The Virgin Media Television thread

icdg

LibertyGlobal chief executive Mike Fries gets a mention in this mornings Sunday Times. Reportly he announced that the Virgin rebrand is going ahead next year to a media conference in New York City recently.

Never Say Never Again

The world has gone mad

Thargor

Never Say Never Again wrote: »

If 3e have let family guy and american dad go, you'd think rte 2 would snap them up ?

Anyone who wants them is already streaming them online tbh.

lertsnim

Thargor wrote: »

Anyone who wants them is already streaming them online tbh.

You could say that about any programme.

dublinman1990

The rebranding of all 3 channels owned by TV3 to Virgin is formally confirmed now in The Belfast Telegraph.

https://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/business/northern-ireland/former-utv-ireland-channel-to-be-rebranded-as-virgin-in-second-overhaul-since-10m-sale-36418763.html

This news could be potentially very good for TV3/Virgin or it could work out as a complete disaster. It will be interesting to see how the schedules will now work out under this new arrangement. Will all 3 channels have completely different schedules for each of them. Another question is how will these channels will be given out to TV providers. It would not be a completely surprise now that these channels is highly more likely to become a Virgin exclusive on their own cable service or may be scattered on other TV services around the country.

political analyst

dublinman1990 wrote: »

The rebranding of all 3 channels owned by TV3 to Virgin is formally confirmed now in The Belfast Telegraph.

https://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/business/northern-ireland/former-utv-ireland-channel-to-be-rebranded-as-virgin-in-second-overhaul-since-10m-sale-36418763.html

This news could be potentially very good for TV3/Virgin or it could work out as a complete disaster. It will be interesting to see how the schedules will now work out under this new arrangement. Will all 3 channels have completely different schedules for each of them. Another question is how will these channels will be given out to TV providers. It would not be a completely surprise now that these channels is highly more likely to become a Virgin exclusive on their own cable service or may be scattered on other TV services around the country.

That would breach the TV3 braodcast licence.

Infoanon

political analyst wrote: »

That would breach the TV3 braodcast licence.

Could TV3/Virgin pull their channels from Sky and Eir but remain on Saorview to fulfil their licence requirements ?

The Cush

political analyst wrote: »

That would breach the TV3 braodcast licence.

TV3's licence expires September 19th 2018 with a further five-year renewal option, subject to certain conditions, at that point.

Will they take the renewal option?

Maz2016

The Cush wrote: »

TV3's licence expires September 19th 2018 with a further five-year renewal option, subject to certain conditions, at that point.

Will they take the renewal option?

I’d say there is no doubt in the world that they will renew.

To be honest, I can’t see any changes to the 3 channels besides the name change. They’ve had plenty of opportunities to re jig the schedule and to differentiate the channels but they haven’t. I can’t see this being any different

political analyst

The Cush wrote: »

TV3's licence expires September 19th 2018 with a further five-year renewal option, subject to certain conditions, at that point.

Will they take the renewal option?

I'm with Maz2016 - Liberty Global would lose a significant part of the Republic viewing market if it pulled the TV3 channel group from Saorview - sure, you couldn't have a situation in which terrestrial viewers who don't have a dish or cable and live on the west coast were not able to watch Coronation Street anymore.

icdg

dublinman1990 wrote: »

The rebranding of all 3 channels owned by TV3 to Virgin is formally confirmed now in The Belfast Telegraph.

https://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/business/northern-ireland/former-utv-ireland-channel-to-be-rebranded-as-virgin-in-second-overhaul-since-10m-sale-36418763.html

I’m not sure a report in one newspaper effectively word-for-word regurgitating a report in another newspaper counts as formal confirmation to be honest, though I’m convinced enough that it’s a done deal at this stage.

Never Say Never Again

They seem to have lost interest in 3e

channelsurfer2

Never Say Never Again wrote: »

They seem to have lost interest in 3e

and Be3. its just all re-runs now.

StreetLight

It wouldn't surprise me if somehow only TV3 remained on Saorview with 3e and Be3 made Virgin-exclusive.

Schorpio

StreetLight wrote: »

It wouldn't surprise me if somehow only TV3 remained on Saorview with 3e and Be3 made Virgin-exclusive.

Good riddance if so. They could take TV3 away too and I reckon only a small number of older viewers would be all that bothered.

I remember when tv3 was launched; there was a feeling that this was going to be Ireland's Channel 4 moment. A new, semi-independent broadcaster who was going to shake the market up by being a bit more risquhan the state-funded operations that we were used too. And they pretty much did it too - I remember watching shows like South Park and Arrested Development for the first time on tv3.

But now almost everything they show has been unashamedly taken from UK tv, all of it freely available in HD on freesat. Morning/afternoons are where you find any original/live programming left.

iseegirls

3news taking a long break for Christmas, with no bulletins on any channels from the 23rd December to 2nd January at 7am.

Their Christmas line-up has pretty much the same films they had last year. Nearly every film will be shown multiple times across the channels. 2 hours of Tipping Point on 3e Christmas Day.

It really is hard to differentiate between 3e and TV3 over the next two weeks really - indicating that 3e has a severe lack of an identity.

Elmo

Schorpio wrote: »

I remember when tv3 was launched; there was a feeling that this was going to be Ireland's Channel 4 moment. A new, semi-independent broadcaster who was going to shake the market up by being a bit more risquhan the state-funded operations that we were used too. And they pretty much did it too - I remember watching shows like South Park and Arrested Development for the first time on tv3.

Strange I don't Remember South Park on TV3, it aired on TG4 in both English and Irish. Their output was little like channel 4, more like channel 5 but with some better US programmes. I'd say South Park, sex in the city and arrested development were there only C4 like imports. Lots of TV movies of the week.

deezell

The Cush wrote: »

TV3's licence expires September 19th 2018 with a further five-year renewal option, subject to certain conditions, at that point.

Will they take the renewal option?

Lobby politicians now to include as part of the September 2018 conditions, Mandatory HD for protected events in Saorview, (Internationals), on the basis it's not a level playing pitch when the other saorview bidder is bidding for a HD service, whileTV3 bid with ShtD service.

political analyst

StreetLight wrote: »

It wouldn't surprise me if somehow only TV3 remained on Saorview with 3e and Be3 made Virgin-exclusive.

Liberty Global would lose commercial revenue if it did that. After all, Be3 is the only channel where viewers in the Republic can see Poirot (which, in the UK, is confined to the subscription-only ITV Encore channel).

political analyst

deezell wrote: »

Lobby politicians now to include as part of the September 2018 conditions, Mandatory HD for protected events in Saorview, (Internationals), on the basis it's not a level playing pitch when the other saorview bidder is bidding for a HD service, whileTV3 bid with ShtD service.

All rugby tournaments will eventually be subscription-only anyway.

I'd be much more eager to see a greater choice of channels on Saorview - there must be something that can be done to make that happen!

Mickey Mike

StreetLight wrote: »

It wouldn't surprise me if somehow only TV3 remained on Saorview with 3e and Be3 made Virgin-exclusive.

This idea makes more sense than anything else, keep TV3 and getting rid of 3e and be3, rebrand the last 2 "Virgin Media 1 and Virgin Media 2" for Sky and Cable TV. Pointless having 3e and be3 on Saorview as its all repeats. TV3 HD and TG4 HD is a must for Saorview / Saorsat.

political analyst

Mickey Mike wrote: »

This idea makes more sense than anything else, keep TV3 and getting rid of 3e and be3, rebrand the last 2 "Virgin Media 1 and Virgin Media 2" for Sky and Cable TV. Pointless having 3e and be3 on Saorview as its all repeats. TV3 HD and TG4 HD is a must for Saorview / Saorsat.

Then Saorview-only viewers would be in the same situation as most terrestrial viewers between the launch of TV3 and the switch-off of analogue - only 4 channels.

Elmo

Mickey Mike wrote: »

This idea makes more sense than anything else, keep TV3 and getting rid of 3e and be3, rebrand the last 2 "Virgin Media 1 and Virgin Media 2" for Sky and Cable TV. Pointless having 3e and be3 on Saorview as its all repeats. TV3 HD and TG4 HD is a must for Saorview / Saorsat.

Almost all extra digital channels are mainly repeats with a few originals thrown in. Virgin Media would see an instant drop in audience if they were pay only.

Sam Russell

political analyst wrote: »

Then Saorview-only viewers would be in the same situation as most terrestrial viewers between the launch of TV3 and the switch-off of analogue - only 4 channels.

Well, 20% of viewers could not get TV3 as they refused to pay transmission except from the 17 main towers.

political analyst

Sam Russell wrote: »

Well, 20% of viewers could not get TV3 as they refused to pay transmission except from the 17 main towers.

I'm aware of that - which is why I said "most terrestrial viewers...".

marno21

Sam Russell wrote: »

Well, 20% of viewers could not get TV3 as they refused to pay transmission except from the 17 main towers.

They only ever managed 12 sites, not even 17.

Main sites: Cairn Hill, Clermont Carn, Holywell Hill, Kippure, Maghera, Mount Leinster, Mullanghanish, Spur Hill, Three Rock and Truskmore.

They also went on the two relays targeting the cities, Collins Barracks in Cork and Woodcock Hill in Limerick.

Interesting that they were on the Derry transmitter but not on the relays targeting several major towns (Letterkenny, Clonmel, Tralee/Killarney, Castlebar, Glanmire etc.)

Never Say Never Again

I wonder why be3 don't show itv's Lorraine anywhere in their schedule? It would be better than showing Elane 3 times

political analyst

Never Say Never Again wrote: »

I wonder why be3 don't show itv's Lorraine anywhere in their schedule? It would be better than showing Elane 3 times

Because it would diminish Ireland AM's audience.

Thargor

lertsnim wrote: »

You could say that about any programme.

Nah the demographic that adult cartoons target dont even use television anymore basically, they could blow their whole budget on the new series of SP or FG and the viewership would be tiny, anybody who wants them watches them on a device instead of sitting at a tv at an appointed time these days, not the case for other types of programme like Emmerdale etc.

lertsnim

But it can be said for anything imported from the United States.