The ITV Thread

AwaitYourReply

channelsurfer2 wrote: »

do they not have someone there to manually override the automatic schedule on a Sunday night? Surely they would have to have someone there for things like this.

UTV Ireland is not the only broadcaster that is careless in this way. I have often noticed incorrect continuity announcements/voiceovers on TV3 too and it can be very irritating at times. It would suggest that all or indeed most of these programme announcements are pre-recorded well in-advance and are definitely "NOT LIVE" these days.

Elmo

AwaitYourReply wrote: »

ITV would love to just run it like one of the Sky channels which only differ by running Republic of Ireland commercial breaks but they would quickly come under pressure from competitors like TV3, RTÉ etc; voicing complaints to the relevant authorities here to relinquish key position slots if they were to abuse their position by not adhering to certain things.

Firstly the only key position that UTV Ireland has is on saorview, secondly neither the government nor the BAI have much interest in enforcing any amount of regulation.

IMO if ITV dropped its Irish News it would retain 6% share and why should their competitors be put out by that after all both allowed promotion of such shows on there channels.

As such UTV Ireland has no real commitments to the regulator.

AwaitYourReply

Elmo wrote: »

Firstly the only key position that UTV Ireland has is on saorview, secondly neither the government nor the BAI have much interest in enforcing any amount of regulation.

IMO if ITV dropped its Irish News it would retain 6% share and why should their competitors be put out by that after all both allowed promotion of such shows on there channels.

As such UTV Ireland has no real commitments to the regulator.

I hear what you are saying about government & the BAI in relation to regulation. That said; I don't think these things always run in a straight-forward way. If ITV (as new owners of UTV Ireland) was to decide in the future to ditch Irish news output and stop/avoid commissioning Irish programming content down the road, the other broadcasters are hardly gonna remain quiet as they are not going to be bound by certain rules while others are allowed to flaunt them without any repercussions to follow.

While I agree the regulator's office may prefer to stay quiet as long as possible, if the other broadcasters kick up such a prolonged stink and make a strong enough case, I think the regulator would then eventually be forced to get involved to justify it's own existence more than anything else.

Whether or not competitors of UTV Ireland had in the past allowed adverts on their own channels does not preclude them from expressing their dissatisfaction if they strongly believe that future changes at the channel meant that they were no longer fulfilling the licence remit they were given which is only 12months old. Any negative publicity generated whereby RTÉ, TV3, TG4 etc; chooses to play the "Irish Card" will effectively give them free publicity and perhaps more brand loyalty from TV viewers.

2016 will be another interesting year for Television & Other Media in Ireland, the UK and beyond with changes of ownership, technological developments and so on.

icdg

AwaitYourReply wrote: »

I reckon the new owners will run it as similarly as possible to that of UTV (NI) model and once various contracts run out they will almost be identical except for a token local Irish news update just to ensure it fulfills its remit as an Irish (PSB) Public Service Broadcaster so that it is entitled to retain it's existing key channel position slots on various tv viewing platforms. I imagine UTV Irela nd's new owners (i.e.) ITV would love to just run it like one of the Sky channels which only differ by running Republic of Ireland commercial breaks but they would quickly come under pressure from competitors like TV3, RTÉ etc; voicing complaints to the relevant authorities here to relinquish key position slots if they were to abuse their position by not adhering to certain things.

You say it like its a simple thing, but some of the sports rights contracts signed by ITV for the UK only run for years. It would be 2023 (seven years away!) before UTV Ireland could show the Six Nations, for example, and it could only do that if it won a competitive tender.

What people proposing that UTV Ireland could run like a Sky advertising opt out always miss is that Sky owns Republic of Ireland rights of some form for all its programmes, even if the ROI rights it holds are sometimes non exclusive. It's done that since day one (in fact up until September 1993 Sky One was still available across continental Europe). ITV does not have that luxury and is still buying UK only rights.

Elmo

There are no regulations placed on UTV Ireland. they are defined by the Minister as a PSB for the purposes of appearing on Saorview but in reality the act allows UTV Ireland on Saorview as the platform has space for UTV Ireland.

While UTV Ireland may not have like for like sporting rights by 2017 I imagine they have like for like across a bigger range of programmes.

Also an example of a show that airs on RTÉ but is on ITV is Scott & Bailey this is due to the agreement between RTÉ and BBC worldwide.

Many English broadercasters sell advertising into the Irish market based on spillover alone.

Dodge

icdg wrote: »

What people proposing that UTV Ireland could run like a Sky advertising opt out always miss is that Sky owns Republic of Ireland rights of some form for all its programmes, even if the ROI rights it holds are sometimes non exclusive.

And in fact this year purchased it's first ever Ireland only rights

channelsurfer2

I can't see them investing the 10million or so that they might not have to pay ITV Studios for Corrie etc. in original Irish programming. It will in all likelihood move to a closer schedule, with the exception of the sports rights. At the moment its daft that over 4 hours on Friday is text santa with no Irish charity benifiting, yet they cant show Trevor McDonald in Las Vegas etc. which is equally as irrelevant to Irish audiences.
The schedule is a mess and needs to be sorted out if they are to stop loosing money.

Elmo

channelsurfer2 wrote: »

At the moment its daft that over 4 hours on Friday is text santa with no Irish charity benefiting

What's this now?

Any English lifestyle has to be dropped regardless of if it is Simulcast with ITV. Even TV3 try to simulcast ITV lifestyle and had a hard time getting audience. e.g. even when they renamed it Britain and Ireland's Biggest Loser it could compete with a local programme similar in nature (and a better version of that type of show IMO).

If ITV plan to just simulcast as much as possible then they will eventually drop the news, due to low audiences for Britain's Greatest Garden on a Tuesday Night.

AwaitYourReply

channelsurfer2 wrote: »

I can't see them investing the 10million or so that they might not have to pay ITV Studios for Corrie etc. in original Irish programming. It will in all likelihood move to a closer schedule, with the exception of the sports rights. At the moment its daft that over 4 hours on Friday is text santa with no Irish charity benifiting, yet they cant show Trevor McDonald in Las Vegas etc. which is equally as irrelevant to Irish audiences.
The schedule is a mess and needs to be sorted out if they are to stop loosing money.

What irritates me is the way certain TV shows carried by some UK based broadcasting companies whereby they sometimes invite or encourage viewer participation thru Text/Telephone voting in competitions or audience prize giveaways but are unable to allow UTV Ireland or TV3 viewers to participate. Surely the Irish based broadcasters could have something better arranged in these situations especially if the UK based channel is stipulated from accepting entries from outside it's official broadcasting jurisdiction for obvious reasons.

I seem to recall one of those Quiz puzzle shows that used be broadcast on UTV (NI) around 12midnight about 5+years ago and they promoted one telephone number for those calling from Northern Ireland and another number for Republic of Ireland callers.

Elmo

AwaitYourReply wrote: »

What irritates me is the way certain TV shows carried by some UK based broadcasting companies whereby they sometimes invite or encourage viewer participation thru Text/Telephone voting in competitions or audience prize giveaways but are unable to allow UTV Ireland or TV3 viewers to participate. Surely the Irish based broadcasters could have something better arranged in these situations especially if the UK based channel is stipulated from accepting entries from outside it's official broadcasting jurisdiction for obvious reasons.

I seem to recall one of those Quiz puzzle shows that used be broadcast on UTV (NI) around 12midnight about 5+years ago and they promoted one telephone number for those calling from Northern Ireland and another number for Republic of Ireland callers.

To be honest both TV3 and UTV miss a trick on this one. TV3 could easily replace the X-Factor Competition with their own competition, and would cut to that competition rather than to the pre-recorded X-Factor one. The same with UTV's daytime programming. UTV could easily have a giveaway right throughout the day that they would simple cut to rather than the pre-recorded ones for This Morning.

But then none of the channels here have the slightest bit of imagination, even when it comes to making money.

David McRedmond stating he needed PlayTV when he could have easily had a massive competition for his viewers on Saturday and Sunday night in conjunction with their ITV programmes.

But then it would possibly mean having live Continuity something missing from both TV3 and UTV Ireland.

Would I be surprised if TV3 still carry u.tv, itv.co.uk and stv.tv at the end of their ITV credits? Anyone know?

AwaitYourReply

icdg wrote: »

You say it like its a simple thing, but some of the sports rights contracts signed by ITV for the UK only run for years. It would be 2023 (seven years away!) before UTV Ireland could show the Six Nations, for example, and it could only do that if it won a competitive tender.

What people proposing that UTV Ireland could run like a Sky advertising opt out always miss is that Sky owns Republic of Ireland rights of some form for all its programmes, even if the ROI rights it holds are sometimes non exclusive. It's done that since day one (in fact up until September 1993 Sky One was still available across continental Europe). ITV does not have that luxury and is still buying UK only rights.

Of course it's not a simple thing however; we are talking about the ITV network here which has had a major advantage of studying how and where UTV Media got it so wrong when it came to establishing, launching and running UTV Ireland in the Republic of Ireland to date. Senior Management at ITV must have come up with a credible strategy on how best to proceed with various parts of UTV Media plc Television assets.

Yes I do recall SKY Channel (prior to SKY One) being a pan-European tv channel and programme times would be promoted with various start times CET time/UK Time etc; Super Channel, Lifestyle, Screensport and Music Box or MTV Europe used also promote multiple start times of their shows in the early days. A funny thing about Sky was that their FTV Card T&Cs used state it was for use in the UK & Republic of Ireland but this was not entirely correct as ROI subscribers were not paying their TV Licence Fee to the BBC so; it was strange the T&Cs that accompanied these cards allowed access as the FTV Card was never intended for viewers in Republic of Ireland.

Nearly all of the so called general entertainment channels have issues with sports rights from time to time which is gonna be a similar challenge for the new owners of UTV Ireland moving forward! The channel name always seemed too long altogether. Look at how BBC Scotland was often required to block certain sports events from going out on digital satellite over the years as otherwise; it would become too widely accessible outside it's intended broadcasting jurisdiction. Other programming on digital satellite has often been blocked such as drama/film/some soap opera repeats from time to time on the time-shift channel versions.

There is a post on DS stating that UTV Ireland has been added to the Sky On Demand service! At work so cant verify it!

galtee boy

zorro2566 wrote: »

There is a post on DS stating that UTV Ireland has been added to the Sky On Demand service! At work so cant verify it!

Not yet, it ain't !

galtee boy

galtee boy wrote: »

Not yet, it ain't !

Someone must have been 'jumping the gun' then!

Can someone near a sky plus box check this out?

'If you go into catch up tv, and go to the 2nd page u will find it there'. Another DS post.

Omar C

zorro2566 wrote: »

Can someone near a sky plus box check this out?

'If you go into catch up tv, and go to the 2nd page u will find it there'. Another DS post.

Hi all,

To confirm its on the catch up, utv Ireland is on the second page.

It may not be on every box just yet!

Omar C

Omar C wrote: »

Hi all,

To confirm its on the catch up, utv Ireland is on the second page.

Not on my box, the second page starts with Universal but no UTV Ireland.

Well it's definitely there, photos to prove it (on DS). Not all boxes have it yet though, must be a gradual roll out or maybe boxes need to be restarted!

ziggyman17

The state of the christmas tv line up.. How did these clowns get away with starting up this channel ?

Omar C

It's a joke totally. Hopefully itv close the channel down and launch there own channels
Itv 1,2,3,4 all in hd.

Omsr

twinklerunner

ziggyman17 wrote: »

The state of the christmas tv line up.. How did these clowns get away with starting up this channel ?

I agree, their Christmas schedule is awful.

ftakeith

UTV player on sky catch up, any proof please?

Omar C

ftakeith wrote: »

UTV player on sky catch up, any proof please?

It's on Digital spy (sat page 4)

h7nlrp2v0g5u48

ftakeith wrote: »

UTV player on sky catch up, any proof please?

Only on some boxes. Looks like a slow roll out.

Tim Reilly

ziggyman17 wrote: »

The state of the christmas tv line up.. How did these clowns get away with starting up this channel ?

What else could they show tho ?

ziggyman17

Tim Reilly wrote: »

What else could they show tho ?

Thats their problem.. They set up a station with no decent content and hoped to make a lot of money off the back of 2 soaps.. They were so money hungry that they could not be bothered to buy the rights to show old movies.. The upc/ virgin streaming thing called my prime is bad, but not as bad as utv Ireland..

iseegirls

On Christmas Eve, on UTV there is Back To The Future 2, Small Soldiers, National Lampoon Xmas Vacation, Bill & Ted.

On UTV Ireland there is A Christmas Star and Shall We Dance

There's a 70 minute doc for Text Santa on Christmas day as well. This is coming from an event which Ireland charities do not benefit from.

Gonzo

UTV Ireland's Christmas line-up is the worst I have ever seen, not surprised UTV Ireland is a shoe-string funded mess and amateur hour at it's finest.

This is their first time to run all aspects of a tv channel by themselves. All the handy work and the majority of programming on UTV NI is from the ITV Network and all UTV had to do was a news slot and some terrible local programming.

Lets hope ITV takes full control of UTV Ireland sooner rather than later and make something decent of the channel.

lertsnim

Giving hours of air time to a charity benefit that benefits no charities in this country is a disgrace.