The Virgin Media Television thread

iseegirls

political analyst wrote: »

This latest development shows that TV3 is turning a corner.

When I first heard the news, I instantly thought that you'd be happy.

Good that VM are re-investing in the news on the channel, along with the return of Agenda at the weekends.

h7nlrp2v0g5u48

3e HD was testing on Sky this morning for about 2 hours with epg information. It has now disappeared again. It was testing on frequency 12.012 V 29.5 8/9 DVB-S QPSK. I wonder are we finally going to see some movement on HD by Virgin Media.

galtee boy

Royalty Limited Bellows wrote: »

3e HD was testing on Sky this morning for about 2 hours with epg information. It has now disappeared again. It was testing on frequency 12.012 V 29.5 8/9 DVB-S QPSK. I wonder are we finally going to see some movement on HD by Virgin Media.

Unless it was a mistake and that's why it disappeared so quickly. Maybe they want to keep 3e HD and be3 HD exclusively for Virgin customers ? That said, hopefully 3e HD will come to Sky soon.

h7nlrp2v0g5u48

galtee boy wrote: »

Unless it was a mistake and that's why it disappeared so quickly. Maybe they want to keep 3e HD and be3 HD exclusively for Virgin customers ? That said, hopefully 3e HD will come to Sky soon.

Me too.

icdg

I'm not sure anything like that happens as a mistake.

It would be really good if this were to happen - I'd be nearly certain that at least some of next years Six Nations (particularly games not involving Ireland) will end up on 3e

Elmo

icdg wrote: »

It would be really good if this were to happen - I'd be nearly certain that at least some of next years Six Nations (particularly games not involving Ireland) will end up on 3e

Really don't think that will happen, unless TV3 plan to allow 3e take over TV3sport completely like RTÉ2.

TV3 will want to see a major increase in audience share during the tournament the only way to show of the main channel is to keep all six nations matches on TV3 (none clash). Perhaps the Under21s, I don't think they are taking the Women's Rugby.

TV3 had its first double digits since the RWC in 2015 in March at 10.88%, I expect them to be just under 10% in April.

icdg

It's not a case of games clashing with each other - that hasn't been a factor in the Six Nations in a very long time - more a case that games might clash with ITV's prime time Saturday line up. True, with the Championship now paritially on ITV (and there was no prime time Saturday game in 2017) that's less likely to happen, but I remain cynical.

Elmo

icdg wrote: »

It's not a case of games clashing with each other - that hasn't been a factor in the Six Nations in a very long time - more a case that games might clash with ITV's prime time Saturday line up. True, with the Championship now paritially on ITV (and there was no prime time Saturday game in 2017) that's less likely to happen, but I remain cynical.

The Voice didn't really cut it with TV3 this year, very low audience, more likely to be moved to 3e.

dublinman1990

I suppose 3e HD & be3 HD when launched on Sky will remain on Pay TV only?

Saorview viewers will be left behind in the lurch once again. Just wait & you see it.

It is always the same for the free viewers with that TV3 crowd. It does my head in sometimes.

galtee boy

dublinman1990 wrote: »

I suppose 3e HD & be3 HD when launched on Sky will remain on Pay TV only?

Saorview viewers will be left behind in the lurch once again. Just wait & you see it.

It is always the same for the free viewers with that TV3 crowd. It does my head in sometimes.

TG4 HD is only available via pay TV also, so it's not only TV3.

deezell

galtee boy wrote: »

TG4 HD is only available via pay TV also, so it's not only TV3.

It's bad enough that TV3 abuse the free to air requirements of major national sports events by broadcasting sub SD pictures fta while using partially tax funded HD studios to leverage Sky's market share, in the long run they are a private company and would probably feed a HD terrestrial channel if they were forced and were not gouged by 2rn for the extra bitrate. What I find totally unacceptable is TG4 at full taxpayers expense denying us access to the HD version of their offering, again peddling it to Sky as leverage for a private pay tv company. Good grounds for not paying your TV license if you can't receive the best possible broadcast signal. The HD mux that could carry it is lying idle. And btw if you receive your national tv from Saorsat, that also is restricted to SD on the same channels.

Elmo

deezell wrote: »

using partially tax funded HD studios to leverage Sky's market share

How is it partially tax funded?

And btw if you receive your national tv from Saorsat, that also is restricted to SD on the same channels.

If they have it for free why no HD and also why not add TV3?

deezell

Elmo wrote: »

How is it partially tax funded?



If they have it for free why no HD and also why not add TV3?

They received a bìg wedge to write down HD studio costs from broadcast agency, I forget it's name. We'd probably have terrestrial tv3 in HD if rte networks, now 2rn, didn't try and extract such a high price for the digital channel. Given that mutiple digital channels fit into what was once a single low definition analogue channel, there was no reason to set such a high rate which at the time pretty much forced tv3 to accept a low quality carrier. it's also lower than sd quality from satellite. If a decision was taken at the time by our regulators to define the standards for the 3 or 4 main channels as at least HD in the long rùn then this new situation of licence paying viewers playing second fiddle to a foreign owned subscriber tv service would not have happened. Imagine if the fast lanes of the motorway network were suddenly restricted to subscribers of a foreign company, having been partially funded by tax
Not sure what you mean by have it for free? Tv3 pay 3rn for transmission over the terrestrial network, a d have never been happy with the price demanded. There must be an advantageous commercial arrangement in place that sees HD restricted to Sky and cable pay tv, hence it's unlikely except by legislation that they or tg4 will offer HD on terrestrial or Saorsat fta.

Elmo

deezell wrote: »

They received a bìg wedge to write down HD studio costs from broadcast agency, I forget it's name. We'd probably have terrestrial tv3 in HD if rte networks, now 2rn, didn't try and extract such a high price for the digital channel. Given that mutiple digital channels fit into what was once a single low definition analogue channel, there was no reason to set such a high rate which at the time pretty much forced tv3 to accept a low quality carrier. it's also lower than sd quality from satellite. If a decision was taken at the time by our regulators to define the standards for the 3 or 4 main channels as at least HD in the long rùn then this new situation of licence paying viewers playing second fiddle to a foreign owned subscriber tv service would not have happened. Imagine if the fast lanes of the motorway network were suddenly restricted to subscribers of a foreign company, having been partially funded by tax
Not sure what you mean by have it for free? Tv3 pay 3rn for transmission over the terrestrial network, a d have never been happy with the price demanded. There must be an advantageous commercial arrangement in place that sees HD restricted to Sky and cable pay tv, hence it's unlikely except by legislation that they or tg4 will offer HD on terrestrial or Saorsat fta.

Are we sure the high price is not the fault of ComReg.

I mean that 2rn got saorsat for free.

The Cush

deezell wrote: »

They received a bìg wedge to write down HD studio costs from broadcast agency, I forget it's name.

Nothing to do with Comreg. An €81m standstill Anglo Irish loan for the studio was written off in 2013. Other TV3 loans were purchased by their then owners Doughty Hanson for €44.5m by purchasing their IBRC debt at auction in Dec 2013 which realised a gain of €8.9m. Their net debt at the end of 2013 was in the region of €75m which included over €32m of intercompany loans.

Elmo wrote: »

I mean that 2rn got saorsat for free.

Not sure what you mean by this, Saorsat was developed from RTÉ's own resources. When it was announced back in 2010 the annual running cost was in the region of €1.5m per annum for satellite capacity, uplinking and associated costs.

deezell

Elmo wrote: »

Are we sure the high price is not the fault of ComReg.

I mean that 2rn got saorsat for free.

I see, whoever's fault it is, it's driven the HD channels behind a paywall. Expectation of a big payout from the new extra channels on the digital uhf spectrum probably the cause. The bandwidth is there for terrestrial HD and probably the hardware, but the moment is lost. I wasn't aware that the Saorsat spot beam was free to 2rn, so who is paying?

deezell

While on the subject of Saorsat, the Ireland only RTE only satellite spot beam, I notice that 3e is now listed as a linear stream transmission source. (https://www.lyngsat.com/freetv/Ireland.html )
Are Tv3 about to try on a new model of service delivery? Read below for an analysis of the potential of linear streaming.

http://www.intelsat.com/news/blog/a-shift-in-streaming-taking-linear-tv-over-the-top/

The Cush

deezell wrote: »

Are Tv3 about to try on a new model of service delivery?

3Player live TV - https://www.tv3.ie/3player/live

deezell wrote: »

http://www.intelsat.com/news/blog/a-...-over-the-top/

OTT refers to new Hybrid Broadcast Broadband TV (HbbTV) services like the soon to be launched Saorview Connect service which will combine traditional linear broadcast TV over the aerial combined with OTT services including streamed liner channels via broadcaster's respective players, see this thread http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=103424192#post103424192

The new RTÉ Player experience will be a gateway into a world of great content, from box-sets and curated on-demand libraries across 10 genres, to exciting new original RTÉ Player shorts, as well as the ability to enjoy RTÉ's live channels on any screen.

Delivering a multi-platform experience, the redeveloped RTÉ Player will be available across web, iOS, Android, connected TVs and OTT services, including Saorview, Chromecast, Android TV and Apple TV.

deezell

The aim is simple, to have all viewers, even passive terrestrial or satellite ones, ' connected' , in order to gather data and monetize the service. Imagine if you could identity your 500,000 viewers uniquely at any time. Newer connected tv's will push this on consumers, most of whom might well be unaware that they are viewing via a two-way interface, not an anonymous receiver. It would need to be a very slick offering before people might buy a specific piece of hardware to access it, hence it must start with already existing platforms and technologies. It's aimed at the next generation whose viewing habits virtually excludes live or direct to receiver broadcasts. It will evolve into something no doubt, with a good few duds and some obsolete hardware on the way. Probably should continue these comments on that other thread.

Sam Russell

deezell wrote: »

They received a bìg wedge to write down HD studio costs from broadcast agency, I forget it's name. We'd probably have terrestrial tv3 in HD if rte networks, now 2rn, didn't try and extract such a high price for the digital channel. Given that mutiple digital channels fit into what was once a single low definition analogue channel, there was no reason to set such a high rate which at the time pretty much forced tv3 to accept a low quality carrier. it's also lower than sd quality from satellite. If a decision was taken at the time by our regulators to define the standards for the 3 or 4 main channels as at least HD in the long rùn then this new situation of licence paying viewers playing second fiddle to a foreign owned subscriber tv service would not have happened. Imagine if the fast lanes of the motorway network were suddenly restricted to subscribers of a foreign company, having been partially funded by tax
Not sure what you mean by have it for free? Tv3 pay 3rn for transmission over the terrestrial network, a d have never been happy with the price demanded. There must be an advantageous commercial arrangement in place that sees HD restricted to Sky and cable pay tv, hence it's unlikely except by legislation that they or tg4 will offer HD on terrestrial or Saorsat fta.

It was TV3 that forced the regime of charging for Saorview - the rate is charged according to bitrate. If Comreg insisted that all main channels (RTE1,2, TG4, TV3) were HD, then the transmission charges for HD would only be about €1.6 million, while TV3 used to pay over €3m for analogue (iirc). 2RN should be allowed to insist that the standard for SD is 720 by 576i and HD is 1440 by 1024i. That would solve a lot of fuzzy vision problems, and also cut down on wasted bitrate.

If RTE was released from political control, it could move all its channels to mux 1, and let Virgin and TG4 share the cost of mux 2 (which would be €6m per year). Currently, RTE pay two thirds of the transmission charges.

dave98

According to https://www.tvchannellists.com/Forthcoming_changes_to_digital_platforms_(UK_%26_Ireland) (TV Channel Lists), 3e HD will be coming to sky in 2017. So perhaps the testing is a sign it'll come soon.

irishfeen

dave98 wrote: »

According to https://www.tvchannellists.com/Forthcoming_changes_to_digital_platforms_(UK_%26_Ireland) (TV Channel Lists), 3e HD will be coming to sky in 2017. So perhaps the testing is a sign it'll come soon.

They probably are only after adding this to the list when they seen it was testing.

dave98

irishfeen wrote: »

They probably are only after adding this to the list when they seen it was testing.

I'm not sure where they get their info from TBH, but they are pretty reliable.

Elmo

Blind date is returning!!!!

Maz2016

Yeah with Paul O Grady I believe.

iseegirls

Maz2016 wrote: »

Yeah with Paul O Grady I believe.

Nope, Al Porter is tipped for the TV3 version according to media yesterday. Paul O'Grady is doing the channel 5 version.

irishfeen

Dear merciful god.... Blind Dates!

lertsnim

Blind Date is bad enough but add that insufferable eejit to the mix and you have a horror show.

iseegirls

Two Cup Finals coming up on TV3 over the next two weeks. But has seen some odd shuffling of shows around.

Next Wednesday, Europa League live on TV3 at 7:30. Build up on 3e at 7pm. However they have moved Coronation Street to 3e at 7:30. Wouldn't it make more sense to have Coronation Street on Be3, as Be3 mainly show the repeats of the show, whereby it hasn't been on 3e since about 2009.

For the FA Cup on Saturday week, TV3 showing the match from 4-8pm. TV3 have shifted the News At 5:30 to 3e. Again, another strange one. Why not place on Be3 - where they already show news at 7 and 10 every weekday - whereby 3e haven't shown any news since fyi stopped 2 years ago.

Elmo

Red rock will air on 29th, 30thband 31st as part of finale interesting to see how it works out for them but strange to air 3 eps back to back when you have very little else.