E4 is a coming - whos a going?

patrickmooney

Heard on FM104 this morning, that E4 will be joining NTL analogue from May 1st. NTL are running a promo on the 104, and the DJ read out the message several times this morning. But when I ran NTL Cust Care, they knew nothing about it. I was able to find out that they are holding an internal meeting this afternoon to discuss channel line up. So the question remains...which channel are we going to loose to allow for E4.....my guess....SKY|ONE

colinsky

I checked it out on digiguide, and it looks to me like just a whole bunch of reruns from Channel 4, and dumb American sitcoms. Do they seriously think we want this?

freemasons

Originally posted by patrickmooney
Heard on FM104 this morning, that E4 will be joining NTL analogue from May 1st. NTL are running a promo on the 104, and the DJ read out the message several times this morning. But when I ran NTL Cust Care, they knew nothing about it. I was able to find out that they are holding an internal meeting this afternoon to discuss channel line up. So the question remains...which channel are we going to loose to allow for E4.....my guess....SKY|ONE

I hear that it going to be RTE. mate of mine works in NTL and says that since it's available using a regular aerial, people dont need to get it down the cable way. that way NTL cansave on bandwidht and offer another service without having to short change their customers.

i cant wait for this. banzai is my favourite programme EVER.

bruce wayne

lads, lads, lads, relax

I got a flyer in my post on Friday morning, from NTL telling me the following

We are getting E4 from the first of May
We are losing TV5 as a result

The location of E4 will be where CNBC is and CNBC will move to where TV5 was, if you know what I mean

Can you beleive NTL are actually doing something right for once

icdg

If this is true - I've heard nothing - I will be delighted to see E4 coming...its a good channel.

But...if they drop Sky One, it will be war on NTL in my house! And everyone else I know. If digital isn't available, its off to Sky I go...

Personally I think it will be either CNBC or TV5. Nobody has really been in favour of CNBC 24 hour (though I'd miss the way the US presenters seem to degenerate into conversation completely unrelated to business news from time to time). If TV5 goes, there will be war from the Francophone community, I've had more emails about TV5 than any other subject (including UK channels on Sky ROI).

Mr. Fancypants

Yup got a flyer too. TV5 is going, E4 is coming. An improvement in my opinion. Aparantly TV5 is going to be part of the digital package instead.

colinsky

Originally posted by icdg
Nobody has really been in favour of CNBC 24 hour

I am! I am! I watch it all the time

And I watched TV5 last night, to see the french Election coverage.

I think they'll just have to drop MTV, or Nickelodeon. (All they show these days is "Sabrina" anyways).

icdg

Just to update you, details now on NTL site. It's TV5 that's getting the chop, unfortunately. If you can't currently get TV5, you won't be getting E4.

(/me braces myself for 200 emails of complaint from French speakers...).

freemasons

Originally posted by colinsky

I am! I am! I watch it all the time

And I watched TV5 last night, to see the french Election coverage.

I think they'll just have to drop MTV, or Nickelodeon. (All they show these days is "Sabrina" anyways).

oh man, they also show the amanda show. and keenan and kel they are really good, if a bit dumb. good to see coolio in the opening credits though.

patrickmooney

Where is it on the NTL site. The press section is returning nothing found for 2002 all day......

KdjaCL

e4 is good for the Adam and Joe Shock video show.
She(wife) watches allt eh ER Friends crap on it and Big Brother Interactive crap(which NTL wont be offering)
kdja

icdg

http://www.ntl.com/locales/ie/en/press/display.asp?id=559

And apparently E4 and CNBC are swapping places....

So for those of you who can't get TV5 now (myself included on my main TV), it'll be E4 replacing CNBC instead.

Mountjoy Mugger

Surely this puts C4's "fortituous reception" logic (see Digital Satellite) in the cr*p house, where it belongs?

colinsky

E4 broadcasts from 2pm-4am daily and is already popular with customers who avail of NTL’s digital television service.

...

E4 will replace TV5 which is still available on the NTL digital package, broadcasting 24 hours a day.

Of course, this raises new questions. Will TV5 still be shown during E4's off time (4 am-2 pm?) Or is TV5 gone completely, and if so, what's shown in the morning?

freemasons

Originally posted by colinsky

Of course, this raises new questions. Will TV5 still be shown during E4's off time (4 am-2 pm?) Or is TV5 gone completely, and if so, what's shown in the morning?

i cant wait to watch 24 hour adventure quarry.

man, i love the bit where they eat rats and vote them off the island.

icdg

I suspect it'll be our old friend the test card (or in NTL's case, Link - which got a new look yesterday).

When Big Brother is on, this downtime will be used for continuous coverage, so I doubt NTL would want to put another channel there.

colinsky

I do have to say that this change, along with the 24-hour CNBC, does seem to be making the analogue a much friendlier package. Now, if they would only descramble CNNi, I'd be really happy.

Charles Slane

E4 are now a week ahead of RTE in both ER and Friends. So their arrival is not good news for Montrose.

I've been watching it on Sky Digital since it started and it's really quite good.

The Norm Show is brilliant (but cancelled now in the States).

Mark_irl

Iwant ITV2 please!!!!!!!!!!!, E4 is ok, but ITV2 has David Letterman. Ntl should be trying too get channels not available on the gangsters network (Sky Digital) too compete.

Charles Slane

Yep !! Ya gotta love Dave ... and Paul.

ITV2 would be great.

To be honest I'm kinda surprised that they're putting on an entertainment channel at all. They seem to have studiously avoided getting Channel 5, ITV2 or BBC Choice for the last few years.

Jessica

I for one am delighted that e 4 is coming - but as we all know no matter what channel line up ntl go for it is not going to satisfy some people.

As far as i know, tv 5 will share with e4 and then will eventually go. but who watches tv 5 ? ok if what icdg said was correct.. or an approxiamation ... 200 emails .. that is nothing for ntl as they have over 350,000 subscribers. plus almost 5 times that complained about eurosport and it still didn't come back.

e4 is already offered in the uk on ntl analogue so well done ntl for doing something right for once !!

Charles Slane

I'll be very sad to see TV5 go. I watch it occassionally, and it was fantastic while I was doing a French course for a few years. And I'm very sorry for the French community.

But the truth is that E4 will be much more popular than TV5. As I said earlier, I've had it since it started, and from what I've seen, it will be a huge success on NTL.

It's entertainment-only, targetted at a young-ish audience, and it's something that there's a huge gap for in the Irish market.

As for TV5, I'm hoping that the earlier tests on Sky Digital bear fruit and it appears soon on the Sky EPG.

Au revoir, TV5 .... hello E4 !!!

I can't understand why....
When rillmount were digging up the N11 from Bray down to Arklow for the natural gas pipeline, that NTL didn't slip them a tenner to run a cable down there too:p
anything to escape murdock... :eek:
mm

Cyrano

I can't believe that at a time of immense interest in France ntl is deciding to remove TV5 from the package. It is bad enough that many TV5 programmes are lost - as on Sunday night during the election coverage - to faciliate pay-per-view sports but to learn we are to lose it altogether makes me wonder about ntl's business accumen. I would have thought that having a foreign language channel would enhance their profile but it seems the ntl crowd are too insular/narrowminded/shortsighted. Can anything be done to change their minds?

Jessica

cyrano,

I think that it was well bandied about at the time of the eurosport removal about tv5 and people were wondering why ntl never took that channel off as no one watches it. Well now for once ntl have listend and have removed tv5 . According to my sources, tv 5 is one of the least watched channels that ntl are carrying -- actually probably a close second to cnbc. But you get my drift.

as for them changing tv 5 during a pay per view event, isn't that only if you are wathcing it on your decoder ? if you watch it on your basic tv it should be ok ?

cable guy am i right in saying this ?


I have to say i don't think a foreign language channel will do anything for ntl. people want movies sports and entertainment not languages. Think of the ordinary joe 90 down the dole office, he is not exactly wondering about his french now is he ?

ntl for once made the right decision.

JTMan

Now, if they would only descramble CNNi, I'd be really happy

Yeah, why on earth do they have a scrambled CNN on the analogue package?

Will TV5 still be shown during E4's off time (4 am-2 pm?)

e4 shows promos for it's programs during its downtime. I bet NTL will just screen this. I don't think TV5 Europe or NTL Link will be there.

NTL Ireland CEO said in the Sunday Tribune before that Sky One and Sky News don't have a guaranteed place in the basic package and that Sky One could be replaced by another entertainment package like E4. I don't think Sky One is set to go but there could be even more changes to the basic package soon.

Perhaps NTL are trying to standardise their packages with the UK. Am I right in saying that E4 is part of the UK basic package?

Is friends really a week ahead? I know ER is but I thought that N2 was ahead with friends

Charles Slane

Originally posted by Fungus
Is friends really a week ahead? I know ER is but I thought that N2 was ahead with friends

Yep. It overtook N2 last Thursday when E4 showed two in a row.

icdg

Originally posted by Jessica


As far as i know, tv 5 will share with e4 and then will eventually go. but who watches tv 5 ? ok if what icdg said was correct.. or an approxiamation ... 200 emails .. !!

I didn't actually get that...I meant to put a smilie . But I have got quite a lot of emails re TV5.

There is believe or not a quite vocal French community in Dublin - including students who are just about to sit their Leaving Cert - that view TV5 and will be disappointed to see it go. And they have had access to the channel for eight years now, NTL are dumping it with only a weeks warning (although to be fair, it has been obvious this was going to happen for about a year now).

Personally, if I were a French speaker, I'd be highly annoyed now, and they have every right to be.

colinsky

Originally posted by cableguy
CNN is on the system purely for hotels.Ok everyone gets its(scrambled) but only hotels etc have decoders installed that will unscramble it.Yet to see a residential customer with it.

Well, it is in the Go Digital package, so they obviously do have rights to broadcast it to non-businesses....

TV5 seems to be staying in Digital (unlike Eurosport)...

Curiouser and Curiouser.

icdg

The press release says it will. (So, or so we thought, did the Eurosport press release though).

Cyrano

Yet again tonight TV5 was dumped to allow for football - why wasn't the business channel used? I don't imagine that many wanted wall-to-wall Wall Street at the time.

I agree that Leaving Cert students will be affected by the loss of TV5 but it is not just this year's lot - every student of French (and there are thousands) at any level will be at a loss.

The francophone community in Dublin has a right at this time of intense political activity in France to have access to the news and current affairs of the process that will affect them for years to come.

I disagree that the guy in the dole office is not necessarily interested in TV5 - being on the dole doesn't automatically mean having a closed insular view of the world.

ntl are being very shortsighted.

JTMan

If you want that hardly watched station so much just pay the extra for digital. It is changing package not going all together.

The majority of leaving cert students will be more happy that they are now getting friends, ER at al much quicker rather than upset of the loss of crappy TV5.

Prisoner6409

I have NTL's MMDS system and I do not appear to get TV5. At the moment I can get(although some are not unscrambled as I have the basic package):

RTE 1 + 2
TV3
TNG(The Irish station)
BBC 1 + 2
UTV
CH4
CNBC
Sky MovieMax
Sky Premier
Sky News
Sky 1
Nick/Mtv(Both on same freq. Nick ends at 6pm when MTV begins).
Sky Sports 1
Sky Sports 2

I do not appear to have TV5. In anticipation of checking out E4 can somebody tell me what frequency TV5 is broadcast on. Or indeed if someone knows the situation regarding TV5 or E4 and MMDS customers any info would be appericated.

JTMan

It's to do with your TV. Some TV's can't receive TV5 like most older philips TV's.

In anticipation of checking out E4 can somebody tell me what frequency TV5 is broadcast on

It will replace CNBC. TV5 will be replaced by CNBC.

**********************************

E4 will be screening an IRISH version of e4 from May 1st. It will be like Sky News and Sky One with Irish ads.

The reason they recently showed 2 episodes of friends was just for the Irish audience so that they would be ahead of N2 when E4 Ireland starts on May 1.

David C

Don't quote me on this but i heard today that TV5 may be staying on the digital platform.

Isn't it scrolling across the screen on TV5?... This channel is moving to ntl digital only after May 1st... I think it's something like that

David C

It's to do with your TV. Some TV's can't receive TV5 like most older philips TV's.

With ordinary cable, yes, some tv's cannot pick up TV5 because it is at such a high frequency.

With MMDS, there is a decoder to pick up the signal, which is well above the frequency of ordinary Cable/Terrestrial signals. The TV's own tuner has nothing to do with it, other than picking up the decoders RF output... and possibly TV3 if they are not carried on the MMDS service.
I'm not sure if TV5 is actually carried in Dublin on MMDS though.

Jessica

tv 5 is not available on the mmds network in any of ntl franchises. E4 will not be available either - so mmds will continue as normal in the mmds areas.


The only thing that will change on cable is cnbc (biz channel that replaced eurosport) that will go to tv 5 frequency which is 408mhz. This is also the frequency that pay per view events are broadcasting on at the moment - and as far as i am aware it will continue to broadcast on this.

e4 will then take the place of cnbc old frequency - - i think -- cableguy may be able to help on the frequency things - i may be wrong -- it has known to happen once or twice.

colinsky

Originally posted by Jessica
The only thing that will change on cable is cnbc (biz channel that replaced eurosport) that will go to tv 5 frequency which is 408mhz. This is also the frequency that pay per view events are broadcasting on at the moment - and as far as i am aware it will continue to broadcast on this.

They're gonna cut of CNBC for pay-per-view events? like sport-type-things?

Can't they use one of the sport-type-channels for this, since the sport-type-people are the ones who would be watching the pay-per-view instead?

Charles Slane

Or why not use CNN ?

What's the point of it anyway ?

I was reorganising my channel line-up last night and CNN went unencrypted for a couple of minutes. Why ?

Does anyone actually get CNN unencrypted on NTL, or is it just there to annoy people ?

It certainly seems to be a waste of space at the moment.

colinsky

Originally posted by Charles Slane
Or why not use CNN ?

What's the point of it anyway ?

I was reorganising my channel line-up last night and CNN went unencrypted for a couple of minutes. Why ?

Does anyone actually get CNN unencrypted on NTL, or is it just there to annoy people ?

It certainly seems to be a waste of space at the moment.

The rumor is that its only for the purpose of selling to hotels. Of course, CNN is on the digital line-up, but that's a lot extra to pay for just one channel.

I tried emailing NTL about getting CNN unscrambled once, but never heard back. (Typical of their customer service, ne?) I'm going to try calling one of these days when I have plenty of free time to remain on hold.

icdg

Originally posted by colinsky

They're gonna cut of CNBC for pay-per-view events? like sport-type-things?

Can't they use one of the sport-type-channels for this, since the sport-type-people are the ones who would be watching the pay-per-view instead?

Because people pay extra for these, who would be highly annoyed if something they paid extra for was interrupted by something they couldn't (or didn't want to) watch.

The solution is to make all PPVs digital only...

As for CNN, its sold to hotels...

Our man in Havana

Originally posted by icdg



As for CNN, its sold to hotels...

Is CNN not free?

colinsky

So, based on past history...

Will the TV5-->E4 switchover happen at midnight tonight, or at E4 start-of-broadcast tomorrow afternoon?

icdg

6-7am is usually the case. Although with NTL, it can happen at unusual times...

JTMan

I bet it will be midnight. thats when Eurosport happened. NTL seem to have month long contracts with companies.

Jessica

hate to say it but the change over has already happened. e4 is playing out in beautifully !!

thank you ntl for putting e4 on. now i bet you no one has called up to say thanks ..... actually why would you bother you can never get through !!

icdg is right about the pay per view , they will never put it on to another sports channel, although they could give its dedicated channel of its own, now that would make sense.

As for pay per views only on digital, ntl or any other company in that position would not do that as it would alleninate too many other viewers on their analogue service

David C

hate to say it but the change over has already happened. e4 is playing out in beautifully !!

Not getting anything different here in South Dublin. TV5 & CNBC in their usual places @ 22:28

Where are you Jessica?

JTMan

Not here either.

Charles Slane

Not here on the northside of Dublin either......

Must be Waterford or Galway, perhaps ?

Where in the world is Jessica ? (Hey, that could be a TV show !!)

Charles Slane

And the switch has happened just this minute !!

JTMan

knew it would be midnight! and TV5 Europe is still on Digital.

Are the ads Irish yet?