The Virgin Media Television thread

irishfeen

Its absolutely terrible... not one show i'll be watching..

channelsurfer2

you have to hand it to them for optimism and PR spin.

irishfeen

channelsurfer2 wrote: »

you have to hand it to them for optimism and PR spin.

They kidding no one with that announcement I would hazard a guess - they might be lucky to survive through to the RWC in all seriousness..

Onthe3rdDay

It does appear to be game over for TV3.

There are one or two shows that might be okay. However many included in the 38 new series appear to only have 2 episodes in total and many of the shows aren't starting until January next year.

Even the one big thing today which was the UFC, doesn't appear to be what it says at first. It seems that it's day after transmission. So your big UFC fans will continue to watch live.

I had doubts that UFC would be a big draw when there's no Irish Contestant and now it appears it won't be live and not in HD. The real fans will stick with current broadcasters, and I don't think there's that big a market on a month by month basis. One or two fans have complained that there were far too many Ads on 3e when they broadcast the fight last month. I will say here that even if it is live, the months that there's no Irish fighter could leas to low figures. Plus Will 3e have a load of other programmes for the same audience, or will the UFC stick out like a sore thumb.

Elmo

There are two options for sports that don't have timed breaks, though I would have though that a round in a fight has a certain number of minutes so this prob doesn't apply.

1. Advertising at appropriate points but pause proceedings, you staff can then decide to move past certain parts of such a sport, Golf is the only example I can give.
2. Or on screen advertising.

Though a good TV station could count up to the first ad break in a fight IMO.

Onthe3rdDay

Elmo wrote: »

There are two options for sports that don't have timed breaks, though I would have though that a round in a fight has a certain number of minutes so this prob doesn't apply.

1. Advertising at appropriate points but pause proceedings, you staff can then decide to move past certain parts of such a sport, Golf is the only example I can give.
2. Or on screen advertising.

Though a good TV station could count up to the first ad break in a fight IMO.

TV3 should take a leaf out of the book of NBC Sports in the US. They transmit the Premier league and have a lot of advertising going on around the clock and the score in the top left hand corner. However, it isn't that distracting. You actually get used to it quickly.

Elmo

LIFE is the name of the new daily show

http://www.tv3.ie/pr_sub.php?type=1&view_pr=618

Infoanon

Being discussed on Newstalk at the moment with Jeff Forde, George giving him a fairly easy ride on what is a very disappointing line up.

Communicorp arrangement was brought up and the reply was its 'an informal arrangement'.

Overall very very poor, UFC is a niche market - remove the hype about the recent Irish event and see it from an advertisers point if view (side note, thus BT not have the exclusive live rights) and the big event Rugby World Cup can be viewed in HD on UTV NI with a worse case scenario of the station being limited to circa 59% of the population.

Sam Russell

Rugby World Cup in HD is available to 100% of the population through Freesat. Just get a dish and a FreesatHD receiver and you can get excellent TV for free.

Infoanon

Sam Russell wrote: »

Rugby World Cup in HD is available to 100% of the population through Freesat. Just get a dish and a FreesatHD receiver and you can get excellent TV for free.

My point was that even if UTV NI is pulled from UPC that a significant proportion of the population will still be able to view UTV NI.

btw no mention of a HD launch anytime soon.

Infoanon

More holes in the line up - some of the announced shows maybe just aspirational - No TDs have signed up for the show 'living with a TD' !

mikom

Infoanon wrote: »

No TDs have signed up for the show 'living with a TD' !

The Tallifornia crew have been roped in, and the show is to be retitled........
'Living with an STD'

Onthe3rdDay

I am finding it bizarre that the cheerleaders for TV3 seem to have disappeared today. They would normally give some balance to the discussion.

Fred Swanson

This post has been deleted.

Onthe3rdDay

To be Honest It's a lot worse than I expected. They've over hyped the season. There's almost nothing new. This lad from TMZ isn't a big star as TV3 seem to think he is, in fact there are a lot of people in the target age group that have a problem with him because of comments he made on TMZ about Ireland.

Mentioning SKY in your press release and quoting inaccurate figures is nuts. Don't go and remind the Advertisers who's got the GAA games now. The UFC with the greatest respect is a minority interest at best. Having said that most UFC fans watch it elsewhere in HD. They say Sport is a big winner this year pointing out their Champions league Coverage. I hope they do know that half their viewers for those matches are now watching ITV on HD. Remember those figures for other ITV regions are not measured by TAM as far as I'm aware. As the weeks go by more and more realize the better picture quality elsewhere.

They've totally sidelined Anton Savage with this new show which a rehash of a old Derek Mooney Show. There's confusion here because it says that it's three sixty minute shows on the press release, but elsewhere from TV3 it says it's 6 eps.

Blind Date is just a replacement for Take Me Out and like many of the shows it's a short ep run of 8.

They seem to have bought no foreign product of any real note except Dallas.

It's hard to say much else because outside of Red Rock there appears to be nothing that will keep people coming back to the station week to week. Many of the shows they've mentioned have only 3, 4 and 6 week runs. There's no mention of Crossfire, which I thought was much better than the Lie.

A lot of their shows are Documentaries which some should be good, but generally the standard is much lower in those shows compared to Docs on RTE, TG4, and Setanta.

There has been no formal announcement from TV3 and Communicorp and now it's an 'informal arrangement' all of a sudden. There's no mention of HD anytime soon other than WRC will be covered in HD. I find it likely that they will launch HD on Cable only and then claim most people are covered.

However, there's now a very real chance they won't be around (Unless a white knight arrives) by the time the Rugby comes around. Advertisers aren't going to put up with second rate shows that don't get the ratings that are required. There seems to be no effort to build up shows before the big change on January 1st. Remember there's no Xfactor, No Downton Abbey and No Britians Got Talent in January, February and March. All they'll have ratings wise is Champion's League on a Tuesday and those viewers will drift away unless HD is introduced.

They will be going from average audiences from 7-00 to 9.00 at about 300,000 to under 100,000 overnight. In anyone's book that means you can only expect a third to a half of the income. The one or two things that might be good have no back up so the soap fails because there's no lead in audience.

icdg

They're quoting the Rugby World Cup without mentioning that it is part of the 2015-16 season, not this one!

Anyways back to this year and there's little of note apart from Red Rock, which has been well trailed, and the UFC deal for 3e which is largely late weekend nights when there's not exactly a whole pile of viewers for advertisers. The rest of it all seems cheap and cheerful factual and light entertainment programming.

Onthe3rdDay

icdg wrote: »

They're quoting the Rugby World Cup without mentioning that it is part of the 2015-16 season, not this one!

Anyways back to this year and there's little of note apart from Red Rock, which has been well trailed, and the UFC deal for 3e which is largely late weekend nights when there's not exactly a whole pile of viewers for advertisers. The rest of it all seems cheap and cheerful factual and light entertainment programming.

I wouldn't use the word Cheerful for much of it's entertainment. It's the type of stuff you find on in a Institution where no one can switch the channel over.

Elmo

It seems to me that there will be few new shows before christmas, maybe one or two of the light entertainment weekend programmes and one doc a week.

Come Jan you'll see all of these shows running up to Sept which brings them to the RWC and as ICDG rightly points out will form part of their 2015/2016 launch.

Onthe3rdDay

Elmo wrote: »

It seems to me that there will be few new shows before christmas, maybe one or two of the light entertainment weekend programmes and one doc a week.

Come Jan you'll see all of these shows running up to Sept which brings them to the RWC and as ICDG rightly points out will form part of their 2015/2016 launch.

I'd agree with this, but it's a nutcase approach to the problem. You'll have the ridiculous situation on the 5th of January where UTV will have a line up that will offer the viewer all their favourites. Meanwhile on TV3 they have a brand new line up that's anchored by Xpose and an evening show that's a mash up of Nationwide and Ireland AM.

Meanwhile if UTV's News Service is even half decent, every advertiser in the country will flock to the station. Plus who's to say that people will get their fill of Current Affairs and news at 10, it could really hit Vincent Browne's figures.

irishmusicfeed

TV3 Group's announcement today is very disappointing. I expected more US acquisitions with a mixture of new homegrown programming. It is a shame its current investors have zero interest in the channels future by rehashing the same material over and over. Many jobs are at risk because of the lack of vision for the networks brands etc. At this stage its investors should be throwing money at it to make it attractable to a future buyer after all Doughty Hanson & Co want to sell the channel.... Obviously the "informal agreements" between Communicorp and TV3 Group suggests something is in the pipeline.

TV3 still relying on ITV is pathetic purchasing Celebrity Juice is unnecessary (already available on ITV2 YAWN!). Despite UTV's entry there is still enough room for both TV3 and 3e they just need a new management team who actually know how to operate a TV channel.

Sad time @tv3

Onthe3rdDay

irishmusicfeed wrote: »

TV3 Group's announcement today is very disappointing. I expected more US acquisitions with a mixture of new homegrown programming. It is a shame its current investors have zero interest in the channels future by rehashing the same material over and over. Many jobs are at risk because of the lack of vision for the networks brands etc. At this stage its investors should be throwing money at it to make it attractable to a future buyer after all Doughty Hanson & Co want to sell the channel.... Obviously the "informal agreements" between Communicorp and TV3 Group suggests something is in the pipeline.

TV3 still relying on ITV is pathetic purchasing Celebrity Juice is unnecessary (already available on ITV2 YAWN!). Despite UTV's entry there is still enough room for both TV3 and 3e they just need a new management team who actually know how to operate a TV channel.

Sad time @tv3

TV3 have had this lack of vision for a long time. I'm actually not one to be negative in general. TV and Radio are tough businesses and I am usually willing to give companies and people a chance. However, TV3 would be the exception, after years of false starts and promises. Many of the claims they make are just not true. They have problems with UTV so they play the foreign station card, when in reality they're the foreign station with foreign owners with all their hits coming from across the water.

They've been promising HD since 2006, they have gotten 150million off of the Irish Taxpayer. If it were any other country they would have closed years ago and a new better broadcaster would be in place. They left huge parts of the country with no signal what so ever with Those that rebeamed BBC and ITV resorting to rebeaming TV3 as well.

They have problems with their bills. they're constantly complaining about everything and wouldn't even use the ITV Library correctly. Repeating the same shows over and over again so that figures would rise.

They're one of the main reasons that advertisers go aboard to Advertise on TV. RTE1 and 2 give them a certain sections of the audience, TV3 should give them other sections. They fail in that task.

The best thing that could happen is if they had someone come in and buy them. Look at Management and clear out those that can't do their job properly. Then restart. However, it would be a lot easier to leave TV3 fail and then apply for the licence when it was re-advertised.

That's why Commuicorp is their last hope. Many of the decisions made by that company have nothing to do with profit and loss. Newstalk should have closed years ago if it were a normal company. However, if they don't want it I can see TV3 closing sometime in the next 18 months.

Onthe3rdDay

irishmusicfeed wrote: »

TV3 still relying on ITV is pathetic purchasing Celebrity Juice is unnecessary (already available on ITV2 YAWN!)

Why would anyone buy a show that promotes people that appear on your main Rival???:eek:

irishfeen

Still recon sometime like this would be much better - One TV3 channel in HD, with quality home produced stuff increasing over time at prime time.

07:00 Ireland AM
10:00 3 Kids: The Den – (Studio based show with classic/new homegrown shows)
12:00 3News: w/ Sybil Mulchay and Elaine Crowley.
12:30 Xpose.
13:00 Come Dine with Me.
13:30 Judge Judy
14:00 The Jeremy Kyle Show
15:00 The Chase
16:00 The Cube
17:00 Friends
17:30 The Lie
18:00 That 70’s Show
18:30 The Big Bang Theory
19:00 3 News: w/ Anton Savage and Collette Fitzpatrick
19:30 Red Rock
20:00 Gogglebox
20:30 The Middle
21:30 American Dad
22:00 Tonight With Vincent Browne
23:00 Conan
00:00 Family Guy
00:30 The Cleveland Show

Elmo

They lost Conan when that new FTA channel started up. They never really respected it.

3e need new US programmes not repeats.

They should have got Celebrity Juice ages ago but its about late now.

irishfeen

Elmo wrote: »

They lost Conan when that new FTA channel started up. They never really respected it.

3e need new US programmes not repeats.

They should have got Celebrity Juice ages ago but its about late now.

The vast vast majority of (good - must see) US programming is already broadcast here or in England... they Americans for the most actually make awful television - we only get to see the good stuff.

Elmo

irishfeen wrote: »

The vast vast majority of (good - must see) US programming is already broadcast here or in England... they Americans for the most actually make awful television - we only get to see the good stuff.

Yeah I agree not really taking about their bad programmes. But repeating That 70s Show in prime time, if they were to fight back they'd have got series from the states like Gotham, Arrow, Vampire Diaries, Flash, Reign, The 100. Daytime repeats of Smallville, One Tree Hill. Largely The CW there, but even getting rights to shows that have already had a run on Sky but not on terrestrial TV.

Onthe3rdDay

They need Decent programmes from the US, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. They could also be buying stuff from Europe. It might be hard to find decent shows from the US market, but it's not the case with the other three. There are plenty of good series that could be shown that haven't been on the Main channels or not on this side of the world at all.

TG4 shamed TV3 yesterday with what they offer themselves and the programmes they bought.

Cork_chick_94

what days/ time will red rock be on ? Tuesdays and Thursdays @8.30 maybe ?

Onthe3rdDay

Cork_chick_94 wrote: »

what days/ time will red rock be on ? Tuesdays and Thursdays @8.30 maybe ?

I don't think they have a choice. All the other times during the week are taken by other soaps. It would in theory be the same audience. However, they'll only have 40 weeks of the year covered if they're only making 80 episodes. When fair City Started they didn't have it on during the summer and figures used to be down by the time the autumn came around. However TV3 might not be around next autumn...

dublinman1990

TV3 really do look like a poor man's broadcaster when they launched that new schedule today. Dear god what a load of rubbish to look at.

Apart from Vincent Browne, the lot of that stuff out from them being cast as 'new' is not going to suit my programming tastes any time soon. The huge holes in the schedules in whenever they have a gap at the weekends is going to be hugely embarrassing for the station and for the viewers alike.

Their 'informal arrangement' with Newscorp, the unveiling of TV3 sports programmes in HD better happen before time will crawl up on them and hit them where it hurts in their marginally low viewership figures.

I cannot understand the cheek of all cheek in Irish broadcasting terms that TV3 would mention to UTV, that will come in to set up a TV channel in the republic, that they are a foreign owned station. Realistically, if they had that cheek to mention to someone in the North who doesn't work for the sister station, their response would be of outlandish and rude behavior on TV3's part towards our nearest neighbours across the border.

Or it will be a entirely stupid move altogether from TV3 as they are already a foreign owned station. So, in real terms, their comment will come up as nothing other than a big boot in the backsides for the guys at Ballymount.