UPC - ITV2, 3 & 4

brianof · 03-04-2011 03:38PM

OK cheers Minstrel. I guess the aul' wan will have to do without Celebrity Juice!

mike65 · 03-04-2011 03:58PM

brianof wrote: »

Does the UPC box have an equivalent "Other Channels" section similar to the Sky box where you can just manually tune these FTA channels and do without the recording facility?

Nope as its a closed system, they dont have stuff lurking out of site.

patrickmooney · 03-04-2011 06:29PM

Channel 5 and it's sister channels would be a massive win, especially now as big brother is launching during the summer. I hope ITV is replaced by them. Three channels too 5, 5* and 5USA.

Jesus Wept · 03-04-2011 06:53PM

ugh thought Big Brother was gone.
Is it USA?

hdowney · 03-04-2011 07:14PM

oooh yes good point. it is 99.9% certain that bb is coming back on 5 so it would be good to have that.

upc are you listening??????

sataction · 03-04-2011 07:19PM

Why not reduce price now that channels are gone.

I know some hope.

No reason now not to transfer to Sky.

Spudzzmurphy · 03-04-2011 07:31PM

Bottom line here is that we the customer are getting less and less for our money from UPC,they knew this was coming and should have been planning for replacment channels for" ME and YOU" there customers.
I am one of those lucky ones that already have HD Freeview via dish, and for the last few months have been using it more and more for the HD programmes.

Will be ringing them tomorrow to cancel there service with me.

DUB777 · 03-04-2011 07:40PM

Yea I rang up to complain about the internet going down again & they mentioned it on the phone. Internet has been brutal the last couple of weeks. On & off when it suits them. Bravo hasn't come back either. They're supposedly replacing all the channels, but how much truth is behind that I dont know & if they do, will there be an extra cost??

mike65 · 03-04-2011 09:07PM

Bravo is no longer in existance, SKY bought it and closed it (ditto Virgin) as they want a total monopoly.

Infoanon · 03-04-2011 10:08PM

Resi12 wrote: »

I know everyone is mad at UPC but for once I'm not, I'm more mad at TV3 for being complete and utter gob****es. If they made quality programming it would be one thing but they have some cheek to play that card and make their customers lose channels.

Not our fault they're a second rate ITV on all counts.

Has anyone got official confirmation that the 'other channel provider' is TV3 ?

It would seem bizzare that TV3 could make a better offer to ITV then UPC can with 500k + subscribers .
When UPC got ITV 2/3/4 and ESPN a figure of €20m was mentioned by UPC as the cost of the deal.
Of course 'certain content' does hint at TV3 but why then would UPC give a 'free' advertisement to TV3/3e by statign that top programmes fromITV are available on these channels.
Whoever the 'other channel provider' is - they have given UPC one massive headache and more unwanted negative publicity.

Another thing that is annoying is UPC talk of new channels 'very soon' , they knew Bravo/Channel one where closing since last September and they made no effort to fill the gap and yet upped the prices !

tonyheaney · 03-04-2011 10:44PM

hdowney wrote: »

oooh yes good point. it is 99.9% certain that bb is coming back on 5 so it would be good to have that.

upc are you listening??????

on their behalf... werr no to busy countin all the cash there ripping off us

:rolleyes: :mad:

tonyheaney · 03-04-2011 10:47PM

DUB777 wrote: »

Yea I rang up to complain about the internet going down again & they mentioned it on the phone. Internet has been brutal the last couple of weeks. On & off when it suits them. Bravo hasn't come back either. They're supposedly replacing all the channels, but how much truth is behind that I dont know & if they do, will there be an extra cost??

that was sky who bough Bravo as it was ment to be like sky 1 (erm the 80s called they want the lie recalled) anyway its sky who took channels like bravo living and some other s

dj-kyosho · 03-04-2011 11:12PM

My UPC Contract Started on i think it was 20th January This Year and Since Then they have just bein gettin rid of channels so i was wondering can I cancel my contract Now and change to sky or do i have to wait till the year is up? Thanks

dunworth1 · 04-04-2011 01:45AM

dj-kyosho wrote: »

My UPC Contract Started on i think it was 20th January This Year and Since Then they have just bein gettin rid of channels so i was wondering can I cancel my contract Now and change to sky or do i have to wait till the year is up? Thanks

sadly no its in the terms that they can add and remove channels without notice.

JDxtra · 04-04-2011 11:01AM

ITV was unable to renew the agreement with UPC because significant amounts of content on the channels have been committed to another broadcaster. It is anticipated that the content will appear on Ireland’s TV3 and sister channel 3e.

From: http://www.broadbandtvnews.com/2011/04/04/upc-ireland-loses-itv-channels/

JDxtra · 04-04-2011 11:06AM

tonyheaney wrote: »

UPC are the reason so many are buying laptops and computers and downloading what they want with out having to fork out a c rap load of money for a tv licence

UPC don't force you to pay a TV licence, everybody with a TV has to pay it even if you just have the basic channels via an aerial.

tonyheaney wrote: »

also sky will probably buy them out soon anyway

Sky will never buy UPC. Why on earth would they?

JDxtra · 04-04-2011 11:10AM

Infoanon wrote: »

Has anyone got official confirmation that the 'other channel provider' is TV3 ?

It would seem bizzare that TV3 could make a better offer to ITV then UPC can with 500k + subscribers .
When UPC got ITV 2/3/4 and ESPN a figure of €20m was mentioned by UPC as the cost of the deal.

It's not about UPC simply offering a better deal to ITV. ITV have an existing agreement with TV3 to provide programming. TV3 must have argued that UPC carrying channels like ITV2 diminishes the value of their rights. I think it was mentioned by UPC that they could not carry the channels "under any terms". So, it's a legal issue and TV3 won.

Next up, tackle UTV…

mightybashful · 04-04-2011 11:15AM

Originally Posted by BLAZ
Of course I can't cancel today because the accounts departement is closed, but I'll do that first thing Monday morning.[/QUOTE]

did you go ahead with this Blaz?

Elmo · 04-04-2011 11:35AM

JDxtra wrote: »

It's not about UPC simply offering a better deal to ITV. ITV have an existing agreement with TV3 to provide programming. TV3 must have argued that UPC carrying channels like ITV2 diminishes the value of their rights. I think it was mentioned by UPC that they could not carry the channels "under any terms". So, it's a legal issue and TV3 won.

Next up, tackle UTV…

TV3's rights to ITV programming comes to at least €20million, you can see why they wouldn't be happy.

However ITV 3 and 4 really have no rights issues with TV3.

tonyheaney · 04-04-2011 11:47AM

JDxtra wrote: »

UPC don't force you to pay a TV licence, everybody with a TV has to pay it even if you just have the basic channels via an aerial.

Sky will never buy UPC. Why on earth would they?

so that they can have the manopaply on tv

hdowney · 04-04-2011 11:49AM

i don't think they are allowed to have a complete monopoly on telly. isn't it like banned in the interests of fairness and competition or some such?

JDxtra · 04-04-2011 12:37PM

hdowney wrote: »

i don't think they are allowed to have a complete monopoly on telly. isn't it like banned in the interests of fairness and competition or some such?

No. They bought the rights and are protecting them.

RTE don't show live footy that Sky Sports bought the Irish rights for "in the interests of fairness and competition".

JDxtra · 04-04-2011 12:39PM

tonyheaney wrote: »

so that they can have the manopaply on tv

It would be a waste of money. Sky already have a huge slice of the pay TV market in Ireland (much bigger than UPC). They are better off bleeding UPC of subscribers rather than buying out their Irish operations.

Elmo · 04-04-2011 12:50PM

Irony UPC's parent company had a share in News Corp up until fairly recently. But shhhhhh don't tell the competition authority.

Dodge · 04-04-2011 01:14PM

JDxtra wrote: »

It would be a waste of money. Sky already have a huge slice of the pay TV market in Ireland (much bigger than UPC). They are better off bleeding UPC of subscribers rather than buying out their Irish operations.

Has anybody any figures on this?

Elmo · 04-04-2011 01:27PM

Dodge wrote: »

Has anybody any figures on this?

They seemed equal in 2008, ~500,000 each with ~200,000 analogue UPC customers.

Freddie59 · 04-04-2011 02:55PM

JDxtra wrote: »

It's not about UPC simply offering a better deal to ITV. ITV have an existing agreement with TV3 to provide programming. TV3 must have argued that UPC carrying channels like ITV2 diminishes the value of their rights. I think it was mentioned by UPC that they could not carry the channels "under any terms". So, it's a legal issue and TV3 won.

Next up, tackle UTV…

It also brings into question the whole FTA scenario. Technically, if you buy a Freesat dish you can watch the channels unhindered. If you have Sky you can tune them in through 'extra channels'.

If, as quoted elsewhere on this thread, Sky have bigger numbers than UPC, it would seem a logical progression that TV3 would seek to close this loophole also. (how I don't know - you would have imagined they would have went for the bigger of the two first). And where does it leave unscrambled FTA signals from satellite?

Interesting times ahead.

mike65 · 04-04-2011 03:10PM

The footprint of the 3 Astra 28.8 and 1 Eurobird sats is not something TV3 can interfere with thankfully!

They couldn't force providers to scramble certain signals I'm pretty sure, the costs would put providers off anyway as UK viewers using FTA would have to be issued with cards and a decoder, so its a no no.

Elmo · 04-04-2011 03:15PM

mike65 wrote: »

The footprint of the 3 Astra 28.8 and 1 Eurobird sats is not something TV3 can interfere with thankfully!

They couldn't force providers to scramble certain signals I'm pretty sure.

Can TV channels advertise to Ireland via Satellite i.e. an opt out service?

TV3 are happy that ITV is only available on other channels.

Question that TV3 would be interested in: -

1. How many people tune in ITV through other channels?
2. How many people have some form of FTA satellite?
3. How many people receive FreeView?
4. How many people get pay from smaller providers who still carry the 3 extra ITV channels?

Even still ITV don't carry opt-out services.

JDxtra · 04-04-2011 03:38PM

Dodge wrote: »

Has anybody any figures on this?

UPC have "more than half a million" TV customers (381,000 using digital).
Source: http://www.upc.ie/about_us/upc/

Sky have 637,000 customers (all digital).
Source: http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/features/2011/0315/1224292152903.html

The ARPU (average revenue per user) of a Sky subscriber (across UK/Ireland) is £500+. I can't imagine UPC are anywhere near this especially with their high analog user base (no premium channels, PPV, no HD etc).

UPC - ITV2, 3 & 4

Comments