Here's Virgin Media's press release on a new channel launching next week:
Virgin Media is launching the UK’s first dedicated 4K ultra high definition (UHD) entertainment channel, which will start broadcasting from next week.
The Virgin TV Ultra HD channel will air a line-up of must-see shows in incredible picture quality from Monday 17 September.
The channel will be exclusively available for Virgin TV Full House and VIP customers with a V6 set-top box. These customers can tune into a collection of critically acclaimed dramas, beautifully shot documentaries and get up close to some of the biggest names in music with a selection of hot-ticket concerts; all in dazzling UHD detail and at no extra cost.
The schedule is packed with blockbuster entertainment series such as ‘Start Up’ with Martin Freeman, ‘Masters of Sex’ starring Michael Sheen and political powerhouse ‘House of Cards’ as well as wildlife and nature documentaries set in Zambia and Vietnam, plus gigs from the Rolling Stones, Sting and Imagine Dragons.
A number of these programmes will be broadcast for the first time on UK television, such as ‘Start Up’ as well as ‘Shut Eye’ with Isabella Rosselini and ‘The Art of More’ with Dennis Quaid.
To celebrate the launch of Virgin TV Ultra HD, comedian, author and ‘Love Island’ narrator, Iain Stirling will become the ‘voice’ of the channel for its opening night next Monday.
David Bouchier, Virgin Media’s Chief Digital Entertainment Officer, said:
“With the launch of Virgin TV Ultra HD we’re giving our customers the ultimate entertainment viewing experience with must-see shows in incredible, crystal-clear picture quality.
“From epic dramas and stunning documentaries to the front row feeling of a rock concert, our customers will get closer to the action than ever before – with four times the picture quality of HD. It really is the next best thing to being there.
“We’ve shown some of this year’s biggest sporting events in Ultra HD, such as the Champions League and Wimbledon finals and we’re now giving entertainment the Ultra HD treatment. It’s all part of our ongoing investment to give our customers the best way to watch the best TV.”
Virgin TV Ultra HD will air on channel 999 and broadcast at prime-time until the early hours. The channel will begin broadcasting from 8.20pm on the launch night.
Virgin TV Ultra HD programme highlights:
- ‘Start Up’ airs on Mondays at 10pm and stars Martin Freeman. The show explores what happens when a brilliant yet controversial tech idea gets funded with dirty money, from three entrepreneurs you would never find in Silicon Valley. Distributed by Sony pictures television.
- ‘Shut Eye’ airs on Tuesdays at 10pm and is a UK network premiere. It’s a darkly-comic look at the activities of storefront psychics and the underground criminal syndicate that controls them. The series stars Jeffrey Donovan (Burn Notice), KaDee Strickland (The Sixth Sense), Isabella Rossellini (Blue Velvet). Distributed by Sony pictures television.
- From the producers of ‘Blue Planet’ and ‘Planet Earth II’, Love Nature’s ‘The Big Dry’ will air Monday to Wednesday at 8pm during launch week. Set in Zambia’s Luangwa Valley, this visually stunning documentary series follows the challenges the valley’s wildlife must overcome during the long dry season as they await the life-giving rains.
- ‘The Art of More’ airs on Thursdays at 10pm and is a UK network premiere. Graham Conner (Christian Cooke), a blue-collar former soldier turned auction house executive, leads a dangerous double life as he uses his secret past to beat the auction world elite at their own game. Distributed by Sony pictures television.
- ‘Masters of Sex’ airs on Fridays at 10pm featuring Michael Sheen as renowned obstetrician Dr. William Masters who hires sexually liberated, single working mother Virginia Johnson (Lizzy Caplan) as his assistant in carrying out pioneering, intimate research into human sexuality. Distributed by Sony pictures television.
18 comments:
This is good news for virgin tv customers, as it hopefully shows that virgin media are re-entering the TV content world which they have been away from for a while now. With the launch of virgin media television in Ireland and a dedicated sports channel as well, let’s hope that virgin media UK will follow in foot step and bring back a selection of its own channels, dedicated to its own customers. Fingers crossed 🤞 for a good time to come. 👍
Although I'm happy we getting a 4k channel.. I feel we need movies too.. But I'm just greedy 😊
It dont make sense why the new channel is on 999 not near the documentrie channels
Any chance of making it available to V6 customers on a lower band for a few days, so we can decide if it is worth the cost of upgrading?
According to Virgin, Full House and VIP customers without a 4K set can still watch Virgin TV Ultra HD as the picture will automatically adjust to HD quality.
As Nialli said, I was able to watch the 4k football channel during the summer with a 2K TV. I guess the V6 just does its thing and reduce it to 2K.
My post wasn't clear - by a "lower band" I meant a lower package of channels (I can't even remember what it is called as they've changed the name so often). The one I am currently on gets BBC1, BBC2, ITV etc in HD, but not ITV2, ITV3, ITV4 in HD. I have a V6 and a 4K TV, but would like to see how good this new 4K channel looks, and of course what they are going to be showing, before signing up for a more expensive package of channels.
The BBC 4K output on iPlayer of the Football and Tennis looked so bad on my TV (far worse than the equivalent HD version), that if it's like that I wouldn't be interested.
Interesting that they ended up realising they were starting to look stupid with the lack of 4K content so they had to launch their own channel. I don’t think I’ll watch anything on there, except maybe concerts since I don’t have time to invest in TV series. But it’s definitely a good step forward so well done VM.
But still no HDR!
Although it's not HDR.. I put HDR mode on my TV and the picture was amazing
Me too.
Has a standard for HDR TV been finalized? I thought it was still a work in progress? (TV broadcast, not bluray)
Nice logo could it be any BIGGER
Channel isn't on long enough each night pity they don't do the same as BBC4 and repeat what was shown earlier throughout the night. Are any of the programmes available in On Demand and is it possible to record this channel not had a chance to try it yet?
Yes you can record from it, so no real reason to be repeating it all day long.
Can you create a wish list to record UHD by default?
It’s cool. I’ve sorted this.
Some big news might have slipped under the radar, so i thought i would mention it.
UK Gold has just started on Virgin, however that's not the big news. The big news is for the first time the HD version has replaced the SD version. They have also done this with the Free Sports channel. Virgin are the first broadcaster who can do this now they have replaced all the old non HD boxes. There is nothing to stop them ditching all the SD channels that have an HD version now, apart from BBC1 of course. We need our local news!
Post a Comment