The Virgin Media Television thread

AwaitYourReply

Elmo wrote: »

Very strange when you think that when UTV Ireland (now Virgin Media THREE) that TV3 complained to the BAI about UTV Ireland's status as a PSB on saorview. Indeed when you consider that the BAI and Dept went to the trouble of making UTV Ireland a PSB for saorview its current form seems to completely go against TV3 own original complaint about the channel. But sure you will never see a minister have to do that for any new service if they start up on Saorview. E.g. Radio Maria.

I think that Virgin Media Television should act as a counter-balance to RTÉ not just in terms of entertainment shows, sports coverage but also in News/Current Affairs coverage. If this network wants to be taken seriously, it needs to put it up to RTÉ.

I must admit, I often criticise RTÉ if I think it is warranted but the national broadcaster played a blinder in it's General Election TV/Radio coverage. Virgin Media Television was not too bad however; it should NOT be permitted to take the easy way out at unsociable hours like at Weekends if it thinks it can get away with it. I also think if there is no current requirement or stipulation requiring them to provide evenings news bulletins at certain times like weekends/public holidays then this needs to change as they have multiple channels with much of the content repeated in different strands for long periods.

iseegirls

Following on from This Morning's return means that there will be 1 less hour of Ireland AM. The hour long midday news now shortened to half an hour at 12:30. And the VM2's News At 10 was quietly ushered out in January. That's 2 hours that's disappeared. Elaine now being at 3pm won't be shown during racing events - so that's more money saved.

Everything smells of cost cutting. No audience participation in their 2 general election debates, no designated reporters at venues after in the evening on the Sunday of the count despite a 3hour live show at 8pm, Pat Kenny used twice in a whole year, Sport Tonight randomly disappearing and jumping back into the schedule.

AwaitYourReply

iseegirls wrote: »

Following on from This Morning's return means that there will be 1 less hour of Ireland AM. The hour long midday news now shortened to half an hour at 12:30. And the VM2's News At 10 was quietly ushered out in January. That's 2 hours that's disappeared. Elaine now being at 3pm won't be shown during racing events - so that's more money saved.

Everything smells of cost cutting. No audience participation in their 2 general election debates, no designated reporters at venues after in the evening on the Sunday of the count despite a 3hour live show at 8pm, Pat Kenny used twice in a whole year, Sport Tonight randomly disappearing and jumping back into the schedule.

I have not been following much of Virgin Media Television's channel output of late. I gather from your post that Virgin Media has brought back "This Morning" once again after only a few months! Who made the decision to axe it along with "Loose Women" only to fill it with a poor substitute.

Looking ahead to Monday 16th March (post Cheltenham Racing Festival) I notice The Chase is scheduled on Virgin Media One from 1pm - 3pm and the same show editions are probably repeated from 6pm - 8pm on Virgin Media Two while Virgin Media Three has The Chase Australia from 8pm - 9pm all on the same day.

When they dropped The Pat Kenny Show for The Big Debates I knew where they were heading. Ivan Yates will depart his TV/Radio commitments by next August which leaves a question mark over "The Tonight Show" as it's not packed the same punch since Vincent Browne went into retirement. As for Virgin Media Sports Tonight - since they dropped some of it's broadcasts this looks like it is also on borrowed time.

Elmo

AwaitYourReply wrote: »

I think that Virgin Media Television should act as a counter-balance to RTÉ not just in terms of entertainment shows, sports coverage but also in News/Current Affairs coverage. If this network wants to be taken seriously, it needs to put it up to RTÉ.

Really only a counter balance to RTÉ in terms of Lifestyle programming and then to a lesser extent News & CA and Sport. Pat Kenny's only being brought back to do specials. Tonight has being do well recently.

iseegirls

AwaitYourReply wrote: »

I have not been following much of Virgin Media Television's channel output of late. I gather from your post that Virgin Media has brought back "This Morning" once again after only a few months! Who made the decision to axe it along with "Loose Women" only to fill it with a poor substitute.

It was never really clear. They axed it in October, so around a 5 month break. Also a note that they've never properly replaced Mark Cagney on Ireland AM. Loose Women went too but is not back in the schedules yet. It also disappeared in Oct 2018 for a 3 month "break" and returned in Jan 2019. Still not clear why any of those decisions were made.

The replacement for Loose Women was a repeat of the 7am-8am part of Ireland AM.

Elmo

iseegirls wrote: »

Also a note that they've never properly replaced Mark Cagney on Ireland AM.

I assume it was part of the decision to reduce their most experienced producers. Doubt the viewers for Ireland AM since he was dropped.

iseegirls

AwaitYourReply wrote: »

Looking ahead to Monday 16th March (post Cheltenham Racing Festival) I notice The Chase is scheduled on Virgin Media One from 1pm - 3pm and the same show editions are probably repeated from 6pm - 8pm on Virgin Media Two while Virgin Media Three has The Chase Australia from 8pm - 9pm all on the same day. .

These are different series's and not really repeats (although S12 has indeed been shown more than twice already).
VM1 has Series 12 on at 1pm & 2pm.
VM2 has Series 12 at 6pm (a different episode shown than on VM1), and then S13 on at 7pm. Series 13 is actually a new series starting this week so they're exactly a year behind the ITV transmissions.

Having double bills of the quiz show is something that puzzles me. If you watched the 1pm show of The Chase, would you really watch the second episode at 2pm? They have tipping Point and the Chase from 4-8 on VM2 daily. really is overkill. There's 3 episodes of Judge Rinder on VM3 as well from 1-4pm. Again - just pure laziness.

AwaitYourReply

iseegirls wrote: »

These are different series's and not really repeats (although S12 has indeed been shown more than twice already).
VM1 has Series 12 on at 1pm & 2pm.
VM2 has Series 12 at 6pm (a different episode shown than on VM1), and then S13 on at 7pm. Series 13 is actually a new series starting this week so they're exactly a year behind the ITV transmissions.

Having double bills of the quiz show is something that puzzles me. If you watched the 1pm show of The Chase, would you really watch the second episode at 2pm? They have tipping Point and the Chase from 4-8 on VM2 daily. really is overkill. There's 3 episodes of Judge Rinder on VM3 as well from 1-4pm. Again - just pure laziness.

I was not 100% certain if the earlier screenings on Virgin Media One were same day repeats as nothing would surprise nowadays given how frequent Virgin Media Television broadcasts same editions of a number of other programmes on the same day on it's other channels/services such as Ireland AM, Coronation Street, Emmerdale etc;

I would share your views on the sense of overkill in terms of it's output especially in an age of +1 timeshift channel versions on some tv platforms not to mention on-demand/catch-up services. I think a broadcaster like Virgin Media Television having several channels also has a responsibility to have sufficient programme content to fill it's schedules especially during prime-time hours. Showing two hour blocks of The Chase on two of it's channels plus an Australian version on it's third channel on the same day suggests a complete lack of respect for it's audience.

AwaitYourReply

Elmo wrote: »

Really only a counter balance to RTÉ in terms of Lifestyle programming and then to a lesser extent News & CA and Sport. Pat Kenny's only being brought back to do specials. Tonight has being do well recently.

It's funny I've never cared all that much for the dual-presenters seated side by side format of "The Tonight Show" with Ivan Yates & Matt Cooper. The show needed one heavy hitter but anytime I've watched it I came away feeling it's going through the motions. Vincent Browne in his early years on The Tonight Show was a lot more dynamic and willing to take risks. Virgin Media Television needed to find someone of that stature although; I recognise there will never be another Vincent Browne type figure. I wonder why former TV3 News political editor, Ursula Halligan departed from TV3 Group as she brought her own unique style to coverage.

Pat Kenny is under-used on Virgin Media Television and would probably have been willing to do one night a week in addition to his 5 mornings on NewsTalk 106-108. Not sure if he still gets paid same contract terms if and when the station decides not to broadcast The Big Debate on a regular basis. Gogglebox Ireland which is enjoyable but is off air more often than it's on - we're looking at repeats of that show of late!

hotmail.com

The issue for me with having Matt and Ivan as presenters is that it minimises media diversity. Both presenters ask almost identical questions and take the same angle in the tv programme as with their radio programmes.

It's almost pointless to watch if you've listened to any of their radio shows.

A fresh face and back to one presenter and offers an alternative to Prime Time. I always thought Vincent Browne provided this nicely. It's a pity he had to retire.

Any data on the ratings for news bulletins lately? They must be experiencing a ratings boom with the interest in Corona.

AwaitYourReply

hotmail.com wrote: »

The issue for me with having Matt and Ivan as presenters is that it minimises media diversity. Both presenters ask almost identical questions and take the same angle in the tv programme as with their radio programmes.

It's almost pointless to watch if you've listened to any of their radio shows.

A fresh face and back to one presenter and offers an alternative to Prime Time. I always thought Vincent Browne provided this nicely. It's a pity he had to retire.

Any data on the ratings for news bulletins lately? They must be experiencing a ratings boom with the interest in Corona.

I think you raise an excellent point about plurality in news & current affairs in the tv/radio broadcast media.

Only way I could imagine Pat Kenny doing multiple nights in the same week on tv would be if he was after departing his daily NewsTalk radio show as he has made it known in the past that he would only do one night on tv while doing his daily morning radio show.

Perhaps a former political journalist of the same calibre of David Davin-Power who had to retire from RTÉ when he reached 65. I think he would be a credible candidate with plenty of experience as he sometimes appears on tv/radio shows as a guest contributor. His last role was political editor of RTÉ News if I recall. Others may include Ursula Halligan, Cathal McCoille, Richard Crowley, Mark Little, David McWilliams, Tom McGurk etc;

Elmo

hotmail.com wrote: »

The issue for me with having Matt and Ivan as presenters is that it minimises media diversity. Both presenters ask almost identical questions and take the same angle in the tv programme as with their radio programmes.

It's almost pointless to watch if you've listened to any of their radio shows.

A fresh face and back to one presenter and offers an alternative to Prime Time. I always thought Vincent Browne provided this nicely. It's a pity he had to retire.

Any data on the ratings for news bulletins lately? They must be experiencing a ratings boom with the interest in Corona.

I think the idea is that Matt is a lefty and Yeats is a righty, and that the questions should be different from both.

Less than 152,000 viewers for news in Feb for adults but much of the top 20 on medialive is taken up with Six Nations and Soaps.

AwaitYourReply

I would like to see Virgin Media Television take more calculated risks like it's predecessor TV3 Group was forced to do during the economic downturn when the now defunct "UTV Ireland" managed to acquire the rights to a lot of it's high ratings programmes like Coronation Street, Emmerdale, Graham Norton Show and so on. During this period when commercial advertising was dropping significantly, TV3 Group still managed to commission and show Irish based drama (i.e.) "RedRock" which it later sold internationally to broadcasters like the BBC. It seems to import a lot of shows or else run Irish versions of identical show concepts like "Gogglebox Ireland", "Ireland's Got Talent", "Don't Look Back in Anger" etc;

As much as I like Gogglebox on Channel 4, there can be crossover of the various programmes being reviewed on Gogglebox & Gogglebox Ireland albeit by parties based in Ireland Vs UK.

We have long reached saturation point with all of the singing, dancing, talent competitions not to mention reality tv formats from, The X Factor/Xtra Factor, Britain's Got Talent, America's Got Talent, Ireland's Got Talent, The Voice UK, Dancing On Ice, I'm a Celebrity Get Me Outta Here, Love Island etc;

RTÉ has been showing "Reeling In The Years" almost to death for many years so; I do not get why Virgin Media Television needed another vehicle to look back at past years news/events against a musical soundtrack.

Why can't we have Irish themed quiz/game shows, more Irish drama series (not just one-off mini-series) and quality material that is NOT currently available on the other main channels. Virgin Media Television seems too much like a carbon copy of ITV which would be understandable if the audience could not access ITV although; nowadays most of urban & rural Ireland can watch ITV via digital satellite/cable. It's a bit like the high street in a town/city full of international stores instead of Irish stores with the odd international retailer. There should be more creativity/imagination used when putting together programme schedules on the various tv channels. I think viewers will respond to originality if it is dynamic, fresh & compelling.

str8talkingguy

Anyone know how to get Virgin media sport? is it on saorview for the Liverpool game,been searching online and not getting anywhere.

AwaitYourReply

str8talkingguy wrote: »

Anyone know how to get Virgin media sport? is it on saorview for the Liverpool game,been searching online and not getting anywhere.

You will NOT be able to watch Virgin Media Sport channel on Saorview unlike the other three Virgin Media Television channels as this particular channel is not free-to-air.

Viewers can only access Virgin Media Sport channel as follows:

Virgin Media (Ireland) on it's Cable TV system
Channel 116 & 400 (SD)
Channel 430 (HD)
Channel 451–456 (Extra 1–6; SD)
Channels 471–476 (Extra 1–6 HD)

If you are an eir Broadband subscriber, Virgin Media Sport channels on Sky are provided by eir in their eir Sport Pack.
You probably need to go through eir first rather than Sky Ireland as far as I understand but I'm open to correction on this.

Sky (Ireland) Channel 422 (HD)

IPTV
eir Vision (Ireland)
Channel 422 (SD),
Channel 423-424 (Extra 1-2; SD)

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virgin_Media_Sport_(TV_channel)

icdg

You can still subscribe to the eir Sport pack standalone if that’s what you want, €150 for the year is the best deal (or you can pay €19.99 for first two months then a ridiculous €29.99 per month).

The game is also on BT Sport.

VM are showing the other Champions League tie, PSG v Dortmund, on VM Two.

str8talkingguy

Just trapped into a bad package with Vodafone for another few months.

Decided to watch the PSG game and was trying to shut off any news of the Liverpool game to watch the highlights after.

Virgin then had to go and destroy that idea at half time by revealing the current score and teasing me how i can turn over to virgin media sports to watch the rest of that game.

No i can't i don't have Virgin media sport.

dulpit

You can't really blame virgin media for highlighting the big match on their paid channel though, can you? The whole point is to drive customers that way...

iseegirls

In fairness to VM, they switched to live coverage of the Liverpool match from extra time on Virgin Media Two.

iseegirls

Possible big news from the Taoiseach soon. RTE one are live with news, while on Virgin Media One there is itv's This Morning, Virgin Media Two - itv's Peter Andres 60 minute Makeover, and Virgin Media Three - itv's Guess The House.

dulpit

News/current affairs/elections show the massive difference between the approach and performance of RTÉ and Virgin Media. They're not even playing in the same league...

iseegirls

I know they switched to news on VM One soon after, but it just highlighted at that particular hour the lack of diversity of their programmes across the 3 channels. All 3 are aimed at the same group, and all from the same ITV portfolio.

Elmo

iseegirls wrote: »

Possible big news from the Taoiseach soon. RTE one are live with news, while on Virgin Media One there is itv's This Morning, Virgin Media Two - itv's Peter Andres 60 minute Makeover, and Virgin Media Three - itv's Guess The House.

Are Virgin Media still opting to have UK only competitions on This Morning, rather than replacing them with their own competitions.

hotmail.com

Virgin didn't show the speech this morning even though they were on air with a special programme. Either RTE didn't give them permission to use the footage or else Virgin didn't bother to get it.

AwaitYourReply

I dipped in/out early morning, then again at 12:30 and later at 7:30pm where Virgin Media One did not show it's scheduled programme "Paul O'Grady's For The Love of Dogs" - instead it had an extended "NEWS Special" from 7:30pm - not sure of it filled 60 minutes slot. I presume The Tonight Show will also cover this emergency situation.

iseegirls

Main schedule changes yesterday on VM1 were:
11.30-1 News Special
4.30-6 News Special
7.30-8.30 News Special
10.00-11.30 Tonight Show extended

The Line Out didn't move anywhere - Possibly not filmed in the end. This Morning's second hour went to VM2.

lertsnim

hotmail.com wrote: »

Virgin didn't show the speech this morning even though they were on air with a special programme. Either RTE didn't give them permission to use the footage or else Virgin didn't bother to get it.

Virgin wouldn't have needed permission to show that.

Elmo

Don't really understand why they don't properly define their channels

VM1 - Home Produced programming/ITV Soap/Weekend Entertainment
VM2 - VM Sport/Daytime ITV/ITV Reality/Youth
VM3 - ITV archive/VM1 repeats/ITV Quizshows

iseegirls

Looks like Ireland AM will be taking a further hit. This time due to Coronavirus.

On digiguide, on Wednesday and Thursday, they have Ireland AM scheduled just for one hour at 9am. May The Best House Win double bill at 6.10, and The Tonight Show repeat at 8. Elaine and T6OCS remain for now.

dublinman1990

Episodes for Coronation Street & Emmerdale have also taken a hit as well because of the virus.

Coronation Street will be cut down from 6 episodes to 3 episodes a week.

Emmerdale will be reduced to 5 episodes a week.

Also; I heard on the BBC News at 6 this evening that the airing of The Voice UK Semi-final & Final have been postponed.

https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-51943592