeed the only clause in the licences regarding this is a clause that Cable Licencees must carry RTE, TV3, and TG4, and MMDS Licences must carry TV3 (even though NTL is in breach of this particular clause). Licencees are free to compete with satellite and DTT as for channel carrige agreements for other channels. (Indeed this is now annoying people since NTL have dropped Eurosport, but thats' a subject for another thread in another forum.

icdg

Originally posted by David C
I sent an email to Channel 4 exactly one month ago:


I
This 'fortuitous' reception cannot be supported by the Channel and we cannot
be seen to be encouraging viewers outside the UK to watch the Channel.
Regards
Beth Gore

Ah yes, that would be why Channel 4 placed an advertisement in the Irish Times last month encouraging people to watch "Sunday" (the other Bloody Sunday film). Their response to that might be that the Irish Times is available in Northern Ireland. True, but they also ran an advertising campaign on Independent Local Radio (I know 98FM carried it, other ILRs probably also) in 2000.

That statement above may be the offical line, but C4 know as well as everyone else that they are seen in ROI and have encouraged it. What their rights holders don't know, won't hurt them...

chernobyl

I only see C4 as a good addition to the channels and yeah i have no probs with a bit extra on the bill, who cares its nearly €50 at this stage.