Ireland's Channel 6 inks programming deal

AliasFan47

Ireland's 6 inks programming deal

LONDON -- Soon-to-launch Irish cable network Channel 6 said Monday it has inked a deal with CBS Paramount International Television for a slew of TV series including "Numb3rs," "Sex & the City," "Frasier," "7th Heaven," "Charmed" and "Star Trek: The Next Generation." The Dublin-based channel is aimed at the 15-35 demographic and scheduled to bow in March. It plans to position its programming to compete with the U.K.'s Channel 4, and Ireland's RTE Two and TV3. "Our focus is on providing Irish viewers with a mix of both local and international entertainment programming," said Michael Murphy, founder and director of programs at Channel 6. "We are delighted to be able to offer our viewers such high-quality, well-known series right at the start. We anticipate that this will be the first of several deals with our friends at CBS Paramount."

betelgeuse

Is this going to be a national channel?

What happened to our "TV"5?

father_ted9t9

It will be available on NTL Analoge and NTL Digital to begin, with Sky Digital coming later in the year.

tvnutz

Ohhhh...7th Heaven...can't wait

Sounds like it will be a load of crap,although Numbers is supposed to be alright.

Eoin M

Sounds pretty cool to me. The more channels the better. Bring it on!

lostexpectation

why are the hyping launching their channel on shows that ended years ago?

limerick_man

yeah. Its like RTÉ and TV3's left overs!!! Well i guess they are cheap quality shows, they cant break the bank right off!!!
Whats the story with Chorus?? Ae they not picking up channel 6?!?!

father_ted9t9

They will have a number of new series to Ireland too but cannot name them yet!

digiman

They should get the rights for Prison Break, will this channel be available on terresterial tv?

Atrocity

It would be great if they showed South Park, Family Guy and Seinfeld regularly. These shows don't seem to be on RTE or TV3 anymore, apart from Seinfeld the odd time. They're shows we've seen already but it would be great to have a choice in the daytime. It seems to be all bloody Judge Judy Doctors or Shortland Street.

mickymg2003

Will it be FTA or will i be payin money to sky for it(A Good source told me that the devil now owns shares in BskyB!!)
Maybe it will pick up some good shows when it gets going.

father_ted9t9

mickymg2003 wrote:

Will it be FTA or will i be payin money to sky for it(A Good source told me that the devil now owns shares in BskyB!!)
Maybe it will pick up some good shows when it gets going.

It will be free to air on sky and chorus talks are ongoing

segadreamcast

You're working for channel 6 now Ted? Ha, I feel like your stalker...

...That lineup doesn't look too enticing at all to be honest - don't get me wrong, I expected old stuff but, christ, there's better old stuff out there to be found.

Maybe it's just me but - Fresh Prince of Bel-Air did pretty decently until 2004 for BBC2, something like that going out early evening (5/6?) would do pretty well.

Kojak

It sounds pretty rubbish, if you ask me.

Most of the shows mentioned above have finished years ago.

mollser

....and given that its only available on NTL cable and digital, most of those shows are already repeated ad nauseum already, on several channels some of them.

oh dear, just be another channel to skip over me thinks :v:

doh.ie

father_ted9t9 wrote:

It will be free to air on sky and chorus talks are ongoing

It can't be FTA on Sky Digital (if they ever agree on an EPG number with Sky - see http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/article/ds28568.html for more) because the programming rights for all its shows are Republic of Ireland-only. This is to ensure Channel 6 can't be seen by those living in the North or the UK where rights to those programmes are owned by other satellite, cable and terrestrial channels. If they do agree on an EPG number with Sky, (methinks UTV might ultimately want to have 105 as well...) Channel 6 is likely to be available, encrypted, as part of the Sky Family Pack (Ireland.)

Chorus' and NTL becoming one (via UGC) means whatever Channel 6 agree with NTL for carriage will apply to Chorus as well (will ultimately cover more of the non-cabled rural areas via MMDS that way too.)

father_ted9t9

doh.ie wrote:

It can't be FTA on Sky Digital (if they ever agree on an EPG number with Sky - see http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/article/ds28568.html for more) because the programming rights for all its shows are Republic of Ireland-only. This is to ensure Channel 6 can't be seen by those living in the North or the UK where rights to those programmes are owned by other satellite, cable and terrestrial channels. If they do agree on an EPG number with Sky, (methinks UTV might ultimately want to have 105 as well...) Channel 6 is likely to be available, encrypted, as part of the Sky Family Pack (Ireland.)

Chorus' and NTL becoming one (via UGC) means whatever Channel 6 agree with NTL for carriage will apply to Chorus as well (will ultimately cover more of the non-cabled rural areas via MMDS that way too.)

I Stand corrected, but what i meant was it will be available on the basic sky package here in Ireland, and hopefully UK In the coming year. Jesus people will you give the feckin thing a chance. Once again as is so many times the case here on boards, people slate things b4 they even see them.

The above programme content list is only a miniscule selection of the content and of course more will be coming out in the coming weeks. The way some of the posters above are taking about it, its that the station is only broadcasting these progs. 6 Have a lot of new series to Ireland also and Will contain a large selection of movies too, and a selection of home produced programming. At least hang on and give it a chance rather than putting it down b4 it even stands up.

twenty8

I think it may not be available on NTL digital either. I remember something about Channel 6 wanting channel 105 or 106 (after RTE's and TV3) but they would only give them something in the 200's.

They then made a decision not to go down that route as it would devalue the channel.

father_ted9t9

twenty8 wrote:

I think it may not be available on NTL digital either. I remember something about Channel 6 wanting channel 105 or 106 (after RTE's and TV3) but they would only give them something in the 200's.

They then made a decision not to go down that route as it would devalue the channel.

It will be on NTL Analogue and digital.

doh.ie

twenty8 wrote:

They then made a decision not to go down that route as it would devalue the channel.

That's the issue they had with Sky (who were offering channel numbers between 270 and 290.) Channel 6 felt it devalued the brand as it would end up living with the niche channels, not to mention most people do not travel that far down the Entertainment section. (Poor FX and abc1 - for decent channels, I always thought they were hard done by.)

Ted's right - it will definitely be on NTL analogue and digital.

father_ted9t9 wrote:

I Stand corrected, but what i meant was it will be available on the basic sky package here in Ireland, and hopefully UK In the coming year.

Can't be on Sky in the UK at *any* stage because of rights issues (though I'm sure UK viewers would love the chance to see it). Channel 6 will only be able to target the Republic of Ireland, as the UK rights were not bought for any of its programmes (not to mention most/all of them are already shown by other broadcasters in the UK.)

I wonder can a situation arise where Channel 6 have rights to just earlier seasons of programmes like Charmed (while TV3 have later, more recents ones) or 7th Heaven (same situation with RTE). Surely the programme contracts Paramount/CBS have with TV3/RTE would be honoured first. (7th Heaven finishes this year in any case.) This makes me think the programmes in the list above which are still running will only have earlier seasons as part of the Channel 6 deal. This has happened in the past when ST:TNG was shown on Sky (season 4 on) and the earlier seasons were shown by the BBC. This also currently happens with The Simpsons on C4/Sky.

twenty8

you are correct - it was sky that I had got mixed up on. Therefore just replace NTL with Sky and I was right:D