UTV and ITV-1 Regions BLOCKED!!!!!!

irishgeo

true. the picture on my aerial is broken and i cant be bothered to fix it. nothing worth watching anyway on RTE. i can wait till april. at least thats one thing that the uk wont have and ireland will. arent we lucky

Element 4

ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh relief..........................................................got my fta card re started this evening

Mossy Monk

bollocks to those dirty b******s. wish this FTV card would arrive. my mother thought she wouldn't be able to watch Coronation Street until i reminded her of TV3. lovely widescreen is gone :mad:

PacMan

My parents have Sky Digital, and like myself, they phoned Sky today.

This morning when I called SKY, they referred me to UTV.

This evening however, when my family telephoned , SKY are reading out a press release.

It states that as from feb 12th ITV have asked SKY to encrypt the signal to SKY viewers in the ROI. They add that it was ITV that made the request. SKY are giving out an ITV digital helpline contact number. 0044 845 0704466

This telephone number is only a pre-recorded message telling you that ITV is on EPG 103. it has NO information about the availability of ITV or UTV in the Republic.

The number to contact is UTV
048 9032 8122
It was their decision to block the signal

icdg

The ICDG website is now updated with this sad but inevitable news.

I am 99% certain now that this is the doing of the ITV Network Centre, and not UTV itself. It is the Network which handles the issue of copyright clearence, UTV only does this for programmes acquired locally. Its' likely that ITV's rights holders have heard of the channel being available in ROI and have pressed them to block the signal.

UTV were probably quite happy being available in ROI via Add Channels. And this move will put a new impetus on UTV's efforts to become available on Sky Digital ROI.

FLINNO

Can you believe these people................how would you get those cards that enalbe you to get the channels back?????

David C

On the ICDG site the second new news story is linked wrong:
Heres the correct link

Children's BBC rebrand takes effect as new channels launch

chernobyl

What was so good about ITV that you all are on the verge of meltdown?

Genghis

Just been on ebay.co.uk and there are just six boxes with BBC cards available. All over £120. Definitely a sellers market right now ...


I love the notice quoted below for one of the £150 Sony boxes:

There is no card available with this digibox, however, if the winning bidder requires one, they should let me know at the end of auction and I will supply the telephone number of the relavent Sky/BBC Department for the free card - no problem.

Its the 'no problem' bit that cracks me up ...

Cloud

Well I personally don't watch it (UTV) much, however my mum has been watching Coronation Street since I was 0 years old, and is in an area where you can't receive TV3 (read "west of Ireland").

So you can imagine the happiness when I introduced her to the Other Channels method a few months ago on her DigiBox (and all the other beleagured fans who were lucky enough to have Sky boxes), and also my happiness too [because I was taping omnibus editions of the series for her weekly when it moved from RTE to TV3].

Whatever about the other ITV regions, they can at least give us UTV.

PacMan

What was so good about ITV that you all are on the verge of meltdown?

ITV is one of the stations we all watch. Even though its only for the odd programme each evening. I personally did not watch a lot of ITV/UTV, but its always been there. Yes I know, before it was on cable!!!!!

I dont want to enter into a debate about the quality of programmes on UTV. Some good, some bad. Thats called choice. you dont like, you press the button....
However I am annoyed that not only UTV but BBC Choice, knowledge etc are not available also.

I believe that this is a campaign that we can win. To the BBC its not important to them if they are viewed over here in the republic or not. But UTV is a different story. It needs revenue (Ads) from the republic. I checked the UTV website this evening and studied their press releases in detail.
The UTV art exibition (???) apparently has been on show throughout the republic. (Didnt know they had one!!)
The Kelly Show has been broadcast both from Cork and Dublin. The Kelly show is sponsered by Galtee.....
Every second ad on UTV is targeted at viewers in the republic. FM104, Eircell vodafone, to name a few......
They are promoting themselves down here. Even one of their logos has a picture of the Liffey with a UTV logo splashed over it.

In conclusion UTV needs viewers in the republic, irrespective of which broadcast platform its on. I am sure that behind the standard statments they issued today, they are fully aware that Sky has 200,000 households in the republic. Thats a lot of target advertising they lost at the flick of a switch

FLINNO

I have been in touch with both and Sky and UTV, and they say that we should have the channels back by Paddy's Day depending on the negociations between ITV the irish government.

who knows whether they will or not....but look at Fox News thats not a uk channel yet as of today we can get it on EPEG. :cool:

so maybe these will follow.

tombenjr

Can't belive that ITV1 regions and UTV are blocked
as this is the worst thing for Irish Viewers.
But anyway I just wrote an E-mail to complain about it
to UTV and SKY.
Hope it comes back!

Genghis

Originally posted by FLINNO
I have been in touch with both and Sky and UTV, and they say that we should have the channels back by Paddy's Day depending on the negociations between ITV the irish government.

who knows whether they will or not....but look at Fox News thats not a uk channel yet as of today we can get it on EPEG. :cool:

so maybe these will follow.

Please, elaborate. I am finding your contribution remarkably different to any others either I or the others have received either today or for the last three months. A specific date, no less. And the Irish Government to blame, now thats a new one. Sounds like someone is bull****ing you or you are bull****ting us ...

FLINNO

Hey dont shoot the messenger........thats what they said i know as much as you do.


Apparently there is some clause to do with the viewing rights in ireland that has been in place for years and its this that they are looking to get lifted from the government.

PacMan

perhaps they mentioned "Irish Government agency" which would possible mean ODTR (Or whatever they are called now)
I would agree however, that this information is certinally different to that which we received today. Was it an e-mail you received FLINNO, or was it a telephone call.
Perhaps Charles could expand on this. Is March the month when the exclusive clause is removed from the cable companies here???

Genghis

Flinno,

My apologies, just struck me as odd that we should here news today. Didn't intend to shoot you down.

Well done, lets hope Sky and UTV are good as their word,

Genghis

byte

T'was a terrible shame to see the ITV regions disappear. I had few phonecalls asking me where did it go. I hope UTV (and maybe ITV2) is available by Paddies Day though I won't hold my breath.

BTW, have we all forgot about C4? What's the story there?

donegalshore

I think we need maximium publicity.This did not make any news I seen or heard.RTE DONT WANT THE COMPETITION SO THEY ARE NOT GOING TO GIVE IT PUBLICITY.Hence Gerry Ryans reply.Who made the Paddys Day promise.My children state when I say MAYBE NEXT WEEK its a definite no.
TRY THE BBC1 NORTHERN IRELAND.They have a MONDAY NIGHT PROGRANMME CALLED FAIR PLAY.This investigates consumer problems.There is nothing to loose at least we could watch it if they did cover this story.
There email is :
fairplay@bbc.co.uk
if they get a large number of emails who knows.:mad:

Saruman

I noticed this.. fox appears on the list but away goes UTV etc.. i was expecting something on the baords when i came into work today.. not so much though.. did not think people cared so much about UTV.. Hope its back soon.. when i do watch it i prefer it in Digital than normal cable Sh!te

PacMan

All very quiet here today!!
In fact it is also very quiet from UTV. No reply to my e-mails. Anyone received a reply from You-TV ????

ShaneOC

A four page thread in slightly over 24 hours. Not particularly quiet.

I have not heard anything back from UTV yet.

I was talking to lots of very upset people who had watched part 1 of The Swap on Sunday, only to find ITV gone for part 2 last night.

donegalshore

I got confirmation that my email was read at 9.03 this morning but no reply.Are they hoping we will go away!:rolleyes:

dmeehan

yeah, mine was read this morning around 9-ish too.
still no sign of a reply from them though, they must be formulating a multi-purpose answer to send the exact same thing to all of us

That Irish Govt agency Flinno talked about wouldn't be RTE would it???
Presumably the ODTR have nothing to do with Programme rights-they are the property of their owners and theirs to sell/regulate as they wish.
There are only two markets for programme rights in ROI and they are RTE and TV3.
So basically if an outside the state organisation like UTV or Ch 4 are having trouble with the rights for certain programmes here-the people to talk to are those two.
As The ITV network has a major toehold in TV3 via Granada, there is really only one person to sell programme rights to in ROI and thats RTE.

So I am putting foward the theory that RTE are the Government agency being talked about by UTV.
I said a long time ago that I wouldn't expect an EPG placement here by UTV untill RTE are there.

This could have been April-But now it's going to be later as they need a license to be there and the usual dose of red tape and lenghty wait applies.

So don't hold your breath till Paddies day it could be longer and you will get very blue.

Having said that-NEVER in all my borne days have I come across so much outrage at the loss of UTV via Sky Digital, in my neck of the woods.These are ordinary people who have never heard of Boards.ie,the ICDG or indeed of "IT's TV"
They have been given a taste of crystal clear regular reception of a channel and now it's taken away.This anger will vent itself imho and could well over turn all the usual rules.
mm

freetoair

I think for many people the main loss here will be the choice of Nationwide League games on a Sunday afternoon.
I've a subscription to Sky sports but somehow found myself preferring to watch Manchester City V Wimbledon 2 weeks ago rateher than the Sky Sports featured match.

What surprises me is that NTL announced they were removing Eurosport from their services in the middle of the African nations cup and as I recall it received wide coverage from the media including RTE.

Many people finally ditched substandard cable or in my case chorus when ITV finally arrived (through the back door I might add) on SKY. I think these people should write to their papers, RTE, UTV, radio talk shows etc and highlight the anger. If nothing else, it will make advertisers aware of the issue who will have more influence when negotiating with UTV's sales department.

I'm fortunate enough to still have access to these channels through another means, but I suspect SKY will find a way of pulling the plug on that too !!

Rafter

Thats because they wanted to prevent people watching 24hrs coverage of the Olympics via Eursport.

Rafter

Just to let you guys know, Watchdog have taken the matter in hand and should be doing a piece on it soon. When, they did not say.

Rafter,
Is this the BBC programme called watchdog??
Doing a piece on Sky service in ROI?
or is there another one?
mm

PacMan

Todays irish Indo did a front page news item about the Ireland -England rugby match only being available on Sky Sports. They moaned about the fact that RTE did not have the rights to show the game.
I think however that the Indo's report was another way of getting at Sky. They constantly report the problems that NTL have and when the RTE and SKY deal was announced, the Indo questioned the future of the cable companies.......
The indo rarely reported the problems at their own baby which is also known as "Crappy Chorus"....
Maybe we should e-mail the indo, tell them that 200,000 householders have been denied to watch UTV on Sky digital, even though the service has been available since November.
They may not want to pass another opportunity to have another "Swipe" at the murdoch controlled Sky!!!!!!

Anyone have the e-mail address for the irish Independent or perhaps the Sunday Business post???

Charles Slane

The idea of BBC's Watchdog investigating the availablity of UK stations on the Sky platform in Ireland is totally bizarre !!!

It just doesn't make sense on so many levels !! So I really hope it happens (don't you love it when the world doesn't make sense ?)

Isn't this thread amazing ? It goes to show that it's true when they say "you don't know what you've got 'til it's gone".

Like most people, I knew in my heart that the ITV channels would not be available on "Add Channels" forever, but it's still a major drag to see that awful "This programme is not available" sign. Still, it was sweet while it lasted.

I reckon that the disappearance of the ITV channels will, if anything, bring us closer to the appearance of UTV on the Irish EPG. And maybe quite possibly ITV2 and ITV Sport Channel. Particularly since ITV Sport is a subscription service, they will want all the subscribers they can get when they launch on Sky Digital (even us poor paddies). It would be a nicely wrapped bundle if UTV, ITV2 and ITV Sport all launched on Irish Sky at the time that ITV Sport launched on the UK service.

All the other standalone subscription channels (MUTV, Artsworld, FilmFour etc.) are available to Irish subscribers, I reckon ITV Sport will be too.

So they may already have their strategy for arrival on Sky Digital mapped out, but that's not to say that a few hundred irritating e-mails should not be sent to UTV, ITV and Sky (even if it's just to let off some steam).

Tony

I spoke to the my contact in Sky today and he was not aware of what had taken place. He said unofficially ITV was available but it was blocked when they realised how many people were watching it as they have no formal agreement to broadcast ITV in ROI.

Regards Tony

dmeehan

Apart from champions league and nationwide divisions, what else do itv sport show??
And does anyone have an idea as what price range subscription will be?

Originally posted by Charles Slane:

All the other standalone subscription channels (MUTV, Artsworld, FilmFour etc.) are available to Irish subscribers, I reckon ITV Sport will be too.

Yeah and not to mention the fact that Channel four's Sister channel has been on the ROI Sky EPG since it started broadcasting.
No problems there aparently clearing the rights for programmes it has in common with RTE!
Suspicious or what and why???
Because unlike Channel four,the adverising content on E4 is London/England stuff! Channel Four Takes advertising Revenue from RTE so God forbid that it be on the Irish EPG before RTE goes on there!

Need I say more
There are always higher authorities responsible for the Sh**e,Irish Sky Subscribers have to put up with.
We should all lie down and do what we are told now:mad:

Originally posted by Charles Slane:

I reckon that the disappearance of the ITV channels will, if anything, bring us closer to the appearance of UTV on the Irish EPG. And maybe quite possibly ITV2 and ITV Sport Channel. Particularly since ITV Sport is a subscription service, they will want all the subscribers they can get when they launch on Sky Digital (even us poor paddies). It would be a nicely wrapped bundle if UTV, ITV2 and ITV Sport all launched on Irish Sky at the time that ITV Sport launched on the UK service.

It would indeed be the last straw for me if I were to see ITV Sports channell launched on the Irish EPG before UTV came on it.
But thats what I think will happen.

I disagree with the notion that the disappearance of the ITV channels will lead to the quick arrival of UTV on the EPG here.
That will only happen when all the other interested parties are satisfied that they will not lose out by it being there.
mm

smoke.me.a.kipper

i dont see how the other itv companies would have a problem with utv being braudcast in ROI. none of them have a vested interest in ROI except utv. i know granada have interests in TV3, but it's not like thats an Irish version of ITV (cept for corrie, and champs footie )

DMC

Originally posted by madman
Yeah and not to mention the fact that Channel four's Sister channel has been on the ROI Sky EPG since it started broadcasting.
No problems there aparently clearing the rights for programmes it has in common with RTE!
Suspicious or what and why???
Because unlike Channel four,the adverising content on E4 is London/England stuff! Channel Four Takes advertising Revenue from RTE so God forbid that it be on the Irish EPG before RTE goes on there!
mm

Not too much a problem than you might think, mm.
RTÉ has the rights to most of E4 US-bought programmes, but RTÉ have traditionally shown them ahead of the Brit competition.
This is a fact of RTÉ's life since the 60's.
They always showed Dallas and Dynasty before the BBC in the 80's, as well as all the cop shows in the 70's, and that carries on into the 90's and present day with Friends, Ally McBeal etc.

This was done to maximise the audience for RTÉ, and that it would'nt be affected too much by the more dominant TV market across the sea.

Actually, RTÉ, on one occasion used to plug these shows as the "European TV premieres." And they were.

'wan the RTÉ!

DMC

Originally posted by PacMan
Todays irish Indo did a front page news item about the Ireland -England rugby match only being available on Sky Sports. They moaned about the fact that RTE did not have the rights to show the game.
I think however that the Indo's report was another way of getting at Sky.

This is all very silly. Look at the facts. It was the English RFU's game to sell, they sold it to Sky. There are no TV deals concerning away teams, each organisation looks after its own. Even if this was a listed event, (and I hear the Dáil was involved in a debate about this) they have no control of the rights of a different rugby organisation.

They constantly report the problems that NTL have and when the RTE and SKY deal was announced, the Indo questioned the future of the cable companies.......
The indo rarely reported the problems at their own baby which is also known as "Crappy Chorus"....

Don't look at Middle Abbey St. if you are looking for balanced reporting of TV matters. :rolleyes:

Maybe we should e-mail the indo, tell them that 200,000 householders have been denied to watch UTV on Sky digital, even though the service has been available since November.
They may not want to pass another opportunity to have another "Swipe" at the murdoch controlled Sky!!!!!!

We could use Baron Flatulence's rag in this matter for propaganda tactics, but as I said earlier, we were never meant to see UTV on Sky Digital. It wasn't on the EPG, so we have no arguement, I feel.

PacMan

Interesting this!!!!
CBBC and CBEEBES are now OFF the EPG.
They were there yesterday and today

Hey Damo,
RTE have always and to their credit secured the Showing of most U.S shows before the cross channel competition.
I know that.
The point I was making(but not clearly enough:o ) was that these self same programmes go out on Channel four even later again!
Effectively by the time they are shown there they are the second repeat of the programme, for those with all three channels.
So an argument from UTV or Ch4 talking about rights is Codology !

But it does raise another spectre.....:mad:
RTE have had to have these programmes before the cross channel competition as you say-so they have had to pay dear for them.
And who does that benefit?
none other than the programme makers,money and the search for greater profits being the root of all evil:mad:
So that brings us back to another cause of the mess ,ie the programme makers need to keep this false market going, and while it's there,there will always be the long drawn out negotiation/brinkmanship process that has to be gone through to get the likes of the UK terrestials on Sky Digital.

The only people that can Bring ITV etc onto Sky in ROI Quickly, are the management(by saying they don't want to be paid for carriage-yes that would do it:D ).
The only catylst(spellins mm,spellings:D ) that would bring that about would be the start up of It's TV as they would no doubt have the UK terrestials and the new subs to Sky would bottom out unless Sky pulled it's pants up and brought them on aswell.
I'll bet my bottom dollar that at that point, they would be charging a lot less for carriage that they would now-in the rush to get ITV etc on.
mm

icdg

Originally posted by David C
On the ICDG site the second new news story is linked wrong:
Heres the correct link

Children's BBC rebrand takes effect as new channels launch

Doh! Should be fixed now.

DMC

Originally posted by madman
Hey Damo,
RTE have always and to their credit secured the Showing of most U.S shows before the cross channel competition.
I know that.
The point I was making(but not clearly enough:o ) was that these self same programmes go out on Channel four even later again!
Effectively by the time they are shown there they are the second repeat of the programme, for those with all three channels.
So an argument from UTV or Ch4 talking about rights is Codology !

Cant argue with that clarification! And even at that, RTÉ may have repeated it too. As there is two markets in the UK, for a subscription entertainment channel rights, and then terrestrial rights, they can afford to do this. Market aint that big here.....

But it does raise another spectre.....:mad:
RTE have had to have these programmes before the cross channel competition as you say-so they have had to pay dear for them.

Not quite so. RTÉ pay a fair price, per head of population, for this programming. RTÉ may be paying a bit more since the arrival of TV3, though....

They dont pay through the nose. After all, they are only paying for the Irish rights.... Think local rather than international when it comes to these issues. All are relative..... They only pay the US networks to be first to show them, so they can survive.
My point is, if the tables were turned, and E4 showed Friends before RTÉ, would Network 2's top rated show be as big a draw? They could kiss the Bailey's sponsorship goodbye for starters.....

digitalman

Hi guy's this is my first posting but i have been checking out the icdg website for many months now and love it. I was at boiling point yesterday when utv was taken away from us and as a result bombarded utv and sky with e-mails.

here is the reply i got on behalf of skys ian shepards...

---

Thank you for your e-mail of 11 February, addressed to Mr Ian Shepherd, who
has passed it to me for attention.

ITV is a "free to air" channel in the UK and does not form any part of a Sky
package. It is available as ITV are now transmitting on an unencrypted
basis to the UK using the Astra satellite. ITV1 is not officially available
in Eire, and does not appear on the electronic programme guide there.
Despite this, Irish viewers have been able to tune manually into the ITV1
regional franchise services by using the "add channels" function in the
"services" menu of the electronic programme guide.

ITV has now decided to encrypt all the ITV1 regional franchise services so
that it will no longer be possible for viewers in Eire to tune into them.
Irish viewers requiring further information should contact the ITV1 digital
satellite helpdesk on 0845 0704466.

I hope the above is of assistance to you, and that you appreciate this is
not a matter within our control. We are very well aware of the importance
of our Irish customers, and will continue to develop the services available
there in tandem with those in the UK, consistent with legal and technical
requirements.


So it looks like an itv thing according to them.So lets keep getting on to utv until we get results.I also asked sky about the other
bbc channels etc in the same mail but got no answer to that.

so the battle goes on...

digitalman.:mad:

PacMan

Welcome to the forum digitalman!!

Do you have the e-mail address for Ian Shepherd, and do you know what position he holds at Sky???

digitalman

thank's pacman...

ian shepherd's e-mail is :ian.shepherd@bskyb.com

i also sent the same e-mail to tony ball,martin stewart,geoff walters,richard freudenstein,elizabeth murdoch etc.

ian shepherd is the skys customer marketing director at sky.I suppose at least i got a reply.
And in one day.

Any new from utv anyone?
Any new responces on bbc channels?

We should keep hounding utv and remind them they are loosing over 200,000 subscribers to sky..How
many more viewers those that amount too? One hell of a lot i would imagine.

digitalman

marclt

To be honest... I wouldn't have watched UTV much - I'd have preferred to watch HTV or Carlton.

UTV really is of little relevance to the south of Ireland, its a local station for northern Irish people.

However, I dont agree with the mass blocking of channels to the Irish Republic.

In that regard I think that UTV should be made available across the country on the EPG... and in other areas ie the East and South East - HTV should also be made available... after all its what tv viewers by terrestrial means get in this area!

I find it hard to believe that UTV would have blocked ITV on SKY given the consequence that they too are blocked!?!?!?

Perhaps someone should email HTV Wales and ask them what they think of it all!!!!! HERE'S THE CONTACT DETAILS:

If you have any queries or comments about HTV Wales programmes, please contact us at the Carlton Duty Office
By post

Duty Office
Carlton Television
Gas Street
Birmingham B1 2JT
By phone or email

Switchboard: 0121 643 9898
Call Centre: 0870 600 6766
Minicom: 0870 241 6346 *
Fax: 0121 634 4898
Email: dutyoffice@carltontv.co.uk

*Minicom for hearing impaired viewers only

Call Centre Hours
8.00am - 12.00midnight Monday-Friday
10.00am - 10.00pm weekends

marclt

JUST HAD THIS THOUGHT.... MAYBE EVERYONE SHOULD THREATEN SKY TO CANCEL THEIR DIRECT DEBITS!!!!

HIT EM WHERE IT HURTS! Its all about the money!!!!

PacMan

Well finally after 3 days, I received a reply from UTV.
Here it is...........

Your e-mail was received. We will reply when we are able to clarify the situation

WoW..... Clarify the situation???

The situation is : Its Blocked
Clarify: Well we all can "Clarify" its being blocked.
Tell us something we dont know!!!!!!!

psychotic mouse

Thank you for your recent e-mail enquiring why UTV is no longer available on Sky Digital in the Republic of Ireland.
This decision was taken by the ITV network without our agreement. Obviously, we are very disappointed that this has happened. We, like Sky, very much want UTV to be available for satellite viewers in the Republic.

Despite this ITV decision, we will continue to work with them to make UTV available on satellite as quickly as possible, so viewers throughout Ireland can enjoy the same choice of viewing on satellite that they currently enjoy via cable and terrestrial TV.
We appreciate when viewers take the time to let us know their views, as your comments are very important to us.

Yours sincerely
Orla McKibbin
Head of Press and PR - UTV

dmeehan

Originally posted by smak
i dont see how the other itv companies would have a problem with utv being braudcast in ROI. none of them have a vested interest in ROI except utv. i know granada have interests in TV3, but it's not like thats an Irish version of ITV (cept for corrie, and champs footie )

and emerdale and heartbeat

DMC

Of course it was a network decision, all ITV regions disappeared. At least that mail did show UTV's continued enthusiasm to appear on Sky Digital for ROI, but as Granada own TV3, and so many ITV programmes on that channel, UTV will have to play a lot of hardball with Granada on this one....