The ITV Thread

firestarter51

irishfeen wrote: »

Well I think UTV are now in no doubt what UPC customers think of their new channel - I haven't hardly found a good comment on their Twitter account ... Everytime they post something new people are giving them a bollocking - welcome to the south lads

im sure they wont lose any sleep over it
why havent upc got utv ireland anyway, is it a cost issue ?

channelsurfer2

I wonder though will they pay any attention to comments? The news I can see having a high viewership tonight purely out of interest but after that it will bomb significantly when rte1 has primetime on against it.

iseegirls

Judge wrote: »

On the subject of simulcasting, I had assumed that UTV Ireland would simulcast the ITV dramas they had the rights to. Not so. New series of Foyle's War started on ITV and proper UTV last night. What did UTV Ireland show? An episode of the series broadcast on proper UTV about 3-4 years ago. :mad:

Again, another waste of 2 hours where the viewer could have watched a new episode, but again were treated to a repeat.

The reaction on twitter and facebook for both UPC and UTV ireland is very bad indeed. The latest poll on The Journal asking whether people will watch the news on it tonight was at 16% saying yes, meanwhile a lot of the comments are all negative. Although the comments on The Journal can be pure rubbish at times.

I'd love to know whether TV3 have had many inquiries about where Emmerdale and Coronation Street have gone.

Seanachai

iseegirls wrote: »

Again, another waste of 2 hours where the viewer could have watched a new episode, but again were treated to a repeat.

The reaction on twitter and facebook for both UPC and UTV ireland is very bad indeed. The latest poll on The Journal asking whether people will watch the news on it tonight was at 16% saying yes, meanwhile a lot of the comments are all negative. Although the comments on The Journal can be pure rubbish at times.

I'd love to know whether TV3 have had many inquiries about where Emmerdale and Coronation Street have gone.

The station just has a really naff, hokey feel to it. Unless they really up their game this is going to be a major flop.

irishfeen

firestarter51 wrote: »

im sure they wont lose any sleep over it
why havent upc got utv ireland anyway, is it a cost issue ?

UPC have UTVI now but that's exactly what's driving people mad - they and UPC will lose sleep of this sentiment continues - UPC could start losing customers!

irishfeen

Seanachai wrote: »

The station just has a really naff, hokey feel to it. Unless they really up their game this is going to be a major flop.

Well it's fine for those of us with Sky who never had UTV on the epg anyway but to take UTVNI away from UPC was a terrible and maybe very costly mistake.

TV3 must be delighted with the current reaction!

doc11

irishfeen wrote: »

Well it's fine for those of us with Sky who never had UTV on the epg anyway but to take UTVNI away from UPC was a terrible and maybe very costly mistake.

TV3 must be delighted with the current reaction!

If tv3 ever get back the rights to the ITV stuff they'll have zero competition on cable too.

lertsnim

irishfeen wrote: »

UPC could start losing customers!

It will be a very small number of people if they do start losing them. And I am sure they'll be offered a sweetener when they try to cancel. The over reaction to this new channel has been quite extraordinary.

doc11

lertsnim wrote: »

It will be a very small number of people if they do start losing them. And I am sure they'll be offered a sweetener when they try to cancel. The over reaction to this new channel has been quite extraordinary.

Bar good morning Britain I can't see the great loss of UTVNI. UTVNI had a tiny market share and most of that would be made up of people watching the soaps anyway. There's just a certain section of Irish society that love to complain.

irishfeen

lertsnim wrote: »

It will be a very small number of people if they do start losing them. And I am sure they'll be offered a sweetener when they try to cancel. The over reaction to this new channel has been quite extraordinary.

You would be surprised I think - they are hiking their prices in Feb too from what I gather .. From the reaction on social media they must be slightly uneasy about the bollocking UTV and themselves are getting.

irishfeen

doc11 wrote: »

Bar good morning Britain I can't see the great loss of UTVNI. UTVNI had a tiny market share and most of that would be made up of people watching the soaps anyway. There's just a certain section of Irish society that love to complain.

Films, ITN news and Champions league seems to be the big issue of complaint.

channelsurfer2

its not a certain section of society. 95% of the comments have been negative especially UPC viewers who now go from having a choice to no choice.

irishfeen

channelsurfer2 wrote: »

its not a certain section of society. 95% of the comments have been negative especially UPC viewers who now go from having a choice to no choice.

Looking at Twitter you see loads of best wishes for UTV on the morning of the launch and then the realisation that UTVNI was gone from UPC (where the fcuk is The Dark Knight gone??) and since then it's just constant negativity.

knealecat

Does this mean all the England football matches wont be shown??

I just hope ITV/UTV don't outbid BBC1 for MATCH OF THE DAY.

gordongekko

knealecat wrote: »

Does this mean all the England football matches wont be shown??

I just hope ITV/UTV don't outbid BBC1 for MATCH OF THE DAY.

And what if channel 5 do instead?

Judge

The thing is that proper UTV has been a core part of the UPC offering for decades, going back to the days of NTL, Cablelink, etc. I'm even old enough to remember when they were Phoenix Relays. The replacement of proper UTV with ersatz UTV could shake a lot of people out of the inertia that has kept them with the company for years and into looking at alternatives. They did lose a fair number of subscribers when ITV 2-4 left UPC a few years back: that's why the company fought to have them restored and made such a big deal in adverts when they came back. I think losing proper UTV is a big blow for them. The change would be acceptable if ersatz UTV simulcast the ITV programmes they have the rights to and TV3 also simulcast the ITV programmes it has but since it seems neither plan to do this, it is a problem.

From my own perspective, I have stuck with UPC over the years because I never felt that Sky offered a killer reason to switch. The closest for me has been the exclusivity of Sky Atlantic but, up to now, I was never willing to accept the trade off of not having proper UTV on the EPG and therefore not being able to record programmes on Sky+. Right now, Sky is suddenly a much more tempting prospect since ersatz UTV is effectively useless to me.

irishfeen

Judge wrote: »

The thing is that proper UTV has been a core part of the UPC offering for decades, going back to the days of NTL, Cablelink, etc. I'm even old enough to remember when they were Phoenix Relays. The replacement of proper UTV with ersatz UTV could shake a lot of people out of the inertia that has kept them with the company for years and into looking at alternatives. They did lose a fair number of subscribers when ITV 2-4 left UPC a few years back: that's why the company fought to have them restored and made such a big deal in adverts when they came back. I think losing proper UTV is a big blow for them. The change would be acceptable if ersatz UTV simulcast the ITV programmes they have the rights to and TV3 also simulcast the ITV programmes it has but since it seems neither plan to do this, it is a problem.

From my own perspective, I have stuck with UPC over the years because I never felt that Sky offered a killer reason to switch. The closest for me has been the exclusivity of Sky Atlantic but, up to now, I was never willing to accept the trade off of not having proper UTV on the EPG and therefore not being able to record programmes on Sky+. Right now, Sky is suddenly a much more tempting prospect since ersatz UTV is effectively useless to me.

You are exactly the type of customer that UPC can't lose - and you are not alone with that opinion. As I said I'd be surprised if we didn't see UTVNI back soon.

iseegirls

Have many TV sections changed in the papers and magazines?

I looked at the Indo today and they've split the column in half, top half UTV Ireland, 2nd half UTV NI. It just gives you the chance every day to compare what we are missing out on. The moving of The Chase start a half an hour later is mind-boggling. I would try and keep the schedule to exactly what it is on UTVNI to the rights they have.

channelsurfer2

knealecat wrote: »

Does this mean all the England football matches wont be shown??

I just hope ITV/UTV don't outbid BBC1 for MATCH OF THE DAY.

This will be the real kick in the teeth for UPC viewers and the test of UTVIRL if ITV have money to outbid BBC, which it seems is a very real possibility. RTE baulked at paying just over €1.3million per year for highlights of premiership matches, so are UTVIRL now going to pay that much if ITV do get the rights? I don't know how much Setanta eventually paid for them but the scenario could be that its only UTV(which UPC viewers had) and not UTVIRL.

um7y1h83ge06nx

Well worth getting a FTA satellite receiver, or even better a Freesat branded box for ease of use.

That combined with my Saorview means I can get every ITV regional variation for a one off cost.

lertsnim

knealecat wrote: »

I just hope ITV/UTV don't outbid BBC1 for MATCH OF THE DAY.

If that did happen at least you still have highlights at no extra cost on Setanta.

channelsurfer2

iseegirls wrote: »

Have many TV sections changed in the papers and magazines?

I looked at the Indo today and they've split the column in half, top half UTV Ireland, 2nd half UTV NI. It just gives you the chance every day to compare what we are missing out on. The moving of The Chase start a half an hour later is mind-boggling. I would try and keep the schedule to exactly what it is on UTVNI to the rights they have.

Irish Mirror has only UTVIrl listings. UTV listings are gone.

JONJO THE MISER

Its a complete joke of a channel, i was all for giving it a chance but it really is the dogs dinner.
How the management of this channel have the nerve to show us complete and utter tripe i will never know.

What is more annoying is that the management haven't come out to respond to all the negative feedback on social media with a comment justifying their schedule!

Atlantic Dawn

Initially I thought there was going to be UTV except for the news, X Factor and anything else already sold to TV3, it's shocking the rubbish films and lack of sport they have, was expecting them to keep as UTV for this.

Elmo

They really should have called it something else. Channel 7 or even Channel 5 as its not used in Ireland or TV5/Station 5 or something anything really.

The fact that they didn't announce any programmes outside their ITV programmes was a major hint IMO.

galtee boy

Guys, give it a chance, it's not even on air a week yet ! As I said in a previous post, from 8.30 this morning to 9pm tonight, the schedules of both UTVs is the same. But since they showed an old Foyles War last night instead of the new series, I can't guarantee that the same episode of each programme was shown today. UTVI have said that their plan is to replicate the UTV NI / ITV schedule as much as possible, except for news and current affairs obviously . What's the big problem if the odd show or series is shown on a different night ? How many viewers did ITN news have in ROI ? Tiny I would think and UPC viewers have BBC News channel, that Sky don't have. and is it not the case, that whatever CL game is on UTV on a Tues/Wed night, is also on either TV3 or RTE2 ? It will take time and perhaps all the moaning and groaning from UPC customers, will speed up the process of UTVI simulcasting UTV, but the schedules will never be 100% identical due to news etc, but in time, the difference will be insignificant .

JDxtra

Interestingly, the MD of UTV has replied to a load of tweets. TV3 have even responded to one of them claiming exclusivity to Broadchurch. Social media wars!

https://twitter.com/MW_UTV/status/552095257870217217

JDxtra

I think they underestimated how ingrained UTV was with UPC viewers. I suppose it's been in place for decades, so they know it inside out.

Showing an old series of Foyle's War at the same time ITV are showing the new series is a massive mistake. Then to claim it allows viewers to "catch up" is ridiculous.

United road

lertsnim wrote: »

If that did happen at least you still have highlights at no extra cost on Setanta.

Well its hardly the same is it?
What a statement.